Let's talk about tax

If there's one practical area in which I most disagree with the Republican candidates, it's when it comes to tax. While taxes need to be justified, and wasteful taxing is one of the worst things governments can do, since they impose pain on their citizens unnecessarily, being anti-taxes per se while not being an outright anarchist is as meaningless and nonsensical as being against money itself. Taxes are part of the system of having a government, and whatever romantic individualistic ideas one might have of having 'small government' not even the most extreme would take it so far as having no government, and the same applies to taxes : they should be used as needed, just as government should govern as needed, and at different times this might mean to a greater or lesser extent.

I've already written about this with respect to the Gorver Norquist pledge that all candidates have signed up to , but this article  , while being obviously pro-Obama, does make some extra interesting points on the current tax system in America, which makes a lot of the rhetoric from the Republican candidates even more meaningless. The article claims :

- only in last 30 years taxes have decreased nothing new to have high taxes, and indeed maybe some of America's best eras (for everyone) were high tax periods
- taxes are lower under Obama than in Bush years, tax revenue is lowest in 60 years (though this is of course partly due to the economy slowing), yet still Obama often seen as a tax raiser (maybe even if acknowledge this these people would say he might not have raised, but he wants to, which given he's been in power 4 years is pushing it)
- For all their obsession with fiscal responsibility the Repubicans finally torpedoed plan which could have balanced the budget (though I am assuming this article is correct about this since don't have the details myself)
- Romney's current tax plan (link here) would mean less for those making more than $1m a year and tax rises for those under $40,000. Apart from the unfairness of this, it also doesn't make economic sense. While tax cuts for job creation is a worthy reason, rich peoples spending on the sort of goods which get an economy moving is obviously much less influenced by minor fluctuations than the average earner. A $100,000 here are there is not going to stop a millionaire buying a car, or a TV, but a $1000 for the average worker might mean actual purchases skipped.

Benjamin Franklin was right when he said there was nothing certain in life but death and taxes. To live well we need society, and to have society we need government, and that government needs to be funding. Claiming that taxes should categorically never go up regardless of the circumstances is just utter nonsense, and highly iresonsible, and not just fiscally.

The point is tax needs to be discussed, reasonably. Maybe people pay too much, maybe they pay too little, but pay we must