It’s a sure thing — that most folks will like President Trump’s tax cuts. Though we don’t yet know all the details.
When it comes to taxes, less is more.
That is, if you’re paying taxes. It is no great mystery that people like it when their own taxes are reduced.
But what about reducing other people’s taxes?
“The core economic case for tax cuts is that they reduce the obstacles to creative and productive activities,” economist Don Boudreaux explained yesterday at the Café Hayek blog.
Cutting the corporate tax rate — which even former President Bill Clinton supported during last year’s campaign — won’t immediately appear in people’s paychecks, but can stimulate economic growth helping everyone. Recent experiences in both Britain and Canada bear this out.
Cutting taxes, of which “the rich” pay more, can also spur growth.
Yet, these ideas do not dominate popular discussions of tax cuts. Boudreaux lamented media reporting that treats any tax reduction as simply a “‘gift’ to high-income earners,” dubbing the coverage: “Biased. Benighted. Blind.”
“Suppose that freedom of the press were reported in the same way as … a ‘giveaway to the press’?” he asked. “Most people, of course, do not own newspapers or other media outlets.”
Boudreaux concluded, “When the press is free, the chief beneficiaries are the general public.”
Freedom — of both the press and to keep more of the fruits of our labors — helps the common man. As well as the uncommon man. A tax cut for me helps me directly, and you indirectly. And vice versa. Just as a free press is great for those in journalism as well as those of us not in journalism.
That is not blind, but eyes open; not benighted, but enlightened; not biased, but …
… Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
