Tuesday, September 20, 2011

"Fairness" is in the Eye of the Beholder

The top 10 percent of earners pay nearly 70 percent of all income taxes, according to the I.R.S. People in the richest one percent pay 31 percent of their income to the federal government while the average worker pays less than 14 percent, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

When you factor in transfer payments, nearly half of all Americans pay no net Federal income tax.

Whatever you think of those facts, there is one overriding concern. Investment capital is different from "money." Investment capital is "money you will not need to spend in your lifetime." That's the capital that underpins all economic activity in the private economy that generates all tax revenue. Whether you like, or dislike, the current burden of taxation, one paramount fact remains. All the investment capital is put to work by people and organizations that do not need to consume that capital in the course of a lifetime.

Damage investment prospects for that investment capital and there will be no economic activity or new jobs, and most people will suffer. Hatred is stupid. Hatred of investment capital is really stupid.

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