Politicians' Taxes: "I Will Raise The Taxes On The Rich" Wins Only Elections, Not More Revenues
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Taxes started as a means to enable government to meet the expenses it incurred in maintaining army, police, judiciary; and public services like road, etc. When governments were constituted among men, nobody thought they would also redistribute incomes, as the concept itself was not there. Enter the Leftists. They proclaimed that the world was not a perfect place, but can be made one, if government was in the hand of people with heart at the right place. To do so, they seized governments in many countries through violence and murders. Once in government, they did redistribute everything, first confiscating all private property, but soon discovered that all wealth has disappeared, and nobody is creating more wealth. The countries they had seized collapsed. But Leftists in democracies took another route. They proclaimed that people may be allowed to own private property and means of production, but governments would ensure fair redistribution of incomes. Of course they did not say above in the same words, they instead talked of alleviating suffering, ensuring fulfillment of the minimum basic requirements of everybody, etc., through government programmes. And these government programmes were obviously to be funded out of tax revenues. Electoral politics came handy. No human being ever says no to a freebie. Politicians started outbidding each other in promising freebies, and people started voting into power the politicians who promised more freebies than anybody else. Once in power, to make good the promise, they start raising taxes to meet the bill of the freebies, but soon discover that with rising taxes, revenues actually fall. People simply stop earning more, move out, or at least move their businesses out. End result is spread of misery, not its alleviation. This is the point Thomas Sowell
Politicians' Taxes: "I Will Raise The Taxes On The Rich" Wins Only Elections, Not More Revenues
Politicians' Taxes: "I Will Raise The Taxes…
Politicians' Taxes: "I Will Raise The Taxes On The Rich" Wins Only Elections, Not More Revenues
Taxes started as a means to enable government to meet the expenses it incurred in maintaining army, police, judiciary; and public services like road, etc. When governments were constituted among men, nobody thought they would also redistribute incomes, as the concept itself was not there. Enter the Leftists. They proclaimed that the world was not a perfect place, but can be made one, if government was in the hand of people with heart at the right place. To do so, they seized governments in many countries through violence and murders. Once in government, they did redistribute everything, first confiscating all private property, but soon discovered that all wealth has disappeared, and nobody is creating more wealth. The countries they had seized collapsed. But Leftists in democracies took another route. They proclaimed that people may be allowed to own private property and means of production, but governments would ensure fair redistribution of incomes. Of course they did not say above in the same words, they instead talked of alleviating suffering, ensuring fulfillment of the minimum basic requirements of everybody, etc., through government programmes. And these government programmes were obviously to be funded out of tax revenues. Electoral politics came handy. No human being ever says no to a freebie. Politicians started outbidding each other in promising freebies, and people started voting into power the politicians who promised more freebies than anybody else. Once in power, to make good the promise, they start raising taxes to meet the bill of the freebies, but soon discover that with rising taxes, revenues actually fall. People simply stop earning more, move out, or at least move their businesses out. End result is spread of misery, not its alleviation. This is the point Thomas Sowell