Reshaping the Debate on Raising Taxes
In the NY Times Article “Reshaping the Debate on Raising Taxes” Robert Frank wades into the middle of the controversy of whether taxes are too high or too low. In it he illustrates how framing questions to the public can illicit dramatically different responses.
In the first survey, respondents were simply asked whether they favored the proposal (to repeal the estate tax). Almost 75 percent said they did. In the second, respondents were first told that lost revenue from eliminating the estate tax would necessitate some combination of raising other taxes, borrowing more money from abroad and further cutbacks in government services. This time, almost 80 percent of respondents favored keeping the estate tax.
The question for me is not which team will lower or raise taxes – It is which team will spend our money most efficiently to improve the quality of life for the most people. I used to think that if the GOP won control of the government they would cut out the waste while refining the social safety net and improving opportunity. I now have no faith that their party is willing or able to this. And so, while I believe that the Democrats are as corrupt and self promoting as the GOP it seems to me that incrementally fewer people are hurt and incrementally more people will get assistance when the Democrats are in charge.
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3 Responses to “Reshaping the Debate on Raising Taxes”
Revenue neutrality is a sanity check and a gauge for assisting people’s understanding of how large a tax is, but never a moral or other obligation, unless it is a matter of law — which Congress has been waiving.
Neither revenue neutrality nor “fairness” nor referring to wants as “needs” nor using the European example are of value as arguments in favor of raising taxes. Even the proportion-of-GDP argument (so often used to justify borrowing) is not acceptable to those of us who know better.
REgarding tases, as on other issues, the Democrats have to rescue the English language form the Right’s spin machine.
I totally agree with the importance of how a question is phrased. Even more important is the art of labeling. When the estate tax was renamed the :death tax’ it changed perception enormously while bypasing the need to justify a change in policy with a coherent rationale.
It’s not Republicans and non-liberals who dishonestly appeal to emotion by saying “fairness” when advocating progressive taxation.
Meanwhile, the obvious solution for liberals (and to those wanting simplification, always a good thing) to the “hated ‘death tax’” problem is to repeal the estate tax but include inheritances as income subject to income tax as would be gifts and such.