political commentator * author * publisher * bookseller * radio presenter * blogger * Conservative candidate * former lobbyist * Jack Russell owner * West Ham United fanatic * Email iain AT iaindale DOT com
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Taxes, Taxes, Taxes, Taxes
This advert was made by David Zucker, Director of Airplane. It has a fantastic message on tax, which applies equally to the US Democrats and Gordon Brown's Labour Party.
There are now so many spongers (mostly Civil Servants and Gov't consultants i.e. former civil servants) dependant upon the NuLab, Bliar and Moron (as in Gordon is a ...) taxing anything and everything that this sort of advert might not work in the UK. Why would the spongers vote for lower taxes?
As we all know, taxation is used to intimidate wealth creators with an ever-bigger army of tax collectors and tax-eaters - the piraña public sector.
Everything, except our military, should be privatised. No role for the government. We don't just have to slash the government's role, we have to abolish it.
Set up a new department for our armed forces, give them some power, closely scrutinised, and let them raise their own taxes.
LOL, I think you forgot another high-tax, high-spend, "we will never ever cut taxes and 'hurt' public services oh no, not us" Party a bit closer to home Iain...
He's quite right on one thing; the Americans pay an incredible amount in taxes for the services they get. Of course, for most Americans the tax burden has increased under the Republicans while it decreased under the last Democratic administration. The civil service has expanded more under Republican control of the White House, Congress and the Senate than under any previous administration.
Taxation is a fee for service deal. In Canada we pay much higher taxes, but we do, in fact, get services. Whereas people in the US get put on hold when they call the police.
Faced with increased taxation that's not putting out in terms of increased services, the population have the option of changing things at the polls, which they have done. Things look good for the Democrats in 2008, as long as McCain keeps saying stupid things.
That is one of the best political films I've ever seen. It needs to be viewed far and wide.
I was trying to imagine Gordon Brown as the taxman in the film, but I can only visualise him as the baby in the buggy with the dummy in his mouth. Perhaps we need a horror version made for the British market where an oversize Gordon-faced baby pickpockets his parents, and fleeces everyone else in similarly threatening manner.
The Republican alternative was presumably lower taxes and higher spending with - as practiced by G. W. Bush. Please tell me that's not what the Tories are going to offer as an alternative to Brown!
Taxes would have been a good thing if they were really distrubted and used for the right reasons. I have always wondered why nobody says anything when people in the government are driven around in luxury cars and planes.
Oh, and the Republicans have been such sound guardians of the public purse have they? Costs of a protracted, now officially disowned ill-planned war - per day, per family - please?
Pots and kettles - whatever side of the Atlantic you are on - and childish politics at that.
I thought dangerous Dave wanted to see us all move away from Punch and Judy - and I had assumed he wanted to move up, not down.
As raincoaster points out - unless you are one of the top earners in the US and benefitting from Shrub's gift to the deserving rich, taxation hasn't fallen.
Similarly, what ARE the Tory policies on cutting tax?
Much of it already has been "civilianised" over the last 20 years and what is left is at constant danger - not from any adversaries, but from Lord Goldsmith and his war crimes lawyers.
Can we not pay someone like Poland to do all our expeditionary warfare, or maybe hire some Swiss pikemen?
This is a most excellent video, applicable to the UK as well.
For all those banging on about "only the top 5% benefitted from Bush's tax cuts", el toro poopoo to you. I am on a fixed income (not high) and I certainly noticed an improvement.
Just because the media incessantly parrot the left's talking points does not make them the truth.
Many people believe that taxes have fallen under this administration. While it's true that tax rates and tax revenues have fallen, the tax burden hasn’t. It has increased.
Think of it this way. Suppose the parents of a student have committed to financing educational expenses. They’ve promised to pay a certain amount each month, but the amount can change according to their decree.
Let the student’s income and expenditures be perfectly matched initially at $1,000 per month. The budget is balanced. Assume the income, $1,000 per month, represents a 20% tax on the parent's income of $5,000 per month.
Now, let’s perform the Bush administration’s experiment. Lower taxes on the parents to 10% permanently and increase the student’s expenditures to $1,200. This opens up a deficit of $700 in the student’s budget as income is now $500 (10% of $5,000) and expenditures are $1,200.
The parents have promised to pay, so they borrow $700 each month.
How has this reduced their burden? At some point in the future they will have to increase the amount they take from their income (raise their taxes) to pay off the loans plus interest. If you’ve had student loans you know all about this.
All the parents have done is defer taxes from the present to the future. The $700 shortfall each month, plus interest, must be paid off eventually. And, because spending has increased by $200 each month (from $1,000 to $1,200), the overall burden on the parents has increased.
This is precisely what this administration has done. Lowered taxes and increased spending opening up a deficit, and financed the deficit by borrowing. Just like in the example above, the tax burden has increased, not decreased. At some point in the future taxes will have to be raised to repay the money plus interest that the government has borrowed to finance its spending.
