Open Thread — A New Tax Hike
As anyone who reads this blog understands, I’m not a favor of any taxation. Nor am I much in favor of government. But at the moment, we have a government, and its functions must be paid through some revenue. We might as well find economically efficient, rather than inefficient, ways to raise that revenue.
Politicians talk about taxing the rich, or raising “usage fees”, raising capital gains taxes, or even sin taxes. But what if we added a tax on politics itself? We already talk of the corrupting influence of money on politics, but why not put that money to good use?
I’m talking– of course– about a tax on political contributions. As it stands, I am thankful to see that political contributions are not tax-deductable, but why is it that they shouldn’t be expressly taxed?
I think we’d be well served by a 10% tax on all political contributions. We could even call it a “sales” tax, because you know someone’s been bought.
We can’t get rid of the influence of money on politics without getting rid of the influence of politics on money. That link doesn’t appear to be breaking, so we might as well put it to good use.
So what do you think, readers? Is this a brilliant way to add revenue while disincentivizing political money-grubbing, or is it a crackpot idea?
