Sense on Cents

I will leave it to readers to make their own assessments as to what they think of Dick Morris’ assessment of President Obama’s tax plans. However you lean — and before people unsubscribe from my blog — do yourself the favor of viewing this 4-minute clip.

Regardless of your political persuasion, I think that even a whiff of these tax programs can do nothing  but put a significant dent into the economy while elevating the unemployment rate .

I would imagine tax proposals of these sort would be a cause for a battle royale atop Capitol Hill.  Are these redistribution plans that President  Obama hopes he may have greater flexibility to implement in a second term?

What do I believe should be done?

As laid out a week ago in the WSJ by George Shultz, Michael J. Boskin, John F. Cogan, Allan H. Meltzer, and John B. Taylor (not exactly lightweights) in writing The Magnitude of the Mess We’re In,

Today, government officials are issuing debt to finance pet projects and payoffs to interest groups, not some vital, let alone existential, national purpose.

The problems are close to being unmanageable now. If we stay on the current path, they will wind up being completely unmanageable, culminating in an unwelcome explosion and crisis.

The fixes are blindingly obvious. Economic theory, empirical studies and historical experience teach that the solutions are the lowest possible tax rates on the broadest base, sufficient to fund the necessary functions of government on balance over the business cycle; sound monetary policy; trade liberalization; spending control and entitlement reform; and regulatory, litigation and education reform. The need is clear. Why wait for disaster? The future is now.

The authors are senior fellows at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. They have served in various federal government policy positions in the Treasury Department, the Office of Management and Budget and the Council of Economic Advisers.

Comments, questions, constructive criticisms encouraged and appreciated.

Navigate accordingly.

Larry Doyle

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I have no affiliation or business interest with any entity referenced in this commentary. The opinions expressed are my own. I am a proponent of real transparency within our markets so that investor confidence and investor protection can be achieved.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 21st, 2012 at 3:40 PM and is filed under General, taxes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.