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Yep, quite so! And a bit further down on the thread I notice one of the liberal Democrat disruptor wannabees trying to make believe that if a corporation does not pay taxes it must be doing something not allowed by the income tax laws. That, of course, does not necessarily follow at all, but the guy thinks it's too good a "hit" to miss out on. A notion worthy of Tom Daschle.

The tax laws are so complex that a large number of well-paid tax professionals can find all sorts of loopholes - which is almost certainly what they did for Enron's taxes. If it's allowed under the tax code, it ain't illegal. That's the bad thing about having such a complex set of laws and the bad thing about "taxing businesses" at all. If they had sent any taxes on to the government, guess who would actually furnish the money?

Yep, we would.

Little Willie was "The Worst President In American History".

Adam Smith, the father of modern economic thought, had a lot to say about taxation in his still great book Wealth of Nations pp. 561-64. Here is what he had to say about bad taxes:

1. A tax was bad that required a large bureaucracy for administration.

2. A tax was bad that "may obstruct the industry of the people, and discouraged them from applying to certain branches which might give maintenance and employment to great multitudes. While it obliges the people to pay, it may thus diminish, or perhaps destroy, some of the funds which might enable them more easily to do so."

3. A tax was bad that encouraged evasion. "The law, contrary all the ordinary principals of justice, first creates the temptation, and then punishes those who yield to it. "Evasion is also bad, says Smith, because it tends to "put an end to the benefits which the community might have received from the employment of their capitals."

4. A tax is bad that put the people through "odious examinations of the tax-gatherers, and exposes them to much unnecessary trouble, vexation, and oppression...It is in one or other of these four different ways that taxes are frequently so much more burdensome to the people than they are beneficial to the sovereign"

I ask you, which of these are NOT true of our current tax system?

And a bit further down on the thread I notice one of the liberal Democrat disruptor wannabees trying to make believe that if a corporation does not pay taxes it must be doing something not allowed by the income tax laws.

I don't know for the gentleman of whom you speak, but you, I am sure, would be interested in the following, from Neal Boortz's exquisite little book, The Terrible Truth About Liberals...

"BUSINESSES DON'T PAY TAXES"

Haven't you heard Liberal politicians talk about businesses needing to carry more of the tax burden? You probably think that's a good idea, don't you? After all, those huge, rich, evil multinational corporations should pay more taxes so that the little people can keep more of their own money to spend.

If those thoughts have seriously crossed your mind then you have fallen victim to a massive Liberal con job.

For starters, consider these points:

1. There is absolutely no limit to the government's desire for your money. Liberal politicians want as much of your money as they can possibly get their hands on, and they will keep reaching into your pocket and grabbing your cash right up to the point where they start to seriously fear you are about to cut their hands off.

2. These liberal politicians will use any subterfuge, any lie, any trick they can to keep you from realising just how much the government is really costing you.

An example: During Bill Clinton's 1998 State of the Union speech, he bragged that America had the smallest government in decades. The Liberals in the House Chamber dutifully applauded this lie. Then Clinton went on to propose a federal budget that would consume 20.1 percent of the Gross Domestic Product, the total value of all goods and services produced in the United States in that year. Not once since the end of World War II had our government consumed that much of the GDP.

Just how, dear attentive reader, do you square Clinton's claim to the smallest government in decades with the reality of his budget proposal?

Let's go back to businesses supposedly paying taxes.

When politicians think they have pushed the individual taxpayers to the breaking point, they will start to talk about raising taxes on businesses and those evil corporations.

Washington politicians, especially the Liberal ones, believe that the average American actually thinks that businesses and corporations pay taxes. Unfortunately, sadly, these people are right; the average American thinks just that.

But the average American is dead wrong.

Here is a lesson that Liberals do not want you to learn. They know it's true but they don't want you to find out. The following paragraph is pornography to a Liberal.

The only entity in this country that pays taxes is the individual! Corporations and businesses do not pay taxes. They collect taxes from individuals and pass them on to the government.

Virtually every economist in this country who is not working for the government will concur with this statement. (An important distinction. Government economists are being paid to preach the government mantra. They shoot straight with you and they are suddenly looking for jobs in the private sector.)

On second thought, maybe I had better expand on that. Let's try again: Virtually every economist who is not working for the government or teaching in a college or university will concur with this statement.

When a business or corporation takes money out of corporate earnings to send to the government in the form of taxes, that money isn't created out of thin air. If the money had not been paid to the government as taxes, it clearly would have been used for some other purpose. The money could have been used to pay salaries, give employees raises, pay stockholder dividends, pay profits to owners, buy raw materials, have a company barbecue, put new leather upholstery on the corporate jet...you get the general idea. Sending that money to Washington means it isn't going to be spent by that company somewhere else.

Now, if the money paid to the government was going to be used for salaries, just where did that money actually come from? Those dollars came right out of the pockets of the employees who would have received a raise or of the new employees who would have been hired.

OK, so what if no raises or new hiring were in the picture? Then the money might have been paid to stockholders as dividends, or to the owners as profit. Either way, when the money is diverted to taxes, it has to come out of the pocket of some individual - the individual stockholder, or the owner.

Whenever a dollar is spent, it eventually filters down to an individual somewhere. The person who provided the beef or the plastic forks for the employee barbecue. The worker who built the stomach pump used on half the staff the night of the company barbecue. The man who stitched the new leather upholstery in the corporate jet. Or the farmer who raised the cow that gave up its life for the cause of hamburgers and comfortable corporate posteriors.

Our economy operates for the benefit of individuals. All profits and earnings are eventually spent to benefit individuals, and all costs of doing business are eventually paid by individuals.

The individual is the basic unit of our economy. This is where all bucks stop.

So, when a corporation pays a dollar in taxes, that dollar ultimately comes from some individual's pocket.

When taxes are raised on corporations or businesses, those taxes are paid by individuals somewhere. The employee who goes without the raise. The person who doesn't get hired. The stockholder who sees his dividend increase. The farmer who can't get a good price for his cow.

Somewhere an individual human being pays. The business or corporation collects the money, and off it goes to Washington.

So, when you hear some Liberal yammering about the need to raise taxes on businessmen and rich corporations, that politician is talking about raising your taxes.

Just for the hell of it, you should drop him a line and let him know that you're on to him.

We understand, needless to say, that such liberals are not restricted to the Democratic Party.