The Presidential election in still 18 months away, but campaigning is in full swing. I haven’t decided who I’m going to vote for, but I have decided on one candidate I won’t vote for.
Former Senator John Edwards (D-NC) is offering a lot of policy proposals. Unfortunately, when you spend money, you’ve got to get it from somewhere. Edwards’ proposals appear to cost at least $1 Trillion. Edwards is also against continuing the Bush tax cuts, and is for increasing tax rates except for the lower class. Given that most of the income tax paid in the United States comes from the middle and upper class, that means that you and I will be seeing more of our money go for a big bureaucracy should Mr. Edwards be elected President.
Meanwhile, CNN correspondent Jack Cafferty reported that, “John Edwards says he worked for a hedge fund primarily to learn more about financial markets and their relationship to poverty. Do you see any contradiction there?”
I notice that Professor Bainbridge saw the same things that I did. I don’t know if he saw the news from Illinois, though.
Governor Blagojevich proposed a huge business tax—a gross receipts tax that would have cost Illinois businesses $7.6 billion. Now, if that tax had passed who do you think would have paid it in the long-run? Consumers, of course; taxes get passed on. As Joe Kristan reported this morning, the tax didn’t pass…it was a “missed it by that much” moment: it failed 0 to 107.
If you’re a politician, you may want to look at what happened in Illinois and apply it to your next race. Taxes aren’t popular. There’s a perception that government is bloated, and, imho, there’s at least an element of truth in that. Taxpayers want lower taxes and tax simplification. Politicians who want to win elections should take this message to heart.