PolicyGuy

Thursday, August 28, 2003


Taxpayers: You're Too Stupid to Raise Tax Rates on Yourselves
John Fund, of the Wall Street Journal, profiles the tax-reform-and-hike proposal of Alabama's governor, Bob Riley. Riley, a Republican, has gotten noteriety for his Nixon-to-China embrace of higher taxes, and justifying it by appealing to the Bible.

Fund discusses the political winds in the state (Democratic leaders in favor of the hike, blacks fearful of getting ripped off once again, and Republican leaders voting narrow to oppose the plan). He quotes one of Riley's aides, who said that the people opposed to the package were "too damned stupid to know better."

Among other things, the proposal would eliminate the deduction for federal income taxes, and impose (or perhaps it's merely increase, I'm not sure) the progressive income tax. It's all "for the children," you understand, but there is no guarantee that the money will go to government-controlled schooling (Riley's latest object of concern), or even then, that it will be well-spent.

"Justice Louis D. Brandeis'?s metaphor of the states as "laboratories" for policy experiments ... had almost nothing to do with federalism and everything to do with his commitment to scientific socialism. .... To this day, it continues to inhibit a truly experimental, federalist politics." -- Michael S. Greve

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