Monday, December 07, 2009

Taxes to Beat the Axes!

Studying for my Income Tax exam and am reminded of this Disney video encouraging people to pay their taxes during World War II:

1 comment:

thinking said...

Too funny...it seems so out of place today.

Yet it does make a good point: namely, if people want their govt to provide something of value, in this case national defense, they have to pay for it.

That connection between income and outflow is what has been missing in terms of fiscal discipline since Reagan.

One party, the Democratic party, has at times at least tried to connect the two...just like someone would in their home budget.

But the Republicans since Reagan always try to pretend that you can have big govt without paying for it in taxes. And let's get one thing straight: the Republicans are a big spending party, just like the Democrats, they just spend it on other constituencies and causes. That's why budget deficits in the post WWII era have always been far larger under Republican presidents.

Taxes are not unequivocally good or bad; it depends on the marginal rate and the marginal value one receives.