The tax burden has increased under this administration.
As a Tory, if they produced something like that I'd probably vote Labour! A bit of the Polly Toynbee approach wouldn't go amiss in the US - if you look at how the bottom 20% live, it should make the top 20% too embarassed to ask for lower taxes.
There's also a huge and growing deficit which needs to be fixed somehow, and a criminal misuse of the tax revenues that are generated.
Fortunately this sort of nonsense didn't help the Republicans at the recent election.
So verity, bless her little troll socks, is suggesting that the only recognised authority should be the military? We should "abolish" the (relatively) democratic government and replace it with one big department. With guns, nukes and illiterate cannon fodder in constant supply, indoctrinated instead of educated.
North Korea is that way, hun ...> <--- Or the USA is that way
difference? meh *shrug*
Do you really think life would be fairer if the people with the power to "raise their own taxes" also carried guns? I believe that's called armed robbery.
The people with the power to raise taxes do carry guns, they always have.
Of course nowadays the shabby apparatchik in the shiny suit who actually presents you with your tax demand may not be tooled up. But you don't have to search too far behind him to see the men in dark blue SWAT overalls or the ones in those natty jungle cammie suits.
I do agree with you, however, that giving the army the power to raise taxes directly is perhaps a bit too dangerous.
However, extreme as she maybe, Verity has a point. It is time to completely reappraise just what we really want from our government and then to alter our tax policies accordingly.
Then again I would guess that most people here believe that taxation is merely the necessary evil needed to fund those services we do expect from the state. Sadly, the socialists (and, more depressingly, a growing number of Tories) see it primarily as a tool of social engineering.
There are now so many spongers (mostly Civil Servants and Gov't consultants i.e. former civil servants) dependant upon the NuLab, Bliar and Moron (as in Gordon is a ...) taxing anything and everything that this sort of advert might not work in the UK. Why would the spongers vote for lower taxes?
ReplyDeleteAs we all know, taxation is used to intimidate wealth creators with an ever-bigger army of tax collectors and tax-eaters - the piraña public sector.
ReplyDeleteEverything, except our military, should be privatised. No role for the government. We don't just have to slash the government's role, we have to abolish it.
Set up a new department for our armed forces, give them some power, closely scrutinised, and let them raise their own taxes.
It's about time our PPB's started showing some imagination, too.
ReplyDeleteLOL, I think you forgot another high-tax, high-spend, "we will never ever cut taxes and 'hurt' public services oh no, not us" Party a bit closer to home Iain...
ReplyDeleteHe's quite right on one thing; the Americans pay an incredible amount in taxes for the services they get. Of course, for most Americans the tax burden has increased under the Republicans while it decreased under the last Democratic administration. The civil service has expanded more under Republican control of the White House, Congress and the Senate than under any previous administration.
ReplyDeleteTaxation is a fee for service deal. In Canada we pay much higher taxes, but we do, in fact, get services. Whereas people in the US get put on hold when they call the police.
Faced with increased taxation that's not putting out in terms of increased services, the population have the option of changing things at the polls, which they have done. Things look good for the Democrats in 2008, as long as McCain keeps saying stupid things.
Is it just me, or did the marching bunch of tax collectors at the end look & sound just like Cybermen?
ReplyDeleteGordon Brown's Labour Party? mmmmmk. Fairly pathetic advert really with sweeping statements, fantastic message?? Yeah, whatever.
ReplyDeleteand to David Cameron and George Osborne...
ReplyDeleteThat is one of the best political films I've ever seen. It needs to be viewed far and wide.
ReplyDeleteI was trying to imagine Gordon Brown as the taxman in the film, but I can only visualise him as the baby in the buggy with the dummy in his mouth. Perhaps we need a horror version made for the British market where an oversize Gordon-faced baby pickpockets his parents, and fleeces everyone else in similarly threatening manner.
That's what I want to see on 18DS!
ReplyDeleteThe Republican alternative was presumably lower taxes and higher spending with - as practiced by G. W. Bush. Please tell me that's not what the Tories are going to offer as an alternative to Brown!
ReplyDeletePerhaps you could let us know how this kind of nonsense scare tactic got on in the US mid terms?
ReplyDeleteI don't think we'll fall for it here either.
Heffer audio on DT site-Stevie & dave should bend an ear.
ReplyDeleteTaxes would have been a good thing if they were really distrubted and used for the right reasons. I have always wondered why nobody says anything when people in the government are driven around in luxury cars and planes.
ReplyDeleteIsn't all this our money meant to be used for us?
I'd be perfectly happy to see the Tories use this in the next elections; as nony 9:46 pointed out, it wasn't very effective, was it?
ReplyDeleteFYI: Taxes have actually substantially increased on all but the wealthiest 5% of Americans under George W. Bush.
Oh, and the Republicans have been such sound guardians of the public purse have they? Costs of a protracted, now officially disowned ill-planned war - per day, per family - please?
