What is a tax increase?
June 16, 2011 by Mike · Leave a Comment
Today’s vote in the Senate to terminate the 45 cents a gallon refundable tax credit to ethanol blenders was welcomed in some quarters. In others, it was the source of fear and loathing.
The point of contention is whether the elimination of a tax subsidy is tantamount to a tax increase. This is the continuation of a conversation that was started last month when Republican leadership, in an effort to win an argument, offered the thought that reducing certain oil and gas tax advantages were the same as tax increases.
But are they really?
The simple reality is that subsidies, whether administered through the tax code or through spending programs, are wrong. They are wrong because they are instances of theft typically perpetrated by a very small group of taxpayers on all taxpayers. They are also corrosive because they migrate economic and other decisions from individuals to governments.
Big Business and The Republicans
May 1, 2011 by Mike · Leave a Comment
Two days ago a Republican staffer argued to me that we needed to protect the oil and gas industry from attempts to change its tax situation.
To my mind, that singular comment sums up everything that is wrong and dangerous with the thinking of Republicans about the relationship between them and big business in general, and, more specifically, the thinking of Republicans with respect to the question of taxes and subsidies.
For some years now, I have labored under the idea that the right side of the political spectrum in this Nation is about smaller government, more personal autonomy, less federal interference in what Tom Wolfe called the “macaroni of life.” But it has become clear to me that some on the right have a fetish with business. They are fully prepared to defend businesses, irrespective of whether the businesses in question even support the nominal policies of the Republican Party.
Take the oil and gas industry. More than half supported cap and trade last Congress; the National Petrochemical Refiners Association went so far as to construct a gasoline tax. Even the most routinely reactionary company (Humble Refining) favors a gasoline tax to address global warming. Even now, Boone Pickens wants another 9 billion dollars to spend on natural gas vehicles (which, coincidentally, will help him add more billions to his personal wealth).
Does it surprise anyone that more than 100 Republicans have already signed onto the Pickens boondoggle? It shouldn’t. The Republicans are in the grip of an unrequited love with big business in general and the oil and gas industry. This crush undermines the core message of the right, and damages its ability to speak coherently across a wide range of topics. If you doubt this, watch the debate on the debt ceiling and the deficit. The business community is already working to undermine Republican and Tea Party efforts to use the debt ceiling increase to leverage reductions. Similarly, they are working to undermine Republican and Tea Party efforts to reduce subsidies.
Subsidies and Tax Increases
April 30, 2011 by Mike · Leave a Comment
I am increasingly concerned about the tone and tenor of the conversation concerning oil and gas subsidies. Some have suggested that dropping the subsidies is tantamount to a tax increase. That is ridiculous. Any feature of the code that is not widely available is a subsidy. Yes, that even means the mortgage interest deduction, which is a wealth transfer from the poorer (renters) to the richer (homeowners) and as a practical matter acts a subsidy to homebuilders, mortgage bankers, and real estate agents.
So if the mortgage interest deduction, which is the most widely available deduction, is a subsidy, then surely the oil and gas tax advantages – however meritorious – are also subsidies.
The Dead End that is “All of the Above”
April 26, 2011 by Mike · Leave a Comment
This morning I read that: “Newt Gingrich is taking on critics who are angry at the conservative icon for taking home more than $300k from an ethanol lobby firm in 2009. While the critics say support for ethanol subsidies runs counter to Newt’s free-market rhetoric, Gingrich spokesman Rick Tyler said his work is consistent with his “all of the above” energy platform.”
This is too easy. As we have noted here and elsewhere, “all of the above” is not a coherent policy; it is a note passed to a teller during a bank robbery. I thank Speaker Gingrich for making my point so concisely, and for placing in stark relief the intellectual bankruptcy of the policy.
One other thing. It sickens me that he is being given time to speak at tomorrow’s Catholic Prayer Breakfast. If three wives do not disqualify you from communion with the Church of Rome, what, conceivably, could be the point of any of its rules?
Fox News on Libya
April 26, 2011 by Mike · Leave a Comment
EnergyNow on Nuclear
April 26, 2011 by Mike · Leave a Comment
Republican Senators Undermine Value of . . . Being a Republican Senator
February 17, 2011 by Mike · Leave a Comment
Let us suppose that a candidate in a large, Western State ran for and won the Republican nomination to be a United States Senator from that state. Let us also suppose that another candidate in that contest, one dissatisfied with the results of that contest (primarily because she lost), decided to run as an Independent rather than support the Republican nominee. Finally, let us suppose the Independent candidate, who insisted throughout the general campaign that she was the authentic Republican, won. What would the Republican caucus in the United States Senate do with such a candidate?
Vote No on the Debt Ceiling Increase
The President’s budget for FY 2012, which was released yesterday in summary form, indicates that if the current Administration’s preferences are granted, we will add about 9 trillion dollars to the national debt over the next 10 years. That assumes, of course, that we will at some point experience the economic recovery that Administration officials have been blathering about for about a year now. Please pay no attention to the fact that real estate values have now been falling for 54 months (the longest on record, which predates the Great Depression). Also, please pay no attention to the unemployment rate, stuck north of 10% (watch Gallup’s number, pay no attention to anything else). Finally, pay no attention to oil prices as they creep towards $100 a barrel.