Notes on a society in crisis (10): America’s fear of taxes (2)
On April 1st 2012, my book,” Dagbok från USA”, came out in Sweden. It will also soon be published in English (as an e-book for Kindle and for other readers) with the title: “Diary from the United States – Notes on a society in crisis“. As an appetizer for English speaking readers, I will the coming weeks publish some excerpts from the book.
Deciding on higher taxes in Congress seems to be virtually impossible
Today, there are few issues that can heat up the political debate in the U.S. quite like the national debt. More precisely, it seems very controversial – and it has become a partisan divide – to decide what political steps should be taken to gain control of the large deficit in the federal budget, and consequently of the national dept. This graph (click for bigger picture), compiled by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (in turn based on figures prepared by the Congressional Budget Office, CBO), provides a perspective on what we are talking about. Assuming that the graph is correct (a safe assumption given the CBO’s good reputation), the U.S. budget deficit is, it seems, a solvable problem provided the political will to solve it.
The diagram shows that the estimated size of the deficit in 2011 is just under $1,500 billion. It’s certainly a high amount as a percentage of GDP, just under 10%, but one can note that roughly a quarter of the deficit in 2011 is related to the stimulus packages (“Recovery measures”) which the politicians decided on during the financial crisis and which will automatically be scaled down in coming years. Of course, the deficit will decrease proportionately. “Economic downturn” is an estimate of the effect of the financial crisis on the federal budget, and we can assume that mainly it’s due to lower tax revenues than in a more normal business cycle. Additionally, we can see in the graph that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are contributing to the deficit but in a relatively small way.
Most thought provoking is the great impact “Bush-era tax cuts” have had – and will have the coming years – on the budget deficit. If the extraordinary tax cuts enacted under the George W. Bush administration, which primarily benefit high-income people, were phased out, the annual deficit would – as can be seen in the graph – decline in absolute term, and of course in relation to GDP. The problem with the budget deficit, and the too rapidly growing national debt, would be eliminated.
Unfortunately, this is easier said than done. Most American politicians reflexively say no to a tax increase. This applies primarily to Republicans but Democrats also find it hard to talk about tax increases. Deciding on higher taxes in Congress seems to be virtually impossible. I would argue that this political paralysis is detrimental to the country. Observant visitors to the U.S. from other parts of the Western world can see that there are serious flaws in American society which, one way or another, are linked to this fear of taxes.
One cannot say, to give another perspective, that the U.S. is a high-tax country. This diagram (click for bigger picture) shows total tax revenue as a percentage of GDP for a number of OECD countries in 2008.
Someone might say that this picture of the tax revenue level is a bit unfair to the United States. It’s not as simple as saying that the U.S. takes out low taxes, and thus there is less room for social safety nets and other redistributive public initiatives. The U.S. redistributes resources much more via tax deductions than is done in other Western countries, especially compared to the European welfare states. For example, in most European countries, health care is taxpayer funded. In the U.S., employers are given tax credits if they subsidize employees’ health insurance. In Europe, we pay a large part of child care through taxes. In the U.S., you get a tax deduction for each child, etc. The OECD has shown that the net effect, i.e. when one adds up the economic effects of tax-funded support for social purposes (like pensions, health care, social safety nets, etc.) and tax deductions, the difference between the U.S. “welfare” model and the European model is considerably smaller. The image of America as the modern laissez faire place on earth is not correct. Social spending in the U.S. is in fact higher than for the average OECD country, which is probably an unexpected finding.
The American penchant to give special groups the benefit of tax deductions can also be seen as an expression of fear of taxes. The price the U.S. pays for this is that the tax system becomes complicated and less transparent, and – as many economists have shown – a major drag on economic growth.
Literature:
Ruffing, K. & Horney, J., 2011, “Economic Down Turn and Bush Policies Continue to Drive Large Projected Deficit”, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Special Series: Economic Recovery Watch, May 10, 2011;
Reinhardt, UE, 2011, “The Case for Higher Taxes”, Economix, The New York Times, May 27, 2011;
“Is the European welfare state really more expensive? Indicators on social spending, 1980-2012 and a manual to the OECD Social Expenditure database (SOCX)”, OECD, October 2011, OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers No. 124;
First published (in Swedish): June 18, 2011
My coder is trying to convince me to move to .net from PHP.
I have always disliked the idea because of the costs. But he’s tryiong none the less.
I’ve been using Movable-type on a variety of websites for about a year and am anxious about switching to another platform.
I have heard very good things about blogengine.net. Is there a way I can import all
my wordpress posts into it? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
I loved as much as you’ll receive carried out right here.
