Saturday, October 18, 2008

Don't Know Much About Business

Tax logic, per Sarah Palin:
"Sen. Obama will do to those who want to create jobs what shouldn't be done, and we're calling him on it."

What does this even mean? There are business owners who want to create jobs, but wouldn't be able to under Obama's tax proposal because they make so much in profits that their tax bill would make new hires impossible? What?? Are we really to feel sorry for some business that only makes $250k in profits? And either a business needs another employee or they didn't. You don't hire employees simply to create a new job. You do it because you needed them.

And of course, if you're really worried that your tax bill is too high, hiring more employees is a perfect way of reducing it. Assuming you needed them, the investment will pay for itself and you'll need to hire even more employees to reduce your next tax bill. And if an employee decreases your profit in the long run, you shouldn't have hired them in the first place. So if anything, high tax rates give incentive to businesses to increase their expenses, as a way of avoiding high tax bills.

Weird Weird Conservatives

But of course, this is always one of those lies Republicans tell about taxes. There's always this idea that we're taxing businesses that are barely staying afloat, and that the tax bills are putting them under. But most businesses pay the same income taxes the rest of us do, and if a business only makes $40k in profits, that owner probably isn't paying any taxes. And a business owner that only makes $20k is probably even getting the earned income credit, just like anyone else making that much money.

But in the crazy world of conservatives, it's all about sending messages. If you tax profits, it means you hate profits. It means that you're punishing people for making money, and want them to make less money. And because that signal is being sent, it'll make you want to make less money. In the weird world of conservatives, it's like your tax bill is more important than your bottom line; as if it's better to make 65% of $200k than 60% of $300k. And again, if that's your idea, than hiring more employees is certainly a good way of fixing that.

Not that any of them really believe any of this nonsense. It's simply that they can't justify their policies in any other way, and this garbage is the best they've got. They can't explain it, but they can't stop repeating it.

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