Tag: increase the death tax

–What will help the poor? Taxes vs. Spending

The debt hawks are to economics as the creationists are to biology. Those, who do not understand monetary sovereignty, do not understand economics. Cutting the federal deficit is the most ignorant and damaging step the federal government could take. It ranks ahead of the Hawley-Smoot Tariff.
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Now that the new tax bill has passed, three related issues will remain in the news:

1. Will tax reductions cause inflation? (In the unlikely event they do, the Fed will prevent/cure inflation by raising interest rates)

2. Will tax reductions bankrupt Social Security and Medicare? (No. Because the federal government is Monetarily Sovereign, federal spending is not constrained by taxes. If FICA were reduced to $0, this would not affect by even one penny the federal government’s ability to support Social Security and Medicare. Tax reductions cannot bankrupt the U.S. or any of its agencies.)

3. Should taxes on the rich be increased as soon as the current law expires? That is the question discussed in this post.

Some people favor higher taxes on the rich, because they believe this somehow will help the poor. The concept is that by taxing the rich, we close the “gap” between rich and poor, and this closed gap benefits the poor.

I discuss this “gap” further at Closing the Gap and at A Partial Solution for the Gap.

I strongly empathize with the desire to aid the poor. But bringing down the rich is not the way. Whether Bill Gates has $50 billion or is brought down to “only” $10 billion, does not affect the poor. We have had 90% top tax rates, and that did nothing to help the poor. In fact, increasing taxes on anyone, rich or poor, removes money from the economy, which slows the economy. Slowed economic growth always hurts the poor more than the rich, as witness the most recent recession. Who was hurt most, the rich or the poor?

As I mentioned, the federal government does not spend tax money. Unlike state and local governments, which are not Monetarily Sovereign, the federal government spends money it creates ad hoc. If the wealthy were taxed at the 99.99% rate, this would not increase by even one cent, the federal government’s ability to spend, i.e. to help the poor.

The poor benefit most when the economy is growing fastest, because that increases the availability of jobs and money. So to help the poor, we must stimulate the economy. That is, if we want to help the poor, we very simply should help the poor. The Federal government could:

–Increase Social Security benefits.
–Initiate free universal health care insurance.
–Increase unemployment benefits.
–Pay a salary to all students. ( SALARY)
–Eliminate FICA. (FICA)
–Increase the standard deduction on income taxes.
–Allow home rent to be tax deductible.
–Increase food stamps.
–Pay states and cities to reduce sales taxes

There are many ways to help the poor. We should focus on that, not on punishing the rich, which may provide some emotional satisfactions, but does not provide financial benefits to anyone. Let me see some of your ideas for helping the poor.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
http://www.rodgermitchell.com

No nation can tax itself into prosperity. Those who say the stimulus “didn’t work” remind me of the guy whose house is on fire. A neighbor runs with a garden hose and starts spraying, but the fire continues. The neighbor wants to call the fire department, which would bring the big hoses, but the guy says, “Don’t call. As you can see, water doesn’t put out fires.”

–Professor Black and the secret plot to defeat Obama

The debt hawks are to economics as the creationists are to biology. Those, who do not understand monetary sovereignty, do not understand economics. Cutting the federal deficit is the most ignorant and damaging step the federal government could take. It ranks ahead of the Hawley-Smoot Tariff.
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On Monday, December 13, 2010, William Black, associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, wrote a post on his blog, New Economic Perspectives, titled, “Obama haters praise his tax policies because they believe those policies will make him fail” (I once spoke at the UMKC, and have great respect for the professors of economics whom I met there. I still correspond with Professor Randall Wray, one of the more brilliant minds in economics.)

The thrust of Professor Black’s post was summarized in his first paragraph:

Like the Sirens reputed to lure sailors onto rocks, a series of columnists who want President Obama to fail are praising Obama’s capitulation on extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. The motif of these comments has three common characteristics – all designed to destroy the Obama presidency. First, and the chutzpah of this aspect is wondrous, those that hate Obama’s policies are telling Obama he is demonstrating his strength by surrendering on the Bush tax cuts to the wealthy. Second, they claim that Obama “moved to the center” by agreeing to support tax cuts for the wealthy. Third, they claim that Obama’s attacks on his strongest supporters are brilliant politics essential to saving his Presidency.

Professor Black’s fundamental complaint was:

Obama’s promise to end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy was supported by a strong majority of Americans. . . The people who want Obama to fail consistently push him to abandon policies that are desirable and broadly supported by the public. . .

