Tax To Death (and Beyond)

[lamexican]

Originally Posted by dcashley

Oops...hit the wrong button.
to continue....
country 1970 2006
Germany 18 69
Italy 42 119
Japan 12 180

2. Vito Tanzi of the international monetary fund and Ludger Schukenect of the Euro Central Bank (ECB) concluded in separate studies that "in areas such as economic performance, labor markets, government financial liabilities, governance and the regulatory environment, small government countries tend to produce better [economic] results than the other country group...

These two esteemed economists concluded that GD/GDP ratio should be no higher than 30% for maximum growth. They pointed out that many Asian economies have GD/GDP ratios of about 20% yet are growing very quickly.

I have not personally calculated the GD/GDP ratios for any of the Asian countries...however I did for those quoted above in Europe. Out of that short list above, Germany grew the quickest in the 1970s followed by the USA overall.

I think this data is irrefutable. If we want to be well-off, and want our children to enjoy the same economic freedoms that we've enjoyed, we need to shrink government, and we need to reduce the taxes needed to suppport that government.

Does he give specifics on tax-rates and incomes. The reason I ask is there can be many manipulators that can be misleading.
Here is US
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_..._United_States

[lamexican]

I will also try to look up in other countries you posted when I have more time.

[dcashley]

He is using total governmental debt as a surrogate for the size of government. You ask a very cogent question. It will be noon tomorrow before I can get enough data together to begin an analysis of your question.

[davberk]

Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, and our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest
middleclass in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

What in the hell happened? Can you spell 'politicians?'

[/quote]

If what you desire is a nation where the wealthy have no obligation to protect their employees and have the freedom to run their competitors out of business then we can return to 1909. Read the below excerpt about the period from 1900 - 1913 and notice that the wealthy were the benefactors of the economic prosperity then and the "non-wealthy" were enslaved by them. Taxes and deficits are not the problem. They are a symptom of the problem. Corrupt politicians are not the problem either because they are put into office by the people. The problem is that Americans want their government to provide them with so many things and yet don't want to pay for them. The more things your government provides you with, the more taxes you will have. This is sometimes good and sometimes bad. Want more government services and protection: vote for Democrats; want less taxes and to fight for yourself against the wealthy: vote Republican. I personally am thankful for the balance.


1900-1913
By 1900, capitalists were well on the way to structuring an economy shaped like a pyramid, with a few very wealthy multimillionaires at the top. In 1904, 1000+ railroad lines consolidated into
six great corporate combinations – it was an era of the growth of monopolies. “American industrial power was becoming as great as that of all the industrial nations combined.” A constant flow of immigrants from Europe, Asia, and Latin America helped to make all of this fortune-building possible. The rise of capitalism was creating a new enslavement for working men, women, and children. Farmers were 42 percent of the workforce. The United States manufactured 1/3 of the world’s goods, and were first in the world in total productivity, as well as iron and steel production.

1907: The economic boom ended in October, with the Panic of 1907.
Working conditions at many factories remained uncivilized- 1/3-1/2 of all employees were still required to work 12 hour days, 7 days a week, and many workers and their families had no choice, other than to live in factory town shanties.

1909-1913: Reform movements included organized strikes, which rocked the nation: 6,000 workers in Pennsylvania, 20,000 in New York City, and 7000 Japanese in Hawaii in 1909. 10,000 mill workers went on strike in Massachusetts in 1912 – all of which helped to bring about the nation’s first minimum wage law.