Hedgehog Party

Rational Tax Discussion

This article summarizes the politics of taxing corporations.  You would think the argument would be about economics...jobs...economic growth, equity in taxation, etc.  Instead is becomes a "good vs. evil" diatribe.

A recent column in the New York accused corporations of avoiding $875 billion in taxes.  Of course the Times later appologized because they had based the avoided tax on REVENUE instead of profits.  Sloppy thinking, indeed.

Despite all the smoke and fire, the source of the taxation conflicts is not so much partisanship.  The source is the convoluted and complex tax code.  There is a world of unfairness in the code, so partisans can easily get carried away by mob mentality.

What is a Rat to do?

There evidently a misunderstanding of the purpose of the Fed's sponorship of "auction packages."  I thought everyone understood that this was a thinly veiled opportunity for miscreant lenders to unload toxic lending on to the taxpayers.  Some are surprised when they open the "goodie bag."  But there are no shrieks of joy...quite the opposite as this article attests.

Hedge rule number one...when you leave cheese unguarded...the rat will steal it...it is in his nature.

Tax Contortionists

Watching a really good contortionist can be entertaining.  One achievement of our complex tax code is to produce the very best contortions and contortionists.  This article by Bill Bischoff at SmartMoney.com shows the efforts of our congresspersons and tax writers at their best.  In this case, they are "solving" part of our subprime crisis by tinkering with the tax code. 

Pretending to give a tax break while losing no votes is difficult.  The thing is, after you have watched contortionists for a while, it seems weird and silly.  "Beam me up Scotty...no sign of intelligent life here."  The ideas in "The Rats are in the Cheese" could put an end to these contortions.  We could all go back to watching something more culturally uplifting...like mud wrestling.