Ultimately, of course, we all pay, and it is legitimate that what we pay for should reflect the values of our society as well as the realities of the economic environment. Americans are essentially humane (Christian, if you will) people who believe in making some sacrifices in order to help out those in need. Unfortunately, if this is institutionalized, someone will take advantage and abuse it. On the other hand, if it is not institutionalized, thereby taking advantage of what I believe is called "economy of scale" (marshaling large resources to accomplish large projects) which only government can actually do, and that by taxation (which no one likes), some important things simply cannot be done - building the interstate highway system, for example.
Of course, there are other, more controversial aspects of government assistance (welfare, for example) which may lend themselves to greater abuse and may tend to the development of a culture of dependency which is not really healthy in the long run or financially tenable even in the short run. And yet there are many families in this country who, through no fault of their own, are unable to make ends meet on even a modest basis. I don't believe that Americans want to cut such families adrift on the principle that "anyone who is willing to work hard can make it big in America". There are far too many unemployed automotive engineers and nurses in this country for that to be credible.
In sum, for us to be who we want to be, both strong and good, disciplined and humane, we will need to make some tough choices. The first of these is to treat humanitarian programs seriously and pay a lot more attention to making sure that what they do is what they're intended to do, not be simply an all-you-can-eat buffet for anyone who wants a snack, but a decent source of basic nourishment for those who can't realistically get it any other way. Same principle should apply to all other government programs. Do what we need done, but be VERY careful and responsible about how the money gets spent. Instances of criminal malfeasance in the use of government contracting, etc. might reasonably be regarded as treasonable and treated accordingly. This would take a bit of lawmaking, but seems necessary. There have been far too many pigs (both individual and corporate) in the governmental trough for far too long. THIS MUST STOP!
The other aspect of this which must change is, alas, taxation. We must have more revenue in order to both pay our bills and continue to function as a humane, modern society. Relative to other first world countries, our taxes are grotesquely low, our corporations are making enormous amounts of money, and yet the whole "supply-side economics" concept which enjoyed such a vogue in the 80's does not seem to be getting the job done. There are certainly tax loopholes for the wealthy which should be closed, but the biggest loophole is the absurdly low marginal tax rates paid by those who get the most out of living in this country.
I hear well-meaning people complain that to tax the "producers" (not Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder) is to hamstring economic growth, and I agree. However, the claim that everyone who is rich is a "producer" is untrue. Stockbrokers and investment bankers are professional gamblers who produce nothing for anyone and who get rich retrading stocks which long ago ceased capitalizing business growth. I strongly urge that LTCG's from stock trading be taxed as ordinary income. Ditto, dividends. Those forms of earning represent nothing which provides jobs or adds materially to the real wealth and value of the economy. It is a purely individual benefit, and though there's nothing wrong with that, there is also no reason not to treat it as ordinary income. The sole exception to this is profits resulting from investments in IPO stock, stocks sold by a corporation to capitalize growth. THAT creates jobs and economic growth and should be taxed at lower rate than ordinary income, lower even than that accorded other long term capital gains, say, 5%. This will encourage economic growth and individual investment in that growth.
No comments:
Post a Comment