Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Thomas Sowell: Obama's taxation will reduce nation's wealth

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Thomas+Sowell%3A+Obama%27s+taxation+will+reduce+nation%27s+wealth&articleId=ae4e677b-c94e-4ca2-8a75-1522da263f61

[Union Leader] 29 Oct 2008--Chief Justice John Marshall said it all in one sentence: "The power to tax is the power to destroy."

It is not the money that is taxed away that is destroyed. What is destroyed is the wealth that does not get produced in the first place, because high taxes make its production not worthwhile.

Those who are receptive to Sen. Barack Obama's plan to increase taxes on "the rich" seem not to understand that the issue is the nation's loss of wealth. Today, wealth can leave the country when heavy taxes threaten it -- instantly, in an age of electronic financial transfers -- and create jobs and economic growth overseas, instead of at home.

The two months between the time of a presidential election and the time when the new President takes office is an eternity in terms of how much money can be transferred out of the country electronically before any new high-tax laws can be enacted.

Like so much that is said glibly by Barack Obama, raising taxes on "the rich" has serious -- and potentially disastrous -- implications for the whole country that have been ignored amid the political euphoria.

Moreover, like so much that is proposed under the magic mantra of "change," it is something that has been tried before in many countries and failed before in many countries.

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