From my most recent blog post at Our America:
"While the media often portrays the Tea Parties as a group of extreme right wing partisans, the foremost issue that galvanized these protests is one that can unite all Americans, Republicans and Democrats, Independents and Third Parties alike. That issue is the exploitation and marginalization of the working population, by an out-of-touch government, for the sake of corporate special interests.
While the images, words, and ideas of the Tea Party resonate strongly with Republicans, what Democrat doesn’t share the Tea Party’s disdain for corporate cronyism, demands for more transparency and accountability, and even their audacity to hope that our government might change for the better? As partisan and polarized as Americans may think we are, if we started really listening and trying to understand each other, we might be surprised to find that we share many interests and beliefs in common!"
Read the whole article here.
Our America is the Gary Johnson initiative. Speaking from eight years of experience as the Governor of New Mexico, here's what Gary Johnson has to say about taxes:
5 comments:
Lower taxes is a key component to attaining prosperity. I just hope that we can stop this assault of progressivism on our freedoms.
Agreed, Teresa!
Low taxes = prosperity is a wrong hypothesis. Emperically the richest countries in the world have some of the highest tax rates.Here is a list, American tax rates are among the lowest in the industrialized nation and yet, it barely makes to the top 10 list
1 Luxembourg 94,418
2 Norway 76,692
3 Qatar 75,956
4 Switzerland 66,127
5 Denmark 55,942
6 Ireland 51,128
7 Netherlands 47,042
8 United Arab Emirates 46,584
9 United States 46,443
10 Finland 45,876
The problem here is that we are not comparing like with like. The important economic principle is "ceteris paribus" (all other things being equal). Sure, Qatar has a higher per capita household income (I'm assuming that's what those figures are?) from the distribution of its oil money to it citizens, but that doesn't mean that raising US tax rates will increase the average household income of its citizens, or that raising tax rates in Qatar would have that effect either. In the end, what creates prosperity is the accumulation of capital. History and theory bear this out. Conversely, the destruction of capital (things that destroy capital include natural disasters, wars, and yes- taxes) has the opposite effect- it stifles productivity and inhibits prosperity.
Mr. Messamore, You're correct that the "low taxes begets prosperity" is an allusory correlation. So is its inverse, "high taxes begets prosperity." Both confuse correlation with causation (you listening, Hillary?). But the accumulation of capital is only half the story of prosperity. In "The Mystery of Capital" Hernando de Soto makes clear that underdeveloped nations flounder not for a lack of capital, but for the (relative) lack of legally enforceable private property rights, which inhibits the development of intra-country economic activity and prevents the poor from converting their assets into wealth. His research shows that the value of savings in poor nations is 55 times greater than all foreign aid and investment from 1945 until the present. It is the socio-political and economic systems of developing countries, not a lack of capital, that keeps prosperity out of their reach.
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