I commented on Professor Black’s post, and the essence of my comments was:

“A couple of problems. First, because the public does not understand monetary sovereignty, and so does not understand economics, the beliefs held by the public do not necessarily constitute ‘policies that are desirable.’

“Second, increasing taxes on any group, rich or poor, removes money from the economy, and so is anti-growth. There is zero economic benefit from increasing taxes on the rich, despite the emotional satisfaction it may give the poor.

“Obama was dragged kicking and screaming into exactly the right action, i.e. he didn’t increase any taxes other than the ‘death tax,’ and that went up less than feared.

“In total, his ‘capitulation’ is predicted to give us a continuation of the Bush tax rates, a reduction in FICA and a lesser increase in the death tax. Assuming this bill passes, we will have a much better chance of exiting the recession. If that’s ‘losing|,’ I’ll take losing over winning every time.”

I was quite surprised to read Professor Black’s post. Because he teaches at UMKC, I innocently had expected he would have a better understanding of federal finance and monetary sovereignty. Perhaps, the word has not yet had time to float around the hallowed halls.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
http://www.rodgermitchell.com

No nation can tax itself into prosperity. Those who say the stimulus “didn’t work” remind me of the guy whose house is on fire. A neighbor runs with a garden hose and starts spraying, but the fire continues. The neighbor wants to call the fire department, which would bring the big hoses, but the guy says, “Don’t call. As you can see, water doesn’t put out fires.”

–Worried about your children and grandchildren paying the federal debt?

An alternative to popular faith


     The debt hawks claim to be concerned about your children and grandchildren, but their proposals actually will punish your heirs. The debt hawks say future taxpayers will pay for today’s federal deficit spending. This is factually wrong. Unlike state and local governments, the federal government does not spend tax money. It, in fact, destroys the tax money sent to it, and it creates new money, ad hoc, when it credits the bank accounts of creditors. Federal spending is not limited by, or related in any way to, federal taxes. Thus, taxpayers never have, nor ever will, pay for federal spending.

    What the debt hawks fail to mention is that their solutions (raising taxes and cutting federal spending) to this non-existent problem will impoverish you, your children and your grandchildren. Here is a sampling of debt hawk proposals. Read them carefully, and think about each proposal’s effect on current and future generations.

Retirement:
    Raise the normal retirement (Social Security) age to 68
    Reduce scheduled Social Security benefits
    Reduce Social Security spousal benefits
    Increase taxes on Social Security benefits

Health care:
    Tax insurance benefits
    Tax employees for employer-paid premiums
    Cut Medicare payments
    Cut Medicaid payments
    Raise Medicare premiums
    Cut spending on graduate medical education
    Raise the Medicare retirement age (again)
    Cut federal Medicaid funding to states

Jobs:
    Do not enact a new jobs bill

More taxes; higher taxes
    Raise taxes on higher incomes
    Increase the inheritance (“death”) tax
    Increase the gas tax
    Enact a VAT tax
    Increase the payroll tax (FICA)
    Eliminate the mortgage interest deduction
    Eliminate state and local tax deductions
    Tax life insurance benefits
    Eliminate EITC (Earned Income Tax Credit for low and moderate income workers
    Eliminate the $400/person making-work-pay credit
    Eliminate the “American Opportunity” college tax credit
    Add and excise tax on high-cost health plans

Military and Security:
    Reverse the “Grow the Army” initiative (fewer paid soldiers)
    Reduce purchases of weapons systems
    Reduce veterans’ income security benefits
    Reduce Homeland Security spending

Aid for the poor:
    Cut food stamps
    Cut average unemployment benefits
    Cut temporary assistance to needy families (TANF) program
    Cut funding for adoption and foster care

Education:
    Cut federal funding of K-12 education
    Cut school breakfast programs
    Cut funding for the education of disadvantaged and disabled children

Infrastructure:
    Cut federal highway funding
    Cut funding for bridge repair

Research & Development:
    Cancel NASA missions to the moon and Mars

States and Cities:
    Cut mass transit funding
    Cut federal funding to the states and cities

This is the world — a world of higher taxes and fewer benefits — the world the debt hawks propose for you, your children and your grandchildren.

And what is the federal debt the debt hawks worry over? The federal government spends by crediting the bank accounts of its vendors. Every credit demands a debit, and this debit on the government’s balance sheet is called “debt.” It more properly should be called, “money,” because the way the government creates money is by crediting bank accounts. That balance sheet merely is a score sheet, showing how much money the government has created.

You don’t owe it, nor do your children and grandchildren. It’s just a score sheet.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
http://www.rodgermitchell.com

No nation can tax itself into prosperity