You know that when politicians start talking “tax holidays” and “temporary tax cuts” that something’s amiss. For years, conservatives have argued that tax cuts (especially across- the-board tax cuts which lower the marginal rate and the capital gains rate) are good for the economy. They are. Liberals know it, but need to get around this somehow. The way they get around it is to argue, in effect, “We’ll temporarily allow the tax cuts to stimulate the economy. Then we’ll end them.” Notice how liberals in 2001 successfully pressured to “sunset” President Bush’s tax cut, as well as his phase out of the estate tax.
The premise of “sunset” provisions or temporary tax holidays is that people exist to serve the government. It goes like this: The more money you make, the more you should be allowed to keep — but only for temporary periods to stimulate the economy. Then you have to start paying again. You exist to serve “the economy” which, in theory, means the collective society; in practice, it means the careers of politicians who want to stay in power. Either way, your individual rights are destroyed.
Conservatives could fight back, of course, by arguing that there’s a moral basis — and not only an economic basis — for tax cuts. The moral base is this: government exists to serve the people. Those who earn money — including those who earn the most money — are entitled to keep