Recommended: Taxes and Politics

Thomas Sowell, the well-known Stanford economist, has another of his hard-headed commentaries over on the RealClearPolitics site this morning: Taxes and Politics. Well worth reading. I suppose it is simply the nature of the average human mind, but I am always surprised at how resistant people are to data and facts if they contradict their ideological outlook.

In general, I think liberals need to rethink their historical antipathy toward business and wealth.  There is only one possible reliable long-term source of the revenue they need to support the liberal programs they would like, and that is successful businesses and successful taxpayers. Rather than being perennially hostile to "business" and "the rich", they need to come to understand that these are the geese that lay the golden eggs they would like to harvest.  The world is global these days - make the taxes too high and business and investment will simply go somewhere else in the world that is more attractive, taking the profits, tax revenues and jobs with them..  That isn't rocket science, but it does seem to be beyond the comprehension of many of our politicians.