The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

‘The Power To Tax Is The Power To Destroy’

Posted on | April 18, 2010 | 6 Comments

by Smitty (via Insty)

Kansas City.com quotes Prof. Reynolds:

Everyone should pay at least some income tax. And everyone’s tax bill should go up or down whenever federal spending does.

KC.com then asks:

Is there a way to more closely align politicians’ incentives with the nation’s long-term financial interest? It’s a lot tougher than it sounds, because the incentives facing voters are perverse as well.
The problem is highlighted by a branch of economics called public choice theory, which analyzes the way people behave while making collective decisions, as opposed to how they behave in the marketplace.

I submit that the improved system, itself, isn’t all that tough. What will prove somewhere between challenging and impossible is the transition.
The title of this post is due to Daniel Webster in 1819. And what responsible person would disagree that, through taxation, the Federal government is destroying, or threatens to destroy, the country?
So take away DC’s power to tax directly.
Dan Riehl also weighed in:

I think there are at least two paths to consider, one broader and one more targeted. As McClanahan [KC.com] points out, things do happen somewhat differently within the states. Rather than only export that type of remedy up to the federal level, there needs to be a more honest discussion of state’s rights and the Tenth Amendment. Because progressives[?] are predominantly federalists, as soon as someone brings up the concept of state’s rights, it’s immediately tarred with the brush of the Civil War. That would have to abate if the country is going to be able to have a genuine discussion of state versus federal power and control, particularly as it impacts spending.

The other path includes a more informative approach to accounting for government spending. While it shouldn’t become so micro as to simply gloss over one’s eyes, we need to get away from simply discussing budgets as vast piles of money. If one is going to cut federal spending on Education for instance, it should be more clear what silo within the budget it’s targeted at. We don’t approach it that way today. As soon as one hears about cuts to education, the Left immediately paints a picture of poor children going without their school lunch, upon which more and more of them have come to depend. As an aside, that specific discussion would be better served at the state level.

It is hard to get one’s mind around, but I believe clearer cost accounting at the federal level and a more robust discussion of state versus federal government and their respective roles in our lives are at least two good paths to begin exploring.

I submit that Dan’s former approach is the horse to bet on; the latter will be as readily corrupted as the current arrangement.
The reason for the corruption is the lack of feeback. Irrespective of whom you vote into office, the Federal beast grows. What to do? Remit the sub-Federal duties that DC has piled upon itself to the States. Most importantly, that of collecting taxes.

  • Let the House Appropriations Committee devolve into knife fight to decide the annual billing for each state.
  • Let there be a simple correction, possibly a sales tax, that gets imposed upon a state to meet shortfalls.
  • Let the Federal interference with individuals, in terms of housing, health care, education, and all other entitlements die a very public death.
  • Let there be deficit spending to support a declared war, which hasn’t been seen since WWII, unless I missed something.
  • Let the other 49 States besides North Dakota have their own bloody banks, and the Federal Reserve oversee them, if we can’t kill that particular beast outright.

At the risk of sounding slightly cranky, if the Tea Party isn’t pushing for this sort of reform and restoration, then the Left laughs. The Left understands that the Federal death grip on the country’s future is predicated upon the power of the purse. The Contract From America will evoke a titter from the Left because it amounts to a sexy shade of lipstick upon the Federal pig. Progressivism has perverted the Constitution, at a medium pace, for about a century now. If the power to tax remains in DC, then it shall all have been a fine collective temper tantrum, but it shall not have bought much in the end.

Category: Dan Riehl, Instapundit, Progressivism, Tea Party

Comments

6 Responses to “‘The Power To Tax Is The Power To Destroy’”

  1. Adobe Walls
    April 18th, 2010 @ 9:47 pm

    As we work towards the goal of restoring founding principals to our country’s management, we must accept that unless the left has become so completely marginalized as to no longer have a voice in American politics we shall have failed. They should have no more voice in actual policy making than the KKK or the uni-bomber. Making the case for abolishing the Dept. of Education should be fairly easy as opposed to say abolishing the EPA. While a radically reduced entity performing some few of the EPA’s tasks may serve some useful purpose, an entire fed dept. isn’t required to give education money to the States. As that money comes with strings attached usurping local and state rights in how our children are educated there is no justification for the Education Dept. If the American electorate doesn’t come to realize that most Federal agencies are serve little or no public good then we are doomed to fight the same battles repeatedly.

  2. Adobe Walls
    April 18th, 2010 @ 4:47 pm

    As we work towards the goal of restoring founding principals to our country’s management, we must accept that unless the left has become so completely marginalized as to no longer have a voice in American politics we shall have failed. They should have no more voice in actual policy making than the KKK or the uni-bomber. Making the case for abolishing the Dept. of Education should be fairly easy as opposed to say abolishing the EPA. While a radically reduced entity performing some few of the EPA’s tasks may serve some useful purpose, an entire fed dept. isn’t required to give education money to the States. As that money comes with strings attached usurping local and state rights in how our children are educated there is no justification for the Education Dept. If the American electorate doesn’t come to realize that most Federal agencies are serve little or no public good then we are doomed to fight the same battles repeatedly.

  3. smitty
    April 19th, 2010 @ 12:01 am

    @AW,
    The EPA could have some Federal basis; the environment is kind of everywhere.
    The DOE, where students are State citizens is an infinitely weaker case. Boil that horse down for glue.

  4. smitty
    April 18th, 2010 @ 7:01 pm

    @AW,
    The EPA could have some Federal basis; the environment is kind of everywhere.
    The DOE, where students are State citizens is an infinitely weaker case. Boil that horse down for glue.

  5. Adobe Walls
    April 19th, 2010 @ 12:29 am

    @ smitty
    My point was not so much whether the EPA or the DOE should be Federal or State agencies but whether they or indeed any Fed Depts. do any good or at least less harm than good. In terms of abuse of powers they should not have IMHO both EPA and Dept of Edu. need to go, explaining the logic of eliminating the Edu. Dept. should be very easy. What little good the EPA does should be handled as an office in the Interior Dept. The Dept. itself has grown far too powerful for the nations health and is permeated with Bolsheviks.

  6. Adobe Walls
    April 18th, 2010 @ 7:29 pm

    @ smitty
    My point was not so much whether the EPA or the DOE should be Federal or State agencies but whether they or indeed any Fed Depts. do any good or at least less harm than good. In terms of abuse of powers they should not have IMHO both EPA and Dept of Edu. need to go, explaining the logic of eliminating the Edu. Dept. should be very easy. What little good the EPA does should be handled as an office in the Interior Dept. The Dept. itself has grown far too powerful for the nations health and is permeated with Bolsheviks.