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Calvin Coolidge On Freedom And Taxes
6 February 2008
This 1924 movie taken on the White House lawn is the first “talkie” of a President. The topic is how the government through taxes saps the strength and will of it’s people and denies their right of freedom. Interesting.
First a quote from Calvin’s Secretary Andrew Mellon:
The history of taxation shows that taxes which are inherently excessive are not paid. The high rates inevitably put pressure upon the taxpayer to withdraw his capital from productive business and invest it in tax-exempt securities or to find other lawful methods of avoiding the realization of taxable income. The result is that the sources of taxation are drying up; wealth is failing to carry its share of the tax burden; and capital is being diverted into channels which yield neither revenue to the Government nor profit to the people.
Tax a behavior and you discourage that behavior. Want to decrease smoking? Increase taxes on the cigarettes. Increase taxes on any human activity and you decrease that activity. Even work.
Heritage.org: Under the leadership of Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon during the Administrations of Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, tax rates were slashed from the confiscatory levels they had reached in World War I. The Revenue Acts of 1921, 1924, and 1926 reduced the top rate from 73 percent to 25 percent.
Spurred in part by lower tax rates, the economy expanded dramatically. In real terms, the economy grew 59 percent between 1921 and 1929, and annual economic growth averaged more than 6 percent.
Notwithstanding (or perhaps because of) the dramatic reduction in tax rates, personal income tax revenues increased substantially during the 1920s, rising from $719 million in 1921 to $1,160 million in 1928, an increase of more than 61 percent (this was a period of no inflation).
Cttaxed: Both Barrack and Hillary will have to raise taxes, a lot, to pay for their increased spending programs. At the moment only Hillary has let slip that she plans on raising the top rate, the maximum rate the wealthiest Americans pay. However studies have shown there is not enough money in the top rate to pay for all her programs, and therefore there is not enough for Barrack either. Barrack’s promises add up to more than Hill’s promises.
So the definition of “wealthy” will have to drop, a lot. Reminds us on how our local CT politicians kept dropping the definition of “wealthy” during our “soak the rich” debate last year. First the wealthy was $250K and up and later dropped to $100K and possibly lower, at least in their hearts and minds.
The fact that affluent CT went for Obama is very scary, clearly Connecticut voters have a suicidal streak, we pay the highest taxes yet we voted for the man who is clearly going to raise our taxes between 2K$ and 4K$ per household? How stupid is that?
Again clearly our survival instinct is not strong, we keep re-electing the same old same political hacks that are constantly working to enact new spending programs and taxes to pay for them.
Our native born children are leaving and the increase in employment is almost all government.
Oh by the way, our increase in population in Connecticut? It is Asians and Indians (non-native American types), not imports from other states. What does that mean? Well our state government touted the increase in population as proof that Connecticut was becoming more competitive relative to our fellow states. Not so.
A friend, my deep deep cover mole, who works for the state (don’t worry I won’t blow your cover) has told me the average height of a Connecticut resident is shrinking due to all the Asians coming to Connecticut. I can not find a reference to that, so you’ll have to take it on faith. Maybe they coming for all those government jobs? Just a thought.
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