Those punishing taxes


Taxes as a social tool to discourage unacceptable behavior
I think the most frightening thing about this is that Joe Klein actually believes taxes should be used to punish.

This is simple economics. If we use taxes to discourage antisocial behavior like smoking, we could also use taxes to discourage driving a Hummer at 90 m.p.h. on the interstate. If we use tax breaks to encourage positive social behavior like contributing money to charity, we could use tax breaks to encourage energy conservation by softening the impact of new energy taxes for those who can least afford to pay more at the pump. Economists ranging from New York Times columnist Paul Krugman on the left to N. Gregory Mankiw—former head of George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers—on the right have endorsed the general concept of a revenue-neutral tax shift. In 1999, Mankiw suggested lowering income tax rates 10% with the proceeds from a 50(cent)-per-gal. gas tax. His argument was that middle class people do most of the driving and income tax paying, so the tax shift would be a fair trade.

The economy is connected. You can't raise the price of any product without affecting the price of every single item that depends on that product. Raise the tax on gasoline, and one of the immediate effects is going to be higher interstate trucking prices.

Then we get into this whole idea of taxes discouraging "antisocial behaviors." Exactly who decides what is an antisocial behavior? There are television shows that I don't like, but that doesn't mean that they should be pulled from the air. There are religions that I think are potentially dangerous, but I am not calling to ban them. There are books that I consider socially irredeemable, but there is no reason I can think of why those books should not be sold.

Should we tax bikinis?

What about the neighbor who hasn't mowed his lawn in a while?

What about the other neighbor who lets their preteen kids run around naked?

What about the guy down at the office who hasn't given "enough" to the charity of his choice?

This is an EXTREMELY dangerous line, and Mr. Klein has already crossed it.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Mon - May 8, 2006 at 04:41 AM  Tag


 ◊  ◊   ◊  ◊ 

Random selections from NeoWayland's library


Pagan Vigil "Because LIBERTY demands more than just black or white"
© 2005 - 2009 All Rights Reserved