Host Joe Selvaggi talks with Stanford University Economics Professor Joshua Rauh about his research on the reaction of Californians to a tax increase, from his report, “The Behavioral Response to State Income Taxation of High Earners, Evidence from California.” Prof. Rauh shares how his research offers tax policy makers insight into the likely effects of similar increases in their own states, including here in Massachusetts.
Guest:
Kristin Tate, Author of The Liberal Invasion of Red State America, joins Carol Roth to talk about why domestic migration is an urgent issue that is being ignored and why the “purpling” of America threatens the future prosperity of major states like Texas and could disrupt the balance of power in our electorate. Plus, a “Now You Know” piece on NewHampshire’s role in declaring independence from Great Britain.
Kristin is also a columnist at The Hill and a Novak Journalism Fellow at the Fund for American Studies.
Jim Geraghty of National Review and talk show host Greg Knapp bring you three crazy martinis today. Jim and Greg differ with Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders on the issue of reinstating the voting rights of people with felony records. They also raise some concerns with Elizabeth Warren’s proposal to make public colleges tuition free and forgive $50,000 in student loans for Americans in households earning less than $100,000 a year. Lastly, they discuss Herman Cain’s withdrawal from consideration for a seat at the Federal Reserve.
Ever since opening my eyes to meta political strategies (in my early 20s) I came to the conclusion that those who defined Democrat policies as “Tax and Spend” had it wrong. What bigger-government Democrats were doing was executing a much more subtle and effective way to get their fingers into our pocketbooks than simply raising […]
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New Year, New Unpopular Opinions
It’s been awhile since we’ve heard what wrong opinions we each have, so I figured we should get down to it… you know, to start the New Year off with a bang. I’ll go first:
The United States of America Is Not, Strictly Speaking, a Christian Nation
At least, its government wasn’t founded as such, and that’s even more true today than it was then. Our federal government has no official religion, is prohibited from forming one, requiring that you participate in one, or — notably — asking you to reject one.
Hillary: Sanders Plan for US Billionaires to Self-deport “Unworkable”
BURLINGTON, VT — Delivering a speech on income inequality yesterday, presidential candidate Bernie Sanders (Workers Party, Vermont) called on US billionaires to self-deport. “We’re not going to round them up” said Sanders. “The answer is self-deportation, which is people deciding they can do better by going elsewhere due to a draconian tax code.”
Sanders’ presidential rival Hillary Clinton sharply criticized the proposal, calling self-deportation “unworkable.” Ms. Clinton went on to ridicule the notion that the authorities are going to “round up the 537 billionaires living in America’s shadows and put them in electric cars and private planes bound for a friendlier tax environment. Where are these people expected to go?” asked Ms. Clinton rhetorically, “Switzerland?” Ms. Clinton then painted a chaotic refugee crisis in which undocumented billionaires and their families are forced to traverse the uncharted private airfields and ski resorts of Zurich, Vail, and St. Tropez.
Loopholes and Inequality
“And let’s close the loopholes that lead to inequality by allowing the top one percent to avoid paying taxes on their accumulated wealth…” President Barack Obama, State of the Union Address, January 20, 2015
That statement just about sums up Barack Obama’s entire political philosophy. Wealthy capitalists hire accountants and lawyers lobby the government to create ways for them to legally cheat the government out of tax proceeds — proceeds rightly given to other citizens — which is, of course, unfair in that it creates inequality. The conceit simple: money (capitalism) is rigged; even the government is cheated, and by association, so are you.
The fallacy, of course, is that the achievers (capitalists) fund the vast majority of taxes and much of government funding is just plain borrowed (deficits and the debt). The beneficiaries of this fictional claim on the capitalist purse pay little in the way of income taxes and pay withholding taxes, the whole of which are insufficient to cover current program disbursements. The so-called loopholes are not created in a vacuum. They are voted into law by the legislature and either signed into law by the president or allowed to become law by omission.