ReplyDeletePots and kettles - whatever side of the Atlantic you are on - and childish politics at that.
I thought dangerous Dave wanted to see us all move away from Punch and Judy - and I had assumed he wanted to move up, not down.
I can now watch the Chief Constable of Gloucestershire being driven around by a retired P.C in a Mercedes!!
ReplyDeleteIn my time he was driven around in a Ford.
Thats where your taxes are going!! How can he possibly justify such an expensive car on the taxpayer??
It worked SO well for the Republicans, didn't it?
ReplyDeleteAs raincoaster points out - unless you are one of the top earners in the US and benefitting from Shrub's gift to the deserving rich, taxation hasn't fallen.
Similarly, what ARE the Tory policies on cutting tax?
Verity. Why not fully privatise our military?
ReplyDeleteMuch of it already has been "civilianised" over the last 20 years and what is left is at constant danger - not from any adversaries, but from Lord Goldsmith and his war crimes lawyers.
Can we not pay someone like Poland to do all our expeditionary warfare, or maybe hire some Swiss pikemen?
Why should I be forced to pay to educate your children?
ReplyDeleteWhy should I be forced to pay for your healthcare?
It's time we re-restricted the franchise.
This is a most excellent video, applicable to the UK as well.
ReplyDeleteFor all those banging on about "only the top 5% benefitted from Bush's tax cuts", el toro poopoo to you. I am on a fixed income (not high) and I certainly noticed an improvement.
Just because the media incessantly parrot the left's talking points does not make them the truth.
yak40, I'm glad you're doing better. But here are some statistics from an economist:
ReplyDeleteMany people believe that taxes have fallen under this administration. While it's true that tax rates and tax revenues have fallen, the tax burden hasn’t. It has increased.
Think of it this way. Suppose the parents of a student have committed to financing educational expenses. They’ve promised to pay a certain amount each month, but the amount can change according to their decree.
Let the student’s income and expenditures be perfectly matched initially at $1,000 per month. The budget is balanced. Assume the income, $1,000 per month, represents a 20% tax on the parent's income of $5,000 per month.
Now, let’s perform the Bush administration’s experiment. Lower taxes on the parents to 10% permanently and increase the student’s expenditures to $1,200. This opens up a deficit of $700 in the student’s budget as income is now $500 (10% of $5,000) and expenditures are $1,200.
The parents have promised to pay, so they borrow $700 each month.
How has this reduced their burden? At some point in the future they will have to increase the amount they take from their income (raise their taxes) to pay off the loans plus interest. If you’ve had student loans you know all about this.
All the parents have done is defer taxes from the present to the future. The $700 shortfall each month, plus interest, must be paid off eventually. And, because spending has increased by $200 each month (from $1,000 to $1,200), the overall burden on the parents has increased.
This is precisely what this administration has done. Lowered taxes and increased spending opening up a deficit, and financed the deficit by borrowing. Just like in the example above, the tax burden has increased, not decreased. At some point in the future taxes will have to be raised to repay the money plus interest that the government has borrowed to finance its spending.
The tax burden has increased under this administration.
As a Tory, if they produced something like that I'd probably vote Labour! A bit of the Polly Toynbee approach wouldn't go amiss in the US - if you look at how the bottom 20% live, it should make the top 20% too embarassed to ask for lower taxes.
ReplyDeleteThere's also a huge and growing deficit which needs to be fixed somehow, and a criminal misuse of the tax revenues that are generated.
Fortunately this sort of nonsense didn't help the Republicans at the recent election.
So verity, bless her little troll socks, is suggesting that the only recognised authority should be the military? We should "abolish" the (relatively) democratic government and replace it with one big department. With guns, nukes and illiterate cannon fodder in constant supply, indoctrinated instead of educated.
ReplyDeleteNorth Korea is that way, hun ...>
<--- Or the USA is that way
difference? meh *shrug*
Do you really think life would be fairer if the people with the power to "raise their own taxes" also carried guns? I believe that's called armed robbery.
vbs,
ReplyDeleteThe people with the power to raise taxes do carry guns, they always have.
Of course nowadays the shabby apparatchik in the shiny suit who actually presents you with your tax demand may not be tooled up. But you don't have to search too far behind him to see the men in dark blue SWAT overalls or the ones in those natty jungle cammie suits.
I do agree with you, however, that giving the army the power to raise taxes directly is perhaps a bit too dangerous.
However, extreme as she maybe, Verity has a point. It is time to completely reappraise just what we really want from our government and then to alter our tax policies accordingly.
Then again I would guess that most people here believe that taxation is merely the necessary evil needed to fund those services we do expect from the state. Sadly, the socialists (and, more depressingly, a growing number of Tories) see it primarily as a tool of social engineering.
I thought it was boring. Sorry. Highly negative (in the American way), lacked a killer punchline and just plain boring!
ReplyDelete