In any case, to put my two cents in regrading your post. I’m a huge fan of Milton Friedman, Ron Paul, Sheldon Richman, Ludwig von Misus, Jeff Brown, and others. The Federal Reserve, IRS, and our current tax code should all be destroyed. Our country boomed up until the early 20th century and things are looking really grim for our future if things don’t change.

Milton Friedman had some excellent points, though some I disagree with such as fiat money policy, in regards to the economy. If anyone is interested they can review my 5 part series on Milton Friedman in my Personal Heroes Series here: http://qcwatchdog.datsure.com/?p=188

I have no where near the space or time to say it all here. But I’m a huge Alan Keyes fan and you can go to his website for his ideas and beliefs. (He’s a Constitutionalist…at least in my opinion.)

Now, having said all of that, it’s all moot because no way we’ll ever do it. I believe the IRS is an important arm of the government that allows us all to remember that we work for them, not the other way around.

2. A huge amount of the problems (but not all of them) that a place like Michigan has stem from the government’s policies. “We” are currently running on a temporary budget because we couldn’t balance the budget. Why not? Because the legislature and the governor are fighting like my two 8 year olds on a bad day. But what are they proposing? Some significant spending cuts but also tax increases. Guess what the effect of the tax increases is going to do? Yep, it’s going to lower the overall tax revenue and make the long term economic life of Michigan significantly worse. Oh, and for the record, I did not vote for our governor!

3. Do I think that Bawldguy/Reagan’s theory makes economic sense? Absolutely.

4. Do I think that it’s the answer to all of our problems right now? Nope. We’re not only dealing with normal economic consequences right now, we’re dealing with a credit bubble that has popped and a major deleveraging of a society that was drunk on credit. It’s going to take a LOT more than lower tax rates to bring our economy out of the doldrums. Lower tax rates will help, but they won’t be enough.

I’ve come to have a better appreciation for some economists lately. Nouriel Roubini, Meredith Whitney, Paul Krugman, they are ones who know what they are talking about and can really teach a lot about where we’ve been and what we can expect going forward. Predictions are exactly that, predictions and are impossible to do right with 100% frequency. Look at it this way, if the weatherman in Grand Rapids Michigan is wrong 50% of the time and considered a professional. And I think the economy is harder to predict than the weather.

The hardest part for economists is maintaining their impartiality. I give you Lawrence Yun as an example. Enough said?

Have a good day!

Tom

A large enough national sales tax might have the unintended consequence of tangible damage to business, which if true, would ultimately result in lost jobs.

Your thoughts?

Personally I’m for a national sales tax while abolishing the payroll (punative) tax. Not that it would ever happen, but if you spend a lot of money you pay a lot of taxes. You don’t spend a lot? Then you don’t pay a lot.

How many black-market dollars would now be captured so that the burden of funding the treasury would be shifted off just the honest people’s plate and be put on EVERYONE’s plate. Now prostitutes, drug dealers, garage salers, etc all pay taxes when they spend their gains. It just makes sense.

Also, though your state corp taxes may be relatively low (I don’t know), the onerous federal taxes are surely weighing them down.

Thanks for you input, and please, don’t be a stranger, Melina.

Love MI’s approach to attracting Hollywood biz. Would love to know their thought process.

Don’t be a stranger.

Over here in cold, dreary Michigan, our brilliant state government wanted to stimulate the movie-making business. What did they do? They offered special incentives in tax savings. What happened? Michigan is now a HOTBED of moving-making activity! As Gomer Pyle might say, “Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!”

It’s as if politicians never learn. Cut taxes, and business booms! This fact is proven over and over again.

Oh, I hear that the Michigan State government is thinking of ending the special incentives for the movie makers. Guess what the (predictable) response is from the movie makers? See ya, Michigan!

A recent client works in Accountancy, mostly with small businesses. He advised me that last year (tax year 2008), most of his business clients had (cash-basis) losses reported on their Federal tax returns. But, on their State returns, each of them owed a sizable tax amount (5- and 6-figure amounts). WTH is Michigan thinking? Hmmm… let me guess: They’re thinking (insert bubble over their heads here) “I know! Let’s kill ALL the businesses in Michigan. That way, we’ll have a GREEN state once again.”

Idiots.

I guess we won’t be moving out to California, though. Sounds like you’ve got it just as bad. At least we still have water (poke, nudge)!