Posted on 02/09/2017 4:12:54 AM PST by IBD editorial writer
Politics: In the month since Republicans took control of the House, Senate and White House, they've been talking a lot about taxes. Unfortunately, the talk is about adding two entirely new taxes to the code.
Earlier in the year, House Republicans spent several days talking up the idea of a new 20% border tax, the folly of which we discussed in this space recently.
This week, a group of old-guard Republicans and business leaders including Reagan administration officials, former Wal-Mart chairman Rob Walton, and venture capitalist Thomas Stephenson were in the White House pitching a new carbon tax to fight global warming.
The idea is to impose a $40 tax for every ton of CO2 emitted in exchange for a "significant" rollback in EPA regulations.
This group, called the Climate Leadership Council, describes this as a conservative, free market approach to the fight against global warming, one that will, according to its report, "strengthen our economy, benefit working-class Americans, reduce regulations and consolidate a new era of Republican leadership."
On the surface, there's a case to be made for taxing carbon rather than regulating it, because a tax is a far more efficient and direct way of getting results, while regulations are slow, cumbersome, scattershot and hugely expensive.
But dig just a little deeper and you can easily see that this new carbon tax won't deliver on any of promises being made.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
Because they like money, it’s got electrolytes.
The President’s 20% tax on Mexican imports is not a ‘folly’.
Baker and Shultz acting like scientists with hands out for massive globalist taxes has already been discussed as either fake or dementia or both.
Without even discussing the other issues with a “carbon tax” One of the problems I see is as soon as this tax becomes law the regulations will come right back and the tax will remain.
Politicians from both parties are always “working hard” trying to come up with new ways to steal money from hard working American families. This is just another one from the GOP establishment.
Just because dinosaurs like James Baker and one or two other republican-linked notables propose something does not make a Republican-wide effort. Reporting as if it were is disingenuous and seems only to foster increased readership.
Real taxes for fake science.
Pray America woke
The idea is to reduce taxes on working and job-creation by closing loopholes, making the taxation of trade fair and possibly also by shifting to a market-oriented approach to climate change.
Whatever the mix, the package has to be revenue-neutral (under static assumptions) and incidence neutral (each income group pays the same, no shifting the burden of tax from the wealthy to the working class).
Probably this means a big reduction or even a complete elimination of payroll taxes.
While the package will be “revenue—neutral,” it will support sustained strong growth of the economy, and so actually bring the budget into balance even with increased money for the military.
Trump and the Congressional Republicans are not tinkering around the edges. Trump is a BIG IDEA man and he sees the inter-connection of things.
Tacking any kind of tax on anything remotely called climate change is utterly ridiculous.
As much as I despise the Republican Party, “Republicans” are not “pushing any new tax.” A few quisling losers are so they can cause trouble and get their names in the news. End of silly one day story.
As much as I despise the Republican Party, “Republicans” are not “pushing any new tax.” A few quisling losers are so they can cause trouble and get their names in the news. End of silly one day story.
while I understand Trumps desire to tax Mexican imports to pay for the wall (or whatever) we can not hide from the fact that this tax, while it might be paid by Mexico, will simply be tacked on to the cost of the goods imported and sold. So in the end Americans end up paying the tax, or buying a product from another country.
Insted. We should impose a 20-50% tax on all wire transfers to Mexico. This would be the money sent by legal and illegal immigrants back to family in Mexico.
even then, that money was either earned while working for Americans, or worse, syphoned off from our Welfare systems.
BTW I never cared who paid for the wall, as long as it’s built.
You should tell this to the President. Although I do not speak for him, I suspect he and his advisors as well as the Congressional Republican leadership know they have to keep the Republican caucus together. This means having a package that can be supported by members that may not be with Trump on every issue. I don’t know that a carbon tax will be part of the deal. I do know that, prior to this idea, Paul Ryan said he couldn’t get taxes on working and job-creating down as far as President Trump wants, without busting the budget. Maybe a carbon tax can make the whole package work budget-wise as well as politics-wise. Some people might say that if making deals that involve some concession to climate change is “utterly ridiculous,” maybe we should just give up trying to make America great again. What I know is that Donald Trump didn’t put the time and money into his campaign that he did in order to score a moral victory.
Trump needs more Drano....
Um, no.. either roll back EPARegs or close the EPA. That’s the only compromise. Let states monitor their own environment, if they choose.
Because are not and never were who they said they were.
The carbon tax is anti-American fraud. Anyone proposing it is in the pockets of our enemies.
The border tax will not add to the cost of anything. It will cut into the profits of the producer. If you produce Corona beer in Mexico, a 20% tax added to the price makes it that much higher than beer produced in the US. People will tend to avoid buying it. So if the producer wants to compete in this market, he has to eat some or all of the 20% tax himself.
Same with any product from Mexico. If there is an alternative, the Mexican product will be priced out of the market unless the producer eats the added cost. The buyer will only eat the cost if there is no alternative, or if despite everything he is willing to pay an additional 20% because he prefers the Mexican product.
It will also have the effect of encouraging Corona, for example, to build a brewery on the US side of the border to evade the tax.
This is so disturbing to me. Once a tax is established the slush fund will forever be coveted. It will be spent and necessitate a bigger tax. If Trump listens to this group, who I guess he appointed, it will be a kick in the stomach to me.
Uh...
To pay the bills??
Baker and Schultz should be deported. To Mexico. And identified as narco informants...
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