The sketch is attractive, your authored material stylish.
nonetheless, you command get got an edginess over that you wish
be delivering the following. unwell unquestionably come more formerly again as exactly the same nearly very often inside case
you shield this increase.
Have you ever thought about including a little bit
more than just your articles? I mean, what you say is
important and everything. Nevertheless think of if you added some great graphics or videos to give your posts more, “pop”!
Your content is excellent but with images and clips, this
site could definitely be one of the most beneficial in its field.
Excellent blog!
Howdy, I do think your web site could possibly be having
browser compatibility issues. When I take a look at your website in Safari, it looks
fine but when opening in I.E., it has some overlapping issues.
I just wanted to provide you with a quick heads up! Besides that,
wonderful blog!
I’ve been browsing online more than 3 hours today, yet I never found
any interesting article like yours. It’s pretty worth enough for me.
In my view, if all website owners and bloggers made good content as you did,
the net will be a lot more useful than ever before.
Valuable info. Fortunate me I found your website accidentally, and I’m shocked
why this accident did not took place earlier!
I bookmarked it.
Please let me know if you’re looking for a writer for
your weblog. You have some really good articles and I feel I would be a good asset.
If you ever want to take some of the load off, I’d absolutely love to write some articles for
your blog in exchange for a link back to mine. Please shoot me an email if interested.
Thanks!
Do you mind if I quote a few of your articles as long as I provide credit and sources back to your
blog? My website is in the exact same niche as yours and my visitors would definitely benefit from
some of the information you provide here. Please let me know if
this ok with you. Thanks!
Great article! That is the kind of info that are supposed to be shared around the web.
Disgrace on Google for not positioning this put up higher!
Come on over and consult with my site . Thanks =)
I constantly spent my half an hour to read this web site’s posts everyday along with a mug
of coffee.
I always used to study paragraph in news papers but now as I am a user of web so from
now I am using net for articles or reviews, thanks to web.
Hurrah, that’s what I was seeking for, what a data! existing here at this
blog, thanks admin of this website.
Stamina, This is a good website Stamina
Vagina, This is a good website Vagina
Impotence, This is a good website Impotence
Sex pill, This is a good website Sex pill
Suggestive, This is a good website Suggestive
Steamy, This is a good website Steamy
Genitalia, This is a good website Genitalia
Prohibited, This is a good website Prohibited
Sexy, This is a good website Sexy
Разрешение на строительство – это правительственный документ, предоставляемый органами власти, который предоставляет право правовое обоснование дозволение на пуск создания строительства, реконструкцию, капремонт или иные категории строительной деятельности. Этот сертификат необходим для воплощения почти любых строительных и ремонтных проектов, и его отсутствие может провести к серьезными юридическими и денежными последствиями.
Зачем же нужно где получить разрешение на строительство?
Законность и контроль. Разрешение на строительство и реконструкцию объекта – это механизм предоставления соблюдения правил и норм в ходе создания. Разрешение гарантирует выполнение законов и стандартов.
Подробнее на http://www.rns50.ru/
В финальном исходе, разрешение на строительство и монтаж представляет собой фундаментальный методом, предоставляющим выполнение правил и стандартов, соблюдение безопасности и устойчивое развитие строительства. Оно более того обязательным ходом для всех, кто планирует заниматься строительством или реконструкцией недвижимости, и присутствие содействует укреплению прав и интересов всех сторон, заинтересованных в строительной деятельности.
Разрешение на строительство – это официальный документ, выдаваемый компетентными органами власти, который предоставляет возможность юридическое разрешение на деятельность на начало работы строительных процессов, реабилитацию, основной реновационный или дополнительные категории строительных работ. Этот сертификат необходим для проведения фактически разнообразных строительных и ремонтных процедур, и его отсутствие может повести к серьезным юридическими и денежными результатами.
Зачем же нужно разрешение на строительство?
Соблюдение законности и надзор. Разрешение на строительство объекта – это механизм ассигнования соблюдения законов и нормативов в процессе становления. Документ обеспечивает гарантийное выполнение законов и стандартов.
Подробнее на http://www.rns50.ru
В конечном счете, генеральное разрешение на строительство представляет собой важный методом, поддерживающим соблюдение правил, гарантирование безопасности и устойчивое развитие строительства. Оно также обязательным этапом для всех, кто планирует заниматься строительством или реконструкцией недвижимости, и присутствие содействует укреплению прав и интересов всех сторон, принимающих участие в строительной деятельности.