Tax cuts for all
Apparently this is impossible.
Why?
Here are three reasons why not:
1) Government wastes money. A lot.
2) Government spends money on things it needn’t and shouldn’t.
3) Cutting taxes can in some instances increase tax revenue (the infamous Laffer curve - it does depend where on the curve you are, but it looks like we are to the right of the peak).
And we should - to limit government, to limit what governments can do because as is quite clear, government very often act contrary to the benefit of the individuals who make up this country.
Why can’t we cut taxes for all? Must we feed the leviathan and let it encroach ever more into our lives?
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September 17th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
Have anyone measured a Laffer-curve in reality?
September 18th, 2007 at 8:51 am
I’m going to comment on the Laffer-curve - suffice to say it is not what some tax cutters suggest, but I think it is a real phenomenon - Bush’s tax cuts for the rich did raise tax receipts from the richest for example.
September 19th, 2007 at 9:37 am
Tristan, spit it out, which taxes do you think are on the right of the Laffer curve? And where are the reams of data and calculations that would be required to support such a position?
Easy wins bring good press and are irresistable to any government. This means such opportunities are going to be rare and hard to find. So a useful suggestion for an easy win demands a little more detail.
September 19th, 2007 at 10:38 am
How about corporation tax - its a burden on the economy, reduces wages and investment.
And why can’t we reduce taxes without the existence of the Laffer curve?
Government is too big. It needs to be cut. We are overtaxed, taxes must be cut. If we want any hope of any sort of liberal country we must reduce the state and its meddling.
We can still have a welfare state and cut taxes, we would probably have a far more efficient welfare state which actually does its job if we instituted liberal reforms rather than just throwing more money at it.
But then we might get called ‘right wing’ or even worse ‘Tories’.
September 20th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
Tristan, to clarify, are you saying that you think if the rate of corporation tax were reduced, then the revenue raised by it would increase?
I would love a smaller state, but I struggle to find many specific things for it to stop doing.