Monday, January 14th, 2008...7:09 am
It Gets Worse All the Time…
You can, and should, check out the details of Russell Pearce’s proposed state budget cuts over at the Children’s Action Alliance site. The cuts include making over 19,000 children inelligible for KidsCare, eliminating substance abuse treatment and eliminating nearly $90,000,000 in funding for facility maintenance and construction for schools. Actually, it is a moratorium on school construction, always a good idea when you have population growth.
Hey, I understand we are in a budget crunch. Everyone needs to tighten their belts. What makes all of this particularly odious is that Pearce’s proposals include, yes, an upper-income tax cut. Oh, he is also proposing in a separate bill a property tax cut of a quarter of a billion dollars.
But, see, lefties like me don’t understand; tax cuts always result in higher revenues. Pearce is an economic genius whose brilliance I don’t grasp. The revenue will be made up by unicorns, faries and other wee folk. He is obviously connected to a world I don’t comprehend.
Okay…I let my snarkiness get the best of me there. Pearce would never propose that the extra revenue would be made up by fairies and other imaginary creatures. It is unfair for me to suggest such a thing. Instead, they will be taken care of by Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand.
Yeah, not an imaginary creature at all.
10 Comments
January 14th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Tax revenues go up in the short term because the extra profits can be (and sometimes actually are) reinvested in things that create more profit. But after a period of time that disappears because the government’s lack of spending harms the economy causing a long term reduction.
At least that is how I understand it.
January 14th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Well, that can be argued for the national economy, but high income tax cuts may or may not be reinvested in a particular state’s economy. The argument can be made for middle and lower income tax cuts, since those would more likely be spent in the local economy.
January 14th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Since Adam Smith was not a true American, he must be one-a-them illegals.
He oughta be deported back to London.
January 14th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Maybe the ghetto-fabulous Mr. Pearce can solve the problem by taking away Arizona citizenship from ALL children, whether or not their parents are citizens, and deporting them to one of the 39 states that rank higher than Arizona on the national education report card rankings.
January 14th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Yeah, the problem with the budget and the economy is that we have set up a budget structure that gambles that low taxes will increase growth…which will increase revenues. The problem with this is that the curve can’t be completely linear and it can’t possibly do without the presence of what government brings to economic development. We lack the infrastructure and education of most states that have humming economies. Yet these clowns think that continuing to cut government back to the bones and all revenue sources in the form of taxes will somehow lead to revenue.
It doesn’t work. Our state is proof of it. We gambled that people would continue to build us out of recession and tour here and spend for sales taxes. That has never supported the public good that government provides.
Look where we are now. They will try to blame Janet, but it is their failed tax policy that has harmed this economy.
January 14th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
A little additional food for thought on how conservatism is changing and why the GOP is not appealing to some in their party.
Note, carefully, what is says about “pro-government” conservatives being a significant part of the party now AND how they don’t care much about lowering taxes and DO care about helping the poor and the environment. If these poll numbers are right on, then there is a constituency out there that is being ignored by the GOP here and could be attracted by the Dems here.
Check this interesting story in the Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/11/AR2008011103123_2.html??hpid=opinionsbox1
January 15th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Hey,
I just wanted to know if The Invisible Hand is just a disembodied hand, or if it has any other invisible body parts. I think the other end will be dropping a load on the poor in AZ!
January 15th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Govering Magazine had a series of articles on states coping with changing sales patterns and property taxes that no longer do what they once did due to people getting mad over increases and doing the draconic Prop 13 solution.
They mentioned that states are starting to move to taxing services instead of sales. And Arizona was mentioned as one of the states looking into this.
January 15th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
There’s an amusing paradox in the “tax cuts increase revenues” argument. Since righties hate government so much, why would they ever want more money to be going to it?
By their “logic”, they should be advocating for increased taxes so as to hasten its elimination.
January 31st, 2008 at 2:29 pm
[…] the outset of the current budget fight, I posted that Russell Pearce’s budget proposals included an upper income tax cut as well as a property tax c…. I was mistaken, I was confused when a contact gave me some information and didn’t understand […]
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