Saturday, July 8, 2017

What the hell are these people doing calling themselves Republicans?

Big thumbs-down on this baldly redistributionist idea from some "GOP lawmakers":

Conservative groups are warning GOP senators against keeping an ObamaCare tax on investment income in their healthcare bill, an idea that has gained some traction among lawmakers.
GOP lawmakers have floated keeping ObamaCare’s 3.8 percent net investment income tax to help pay for more generous healthcare subsidies for low-income people. Democrats criticized an earlier version of the Senate’s healthcare bill for eliminating the tax because it generally applies to high earners.
But prominent conservatives argue Democrats will criticize the bill regardless of what happens with the tax. They say the tax is harmful to economic growth and should be repealed. 
“This tax, just like any tax increase, is an anathema to conservatives as it suppresses economic growth and opportunity throughout our nation,” Club for Growth President David McIntosh said in a statement Wednesday. “Under no circumstances should the NIIT be included in any forthcoming Republican ‘repeal’ bill.” 
ObamaCare’s net investment income tax applies to individuals making more than $200,000 and married couples making more than $250,000. The tax falls on forms of income that include capital gains, dividends and interest. 
Yes, it suppresses economic growth - taking otherwise productive money out of the economy and handing it to Leviathan - but more fundamentally, it forcibly seizes Citizen A's money to pay for the particular needs of Citizen B.

UPDATE: James Pethokoukis at the American Enterprise Institute invites us to face a very discomfiting question: Is the GOP still the party of supply-side economics?


11 comments:

  1. Tax them 20 per cent for our nuclear proliferation under Trump! Don't worry, he'll get the money back and more from the spoils. Isn't Mexico gonna pay for your wall?

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  2. Republicans are victims of a discredited economic ideology--The Brookings Institution

    "That ideology says tax cuts for the rich will create jobs for the middle class. It says cutting benefits, including health benefits, for the poor will cause them to work harder and behave more responsibly. Granted there is a grain of truth in these propositions but they have now become a cartoon of their once-legitimate, Chicago-school ancestors."

    more at https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/republicans-are-victims-of-a-discredited-economic-ideology/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=es

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  3. That Brookings crap is disingenuous as hell. The basic point about tax increases is that it is government forcibly seizing peoples money. Whether or not the people are "rich" and whether or not joins are created when they keep their money is way down the ladder in terms of importance.

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  4. So one day you wake up and some wise guy is calling taxation which has pretty much been with us for over a century and arguably since we became a republic, forcible seizure. Make more, pay more. Or be smaht like your fearful leader who makes such fantastic personnel moves and pay nothing.

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  5. You bet. Forcible seizure. There is nothing voluntary about paying taxes. And, no, everybody ought to pay one flat - and very, very, very low - percentage of what they make / have.

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  6. Free country. Go for it! You realize that's what economists call regressive. Was Madison an elitist?

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  7. No, he was a champion of ordered liberty

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  8. Better avoid Vegas then, you might get damaged.

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  9. See post in your Monday thread which should have been posted here. Maybe after the civil war we can build a wall between 2 separate countries here but maybe all the Richie Richea will move to your country. West (CA) will be worst to your folks for once, but Praeger will be broadcasting fro

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  10. Hell, I heard Prager calling for war vs CA where he lives.

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