Quote:
Originally Posted by Tbugs
BBQMan, I do appreciate your tone and verbage when you disagree with me. Your answer was articulate and gave good reasoning.
I have heard and seen all of these corporate reasons before about why taxes on them should not be raised. The main one that always comes out is that if they have to pay more taxes, prices to the consumer will be raised. Since their corporate profits have to be shown to their shareholders, this is probably true. Corporations like EM also state they spend almost all their profits in new explorations and in R&D. Again, maybe true. This is a form of corporate blackmail, in my opinion.
Also, look at the executives at the high levels and how much money they earn both in salary and bonus money. How about higher taxes on them?
|
Bugs, I still feel that raising corporate taxes is the wrong way to go. Energy companies have and will continue to spend money wisely to deliver cost effective energy to the public. Our government does not. The horrendous waste in corn ethanol subsidies, electric golf cart subsidies, electric automobile subsidies, solar subsidies, etc. have drained this country of billions and done nothing to reduce our dependence on imported oil. If anything, they have increased it. Why would anyone believe that transferring say 8 billion dollars from EM where it is being effectively to increase energy reserves and energy efficiency to the Federal government where it can be spent on one more pet project such as 'green' energy that will yield anything of benefit?
Individual taxes are another matter. I do not favor increasing them with the present tax code. Intelligent people with capable tax advisors will wind up paying no more while people in the Villages, who do not have these resources, will wind up paying more.
All deductions that do not relate to catastrophic conditions (medical expenses above a certain percentage of income, flood and fire damage, etc) should be eliminated. The government needs to get out of the behavior shaping behavior. For example, the mortgage interest deduction, the charitable giving deduction, etc. It is not the government's role to decide how I spend my money. If I choose to live in an apartment rather than a house, why should the government get involved? If I want to give my money to the dancers at the local strip club rather than the church down the block, what business is that of our government?
I still agree with Thomas Paine when he wrote, "That government is best which governs least."