The Politics of Meaning – Part 1008
by Bill Simon
In the 1990s, the political buzzword the GOP used to label wasteful spending on projects was termed to be “pork.”
During this decade (and, since the GOP has run Congress for most of it) the GOP has developed a new term for pork: earmarks.
Pork by any other name is still just as full of arterial-cramming lard as it once was, regardless of the terminology. The spending still results in a redistribution of wealth of federal tax dollars taken from one section of the country and given to people in another section of the country.
AND, the Fair Tax people want to have their new system of taxation implemented because MORE tax money will be generated more easily, by taxing consumption. And, everybody consumes something, sometime, right?
I like our tax system just fine the way it is…the less money that is generated means the less money spent on earmarks or pork or whatever the new term will be to make our Robin-Hooded Congress appear to be doing “the right thing” with our tax dollars.
June 26th, 2007 at 5:25 am
There is nothing conclusive to suggest that the egregiously misnamed “FairTax” would collect more revenue, particularly at a 23% rate. Some studies put the revenue neutrality point at a 44% national sales tax rate. My problem with it is that it shifts even more of the tax burden onto the working class, “rebates” notwithstanding.