Many are temped to assume that money collected by the government goes to help the poor and downtrodden, however, much of that money ends up in the hands of the rich and politically connected, those who have the most resources and ability to lobby for it.
Once money is transferred from the taxpayer to the government, regardless of its intended appropriation, it’s up for grabs by anyone who has the know-how and funds to lobby for it. (Even Social Security taxes, which are supposedly specifically... Read More→
Social programs create their own need and demand for the very services they provide. Here are a few examples:
Social Security – Since people know they would be receiving a social security check upon retirement, they are less likely to fully save for it on their own. Why would they? It would be completely self defeating to save for a portion of your retirement if you know it’s going to be covered by the government.
Child Welfare Payments – If a mother on welfare receives... Read More→
Contemporary American socialist politicians, first and foremost Barack Obama, love to ballyhoo their soak-the-rich, wealth redistribution policies as means of giving everyone an equal shot at the American dream.
However, by doing so, those same policies impose difficulties upon entrepreneurs who want to launch or run small businesses. The difficulties come in the form of more taxation and regulation. Taxation reduces the amount of money available to start and expand a business, while regulation... Read More→
It’s well known that an increase in taxes on an activity results in less of that activity. This is because taxes make an activity cost more. Therefore, a sure way for government to reduce income producing activity, is to increase income taxes. And a sure way for government to reduce investment activity is to increase taxes on investment profits, a.k.a. capital gains. Less income and less investment means a slower economy.
It’s the Poor and Middle Class Who Get Hurt Most by a Slow... Read More→
Mandatory employment benefits are government or union required extras an employer must pay in order to keep an employee. Those include minimum wage, payroll taxes, vacation time, family leave, insurance, severance, etc.
The typical socialist narrative is that we must protect the rights of the employee at the expense of the profits of the evil, greedy business owners. However, what they don’t tell you is that employee benefits not only come at the expense of business profits, but also come... Read More→
In any mechanical system, you put energy in, some of it is wasted by friction, and when you get the energy out, it’s necessarily less than what you first put in. Government is like friction!
Why is government wasteful?
The answer to this question is actually very simple! Government is wasteful because it spends other people’s money.
Anyone who’s ever had an employee’s expense account knows that when you’re spending money that isn’t yours, you have very little... Read More→
How else would there be so many wealthy Democrats in favor of tax increases?
It is worth to spend up to X dollars in order to avoid X dollars in taxes, and therefore, the more taxes the government is after, the more a tax payer can budged for the following:
Relocation to a different state or country with lower taxes.
Extremely smart tax attorneys.
Business and corporate restructuring.
Forming a foreign company and using it as an off-shore tax shelters.
Expatriation, namely renouncing one’s... Read More→
Giving up one’s citizenship to save on taxes is a rare drastic measure, but looks more attractive as taxes go up. The following is an excerpt from an article by Brigid McMenamin published in Forbes, February 28, 1994.
You are upset with the latest tax increased that you are seriously thinking about quitting the country. Does this make any sense at all?
ENGLEWOOD, COLO, attorney Ronald Rudman recently got a call from one of his more prominent clients, a well-known entrepreneur. The businessman... Read More→
Those rich people don’t need all that money. They don’t pay their fair share of taxes. And a lot of good can be done if all that money is taken away from those people, who don’t need it anyway, and is given to other less fortunate people so that they can have better opportunities to advance their lives.
The above paragraph seems to be the essence of liberal economic thought. I realize that many liberals these days object to the notion that what they really want is socialism.... Read More→
The following is an excerpt from the book Free to Choose by Milton & Rose Friedman, pp. 115-19:
The Fallacy of the Welfare Sate
Why have all these programs been so disappointing? Their objectives were surely humanitarian and noble. Why have they not been achieved? At the dawn of the new era all seemed well. The people to be benefited were few; the taxpayers available to finance them, many – so each was paying a small sum that provided significant benefits to a few in need. As welfare... Read More→
