Friday, April 03, 2009

It's The Taxes, Stupid...

The Detroit News recently published a story, Leaving Michigan Behind: Eight-year population exodus staggers state lamenting the fact that so many people were leaving Michigan. Most of the departures include the most highly educated and highest wage earners. The people quoted were whining about declining tax revenue and less Federal dollars for education.

What these knuckleheads don't seem to get, is the smart people know when they are getting screwed. Why should I be taxed at draconian levels to pay for everyone else to sit on their bum? Michigan has some of the highest tax rates in the country. Coupled with a heavy union population, no business in their right mind would ever relocate there.

You have had near complete Democrat control for decades with Michigan being a reliable blue state since 1992. Which means each candidate promises voters even more goodies from the treasury of the hard working types. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why the taxpayers are fleeing Michigan and just about every other blue state.

It really is so simple. You lower taxes, lessen regulation and get government out of people's way, and the economy booms. And even though taxes are lower, you end up collecting more revenue than you would have with higher rates that everyone finds ways to avoid. This works on the county, state and federal level. Lower taxes always produces more growth.

But here is the key, you cannot, like typical liberals, start spending like drunken sailors. If too much revenue is coming in, taxes need to be lowered again. You never take in or spend more than necessary for basic government functions. You don't create layers and layers of departments and bureaucrats for taxpayers to support. Government workers are a net drain to the economy and merely make life more miserable for private citizens. And you definitely don't get into the charity business and steal from one to give to someone else too lazy to get a job.

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