Since most of our elected officials in Washington seems to have played hooky the day the teacher talked about tax policy, we thought we should go back and give then a quick refresher course.
How do we know that most of them missed the class? Because 385 of them voted for the economic stimulus package. The only thing that legislation has stimulated is a race over who can give away the most money. (Don’t even get us started on the Senate’s 80-4 vote!)
So let’s start our class with a quote from a former star student who learned his economic principles well and graduated with highest honors. According to Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ): “As you may know, I was one of only 25 Republicans to vote against the (stimulus) bill. Every American knows that the federal government does not have the money to pay for these rebates. We will have to borrow it. It makes absolutely no sense to me to go give away money we don't have.”
Now, class, what is the key insight here? It’s that the government has no money to give without taking it from someone else. So in order to give Smith a $600 rebate, the government must take $600 away from Jones. So, yes, Smith can go out and spend $600, but Jones can’t.
Alternatively, the government can give both Smith and Jones a $600 rebate, and just take it away from them later—or more likely, take it away from their children.
This isn’t a partisan issue, 10 House Democrats passed the course. Representative Jim Cooper, one of the 10 Democrats voting against the bill, said, “We can’t keep on mortgaging our children’s future $150 billion at a time.”
So let’s give all of the students below an A for Tax Policy 101, and we expect they will all do well in Tax Policy 102: Why raising taxes often reduces government revenues.
As for the 385 members of the House who voted for the stimulus package thinking it would stimulate the economy (or buy them votes), let’s sit them in the corner wearing an “I love Keynes hat”—after they take the refresher course.
Those receiving an “A” for Tax Policy101:
Brian Baird (D-WA)
Marion Berry (D-AR)
Allen Boyd (D-FL)
Paul Broun (R-GA)
Michael Burgess (R-TX)
John Campbell (R-CA)
Howard Coble (R-NC)
Jim Cooper (D-TN)
Barbara Cubin (R-WY)
Tom Davis (R-VA)
Nathan Deal (R-GA)
Jeff Flake (R-AZ)
Randy Forbes (R-VA)
Phil Gingrey (R-GA)
Louie Gohmert (R-TX)
Virgil Goode (R-VA)
Duncan Hunter (R-CA)
Tim Johnson (R-IL)
Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
Jack Kingston (R-GA)
John Linder (R-GA)
Ron Paul (R-TX)
Collin Peterson (D-MN)
Ted Poe (R-TX)
Tom Price (R-GA)
Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA)
Ed Royce (R-CA)
Loretta Sanchez (D-CA)
James Sensenbrenner (R-WI)
John Shadegg (R-AZ)
Adam Smith (D-WA)
Tom Tancredo (R-CO)
Gene Taylor (D-MS)
Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA)
Robert Wexler (D-FL)