Wednesday, November 19, 2008

quote for the day

Budweiser Beer, in the 3rd lowest tax system for developed nations in the world, was bought out by a Dutch company, where taxes for corporations are between 50 and 65%. Apparently, they didn't here enough of how taxes are crushing their companies in Deutchland and they need to tune in more to our AM radio stations to get this education.

(not the "real") William Shatner, commenting at Conrary Brin

You know, when you think about it, this ought to be obvious. By the "evidence" given us by the sky-is-falling-anti-tax crowd, no country in the world ought to be able to buy or beat an American company, and certainly not one from that bastion of Socialist wrong-headedness, Europe. And yet somehow they do, dont they?
And while I'm on it, let me comment on the idea that raising taxes will remove the incentive of the wealthy to invest their money, presumably resulting in them just sitting on their huge piles of cash like Scrooge McDuck or something. Well, as the McDuck imagery suggests, that's just silly (and childish). Money is only part of the goal of investment. An equally important reason to invest money (one might even say a more important reason) is power. Even if your financial returns on your investment are "reduced*" by a whopping 5% (¡ay caramba!), there is no tax whatsoever on the power that investing millions in a company will bring you, and unless Obama is really, really smart, there never will be.

Tax rates around the world.


* that is, reduced through taxation.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think the tax rate argument has less to do with being able to survive than it does the wealthy just need to rub some extra cash on their nether regions to keep it hard.

daveawayfromhome said...

Are you saying that not only is money the root of all evil, it is the root of fluffing also?

Anonymous said...

No, the fluffing is just a natural "buy-product". In fact, it's work that is the root of all evil. Money's just a "buy-product" of work.

daveawayfromhome said...

I knew it! NO more work for me.

word verification: "unclat"