Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Tax Almighty
Al Gore, the current godfather of the global warming crowd, has proposed taxing pollution instead of payrolls. Note that Gore does not state tax pollution instead of individuals, though, supposedly, Gore’s tax idea would eliminate all taxes currently paid by individuals, including social security taxes and unemployment compensation taxes.
I’m fairly certain that this idea, as appealing as it may sound to every individual who works for a living, and as radical and difficult to implement as it may be, will be roundly discussed by bevies of economic “planners,” both Republican and Democrat, to either prove that the idea has merit, or that the idea is so far fetched that it is simply a ploy to gather bushels of votes if Gore should decide to run for President in 2008.
Mencken reminds us what an idea like this actually means.
When a new source of taxation is found it never means, in practice, that the old source is abandoned. It merely means that the politicians have two ways of milking the taxpayer where they had one before.
Gore says tax pollution, not payrolls
