This is for real
You may have seen a prediction here that you would soon face more taxes.
Well, that prediction is about to come true.
And if you don’t earn enough to be among the rich, don’t worry. You will pay the new taxes too. I know, I know, there was this campaign promise. Something about no one who earns less than $200,000 will have to pay more taxes. Forget about that. That was a typical fairy tale campaign promise.
This is for real.
First, there are – I believe – thirteen new taxes connected to the healthcare reforms. Tell me that everybody else will pay those taxes. But you will be spared. Right. Any healthcare bill you pay in the future will contain those new taxes one way or another. Just as every gallon of gas you buy contains a bunch of taxes. As does every drop of alcohol you drink.
Next may come a tax on energy. It will be camouflaged probably. It will be called a green tax or some such. The energy field is simply too fat and tempting for politicians to ignore. They know a small levy on energy, at its various stages, will barely be felt. It will be hidden. Just as the alcohol tax is. But you will pay it.
The master stroke will be the Value Added Tax. (One of the President’s advisors floated that idea last week.) It will be similar to a national sales tax. It may start at 10 percent. Or more. Does not really matter. Congress will raise it. My guess is that it will end up at 15 to 20 percent. On most everything you buy.
The government needs the money from these taxes the way a shipwreckee needs a lifeline. Your government is veering toward the rocks. The deficits, the debts, are the rocks.
So, what’s the harm? Government is going to do so much more for us. That has to be paid for. So we pay more in taxes. We adjust. We get by. We manage. And government gets enough money to pay its bills.
The harm is this: The heavier the tax load, the slower an economy grows. The bigger the share of an economy a government takes, the slower an economy grows.
It is not by accident that European economies have grown like sluggards over the past 30 years, compared to ours. It is not by accident that European standards of living are much lower than standards here. Nor is it an accident that America churns out more innovation, more miraculous drugs, more incredible inventions. We turn out more in an hour than Europe turns out in a month.
It is no accident we created more jobs in 20 years than Europe did in a century. No accident that it is easier for an illegal immigrant to grow rich here than a citizen to grow rich in Europe.
The Europeans are as smart as us. But they suffer much higher taxes, much bigger government. They have paid VAT taxes for years, for instance. Government takes a much bigger bite from their economy than our government chomps from ours.
Ah, but that is changing as we speak. We are rushing headlong toward Europe’s tax levels. We are frantically creating more government jobs. (Not one of them will produce or make anything that adds to the national wealth.)
In other words, we are catching up with … make that catching DOWN with, the Europeans.
From Tom … as in Morgan.
For more columns, for Tom’s radio show or his new TV show (and to write to Tom): tomasinmorgan.com.
Well, that prediction is about to come true.
And if you don’t earn enough to be among the rich, don’t worry. You will pay the new taxes too. I know, I know, there was this campaign promise. Something about no one who earns less than $200,000 will have to pay more taxes. Forget about that. That was a typical fairy tale campaign promise.
This is for real.
First, there are – I believe – thirteen new taxes connected to the healthcare reforms. Tell me that everybody else will pay those taxes. But you will be spared. Right. Any healthcare bill you pay in the future will contain those new taxes one way or another. Just as every gallon of gas you buy contains a bunch of taxes. As does every drop of alcohol you drink.
Next may come a tax on energy. It will be camouflaged probably. It will be called a green tax or some such. The energy field is simply too fat and tempting for politicians to ignore. They know a small levy on energy, at its various stages, will barely be felt. It will be hidden. Just as the alcohol tax is. But you will pay it.
The master stroke will be the Value Added Tax. (One of the President’s advisors floated that idea last week.) It will be similar to a national sales tax. It may start at 10 percent. Or more. Does not really matter. Congress will raise it. My guess is that it will end up at 15 to 20 percent. On most everything you buy.
The government needs the money from these taxes the way a shipwreckee needs a lifeline. Your government is veering toward the rocks. The deficits, the debts, are the rocks.
So, what’s the harm? Government is going to do so much more for us. That has to be paid for. So we pay more in taxes. We adjust. We get by. We manage. And government gets enough money to pay its bills.
The harm is this: The heavier the tax load, the slower an economy grows. The bigger the share of an economy a government takes, the slower an economy grows.
It is not by accident that European economies have grown like sluggards over the past 30 years, compared to ours. It is not by accident that European standards of living are much lower than standards here. Nor is it an accident that America churns out more innovation, more miraculous drugs, more incredible inventions. We turn out more in an hour than Europe turns out in a month.
It is no accident we created more jobs in 20 years than Europe did in a century. No accident that it is easier for an illegal immigrant to grow rich here than a citizen to grow rich in Europe.
The Europeans are as smart as us. But they suffer much higher taxes, much bigger government. They have paid VAT taxes for years, for instance. Government takes a much bigger bite from their economy than our government chomps from ours.
Ah, but that is changing as we speak. We are rushing headlong toward Europe’s tax levels. We are frantically creating more government jobs. (Not one of them will produce or make anything that adds to the national wealth.)
In other words, we are catching up with … make that catching DOWN with, the Europeans.
From Tom … as in Morgan.
For more columns, for Tom’s radio show or his new TV show (and to write to Tom): tomasinmorgan.com.
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