jackiedoherty.org

After writing my post on Question 1, when I urge others not to vote “yes” in a knee-jerk reaction to the whole idea of taxes, it occurred to me that I could be accused of the same thing in my support for the income tax and the idea of taxes in general. My position is that taxes pay for what we need as a society, for civilization – good schools, police protection, fire safety, sidewalks, clean streets and a social safety net that protects all of us in case of hard times. In each case, it would be much less cost-effective and efficient to take care of these issues on our own. Spreading the cost among many achieves economies of scale that the individual cannot command. As for tax cuts fueling economic growth, that pipe-dream just won’t die. The Libertarian-backed group behind Question 1 (in 2002 and 2008) gives the usual reasons reasons to get rid of the Income Tax, they state:

3. In productive, private hands this $11 Billion a year will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs in Massachusetts.

As it happens, an article in the Sunday Globe Ideas section addressed this very idea, saying that while the belief that big government and taxes stifle economic growth is widely held, there is no hard evidence to support it. Recent studies by mainstream economists seem to show just the opposite is true, and that government interventions and programs have been ‘vital contributors to growth’ through investments in the railroads, land purchases, R&D, and more. Currently, the author concludes, the lack of belief in government (think New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina for the end result of that kind of thinking) has stymied the kind of investments that need to be made in infrastructure, healthcare and education. He concludes:

a nation steeped in antigovernment economics, the idea that government cannot be of help – or that taxes are not worth paying – is now seriously jeopardizing its future. There is no rich nation in the world today, including America, that has grown wealthy without significant government involvement. And there will be no rich nation in the future that can stay wealthy without robust government, either.