Wednesday, October 7, 2020

Trump Adviser Stephen Moore Calls For Complete Suspension of Income Taxes


Stephen Moore,  a co-founder of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity and a member of President Trump’s economic recovery task force, writes in The Wall Street Journal:

Before President Trump suspended negotiations Tuesday, he and Congress were homing in on an economic stimulus plan that would cost some $2 trillion. That money would fund schools and hospitals, a bailout of mostly Democratic states and cities that have amassed large budget deficits, small-business loans, airline and Postal Service bailouts and $1,000-a-person payments to households. It’s a mishmash of spending that aims to inflate the economy for a few months.

There’s a better way. Instead of spending the money, why not cut out the government middleman and not collect the taxes? In 2020 the personal income tax was expected to raise $1.81 trillion and the corporate income tax $260 billion, for a total of $2.07 trillion. For a little more than $2 trillion, Congress could suspend the personal and corporate income tax for a year.

I am all for tax elimination but the problem with Moore's proposal is that he fails to discuss the other side of the coin, government spending.

If income taxes are suspended for a year but government spending continues at its merry pace, then the government will need the help of the Federal Reserve in the form of printing money out of thin air.

That is the taxation will come in the form of price inflation.

Taxes need to be suspended but so does government spending. 

Why isn't Moore providing the full picture? Has he become a closet MMTer?

-RW

6 comments:

  1. It'll never fly. Going back to Hamilton (at least), the only reason to impose federal taxes was to enforce a federal currency. Otherwise people will make their own money system (see Whiskey Rebellion). Can't have that. George Washington (with army in tow) marched on his own people to enforce that tax (and currency) but he got bored half way across PA and turned around. Let the army continue on without him. They should make a musical out of that!
    https://www.amazon.com/Whiskey-Rebellion-Washington-Challenged-Sovereignty/dp/0743254910/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=whiskey+rebellion&qid=1602106261&sr=8-2

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  2. Moore is not a serious thinker and should be ignored.

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  3. I for one am all for the government suspending any and preferably all taxation.
    They are never going to stop spending, and have for a long time spent more than they take in taxes.
    Inflation from all the money printing is going to happen whether they stop taxing or not.
    At least if they suspend taxes I can use the money they don’t steal from me now, maybe to buy gold to counter inflation, buy another gun, buy some property, anything.
    A reduction in spending I think is a thing of the past. MMT (magic money tree) is here to stay. Until of course they destroy everything, but they are going to whether they tax me or not.
    Let me keep my money, and I can do a whole lot more to prepare no matter what they do, to live free in an unfree world.

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    Replies
    1. I agree. Not only that, but imagine if you were able to convert your traditional IRA/401k to a Roth and avoid the income tax.

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  4. I for one am all for the government suspending any and preferably all taxation.
    They are never going to stop spending, and have for a long time spent more than they take in taxes.
    Inflation from all the money printing is going to happen whether they stop taxing or not.
    At least if they suspend taxes I can use the money they don’t steal from me now, maybe to buy gold to counter inflation, buy another gun, buy some property, anything.
    A reduction in spending I think is a thing of the past. MMT (magic money tree) is here to stay. Until of course they destroy everything, but they are going to whether they tax me or not.
    Let me keep my money, and I can do a whole lot more to prepare no matter what they do, to live free in an unfree world.

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  5. he is just trying to get Trump off and you all are so greedy you cant see you are getting fleeced

    ReplyDelete