Date: Thu May 01 2003 13:49
trotsky (US states plan to raise taxes) ID#377387:
of all sorts...so-called 'sin taxes' ( not only on tobacco - now they even want to tax illegal drugs! - this btw. paves the way for an eventual prohibition of tobacco ) , sales taxes, and across the board hikes in state income taxes. this completely annihilates any benefits that may have accrued from Pres. Bush's tax cut plan ( which is the only policy of his that i actually support, albeit with qualifications, since it seems not to include a plan to slash spending ) and will help to plunge the country into an even worse recession. due to the high mobility of the US labor force it is also to be expected that those states following through with tax hikes will find that their tax collections fall even more, as those who actually pay most of those taxes simply relocate. as always, the politicians are quick to raise taxes, but slow to slash their wasteful spending. mind you, the very same problem is now evident across Europe...note that this huge, irresponsible mistake has been committed in Japan too, just as the economy perked up a bit in the mid '90's ( in Japan, it was the introduction of a sales tax if i remember correctly ) - it has contributed to the Japanese economy's slide into the abyss with still no end in sight.
when a bubble economy implodes, opportunity knocks - it's an opportunity to remove all the unnecessary wasteful pork barrel spending that is like an albatross around the economy's neck and implement wide-ranging reforms to reduce the size of government. but with modern economics informed by the dangerous theories of that gangster Keynes, we usually end up with the exact opposite, and consequently, a never-ending bust. not to mention the fact that such measures also continue to chip away the citizenry's freedom, bit by bit. |
