Props to Kari Chisholm of Blue Oregon for making a point that progressives should make a lot more often: Contrary to conservative dogma, money the government takes in from taxes does not vanish from the economy and disappear into some black hole.
“Let’s be absolutely clear about this: Every single dollar that the state ‘sucks out’ of the private economy will be pumped right back into the private economy,” Chisholm writes. “Every single dollar the state receives will be spent on something. Much of it will be spent on payroll – salaries and benefits paid to public employees for the work they do serving Oregonians.
Those public employees (cops, teachers, nurses, judges, and yes, bureaucrats of various sorts) will then go home and spend it in the private economy – groceries, cars, mortgages, running shoes, computers, ski jackets, etc.
The sums that the state doesn’t spend on payroll will be spent with private companies that provide materials or services – thus going directly into the private economy. Those companies will spend that money on their own payrolls and on yet other companies that provide them with materials and services – and so on, and so on.”
While we’re on the subject of taxes, conservative dogma also holds that raising taxes even a teeny-weeny bit will drive businesses out of Oregon to other, supposedly more “business-friendly” states.
As Forbes magazine (hardly a “socialist” rag) understands, many factors besides tax rates go into a corporation’s decision on where to locate, and when you consider the whole picture Oregon looks pretty damn business-friendly.
In fact, Oregon ranks a very respectable Number 10 in Forbes’ 2009 “Best States for Business” ratings, surpassed only by (in descending order) Virginia, Washington, Utah, Colorado, North Carolina, Georgia, North Dakota, Texas and Nebraska. The ratings are based on six factors: costs, labor supply, regulatory environment, current economic climate, growth prospects and quality of life.
(Interesting footnote: Despite all the “Oregon is Paradise” propaganda, Forbes ranks the state only 25th in quality of life. Evidently the raters thought things besides pretty mountains and trout streams were important.)
As one comment on Chisholm’s post put it, “Oregon is a great place to own and operate a business, and most objective reports and analysis show this.” If conservatives really want our state to prosper maybe they should stop their constant bitching about how “unfriendly to business” it is.
This article appears in Dec 3-9, 2009.
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Yes, funny how conservatives don’t understand that state/federal spending ends up in the hands of the pprivate sector. Ironically, they also just can’t seem to comprehend that the money they spend filling up the tanks of their gigantic SUVs that get 10 mpg instead of, say, a smaller vehicle that gets three times that, is actually sending that much more American money abroad and funding this nation’s enemies. Try and tell them their choice in vehicles is directly funding Islamic terrorism, and they’ll accuse you of being a commie-pinko environmentalist trying to deny them their God-given right to drive any damn car they choose!
Our underfunded, second-rate public education system probably pulls down our “quality of life” rating. People want to establish businesses in places where their children and their employees’ children have access to quality public schools.
Slacker, the conservative philosophy can be summed up in six words: “I got mine, so f### you.” Everything else is window dressing.
So, how do us so called conservatives that aren’t sucking the government teat survive?? How do we re-roof our homes, upgrade our heating systems, buy dependable transportation, replace worn out tires, buy school supplies etc. etc. etc?? These outrageous taxes to support the government pig is taking away our means of supporting our families and our local private businesses and contractors. The system you are advocating is “communism”. How many communist countries are still on the map and doing well?? Why do you liberals refuse to learn from history??
“The system you are advocating is “communism”.
Yawwwwwwnnnn …
Save it for Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, fella.
Bruce, I didn’t think you would be able to answer my question and I was right!
How do those of us that are not on the county,state or federal payroll support and keep our families safe?? The ever growing county,state and federal taxes have left the private citizens with nothing but the scraps. It appears to me that the liberal government teat suckers are the ones saying “I got mine F### you” If your theory is correct then wouldn’t everyone be better off if we all worked for the state?? Wait, that would be “Communism”???
One more thing Bruce. Our public education system is not underfunded. How much money per student do you think will be enough to get the U.S back up to the top of the international list?? Dollar figure??
Robbing/stealing from taxpayers by the government is nothing but redistribution of wealth…socilism/communism/statism. Cops perform their jobs in a minimalist way by not doing what they should because they know the liberal judges will let criminals back onto the street to continue criminal activity. Socialist bureaucrats do little as for the common good because they are egotistical and power hungry writing nonsensical legislation. Conservatives do what is right and good while liberals/socialists want only to breed mediocrity.
“Conservatives do what is right and good while liberals/socialists want only to breed mediocrity.”
Oh, okay, now I get it — conservatives are the good people and liberals are the eeeeeeeee-vil people who are the cause of all the troubles of the world. Thanks for straightening me out on that.
Arc Burn: Sorry, when somebody equates a small tax increase on the most affluent 3% of Oregonians with “communism” I just can’t take him seriously.
Arc,
I think you are missing the point of the article. No one has said that the point of this article. In a society where everything is becoming increasingly privatized the idea is that the money is going to these businesses (you know contractors that provide the services)
Conservatives always pride themselves on remaining calm in a discussion but really…I haven’t met anybody who has licked a new roof or tires off a government teat, have you?
James, I’ll make this question as easy to understand as possible. “What are the teat suckers going to do when the pig feeders have no more money to give??
You seem to be one of those elite liberals that is convinced the government knows best how to spend our hard earned money.
There is no organization on earth that can waste a dollar easier than the U.S. government.
“There is no organization on earth that can waste a dollar easier than the U.S. government.”
How about local real estate investment clubs? I hear they wasted billions upon billions and, consequently, helped bring the global financial system to the brink of annihilation.
On an indiviudla level, how about the millions and millions of red-blooded Americans who spend more than they make year afyer year buying cheap, useless crap just to throw it away a short while later? How about all the dumbass individual Americans who spend money as fast as they make it every month, instead of paying off debt or putting it in the bank?
There’s a whole lot of room to improve all the way around. For you to think that the typical American would spend money more wisely than the government shows how naive you are. The typical American is a clueless materialistic consumer, born and bred on consumerist principles, who knows all too well how to spend money in the most pointless and wasteful ways imaginable.
correct me if i’m wrong, but i think that if you include federal taxes the overall tax burden on people is quite a lot less than back in the halcyon days of the 50’s that conservatives seem to yearn for. you know back when you knew who your enemies were,commies, and there was no need for government assistance, nobody had abortions, no dope no “different” people living next to us. etc., etc.
now think about all the extra stuff the gov. does now that it did not do back then (remember the conservatives will always tell you that gov. is getting bigger and more rapacious) so the federal government at least, is doing more while taxing most individuals at a lower rate less than in the past.
Arc,
An “elite liberal”, really? You seemed to be a goose stepping conservative who knows nothing but the talking points Glenn Beck has sent you forth to spew. Do you know anything besides “teat suckers”?
“i think that if you include federal taxes the overall tax burden on people is quite a lot less than back in the halcyon days of the 50’s that conservatives seem to yearn for.”
I don’t know about the overall tax burden, but the federal income tax was far more progressive, i.e. the top marginal rates were much, much higher. Also corporations bore a much bigger share of the federal tax burden. These are facts; you can look them up.
The conservos work a neat little scam on middle-class Americans: They tell them their taxes are too high — which they are — and then they give big tax cuts to corporations and high-income people and tiny ones to middle-income people. Then they tell the middle-income people their taxes are STILL too high — which they are — and use that as justification to pass more big tax cuts for corporations and high-income people.
Meanwhile the public services that benefit primarily low-income and middle-income people get cut, so they get screwed two ways at once.
Yet somehow they just can’t seem to figure out why 30+ years of conservative tax cuts haven’t made them better off and why the income and wealth gap just keeps getting wider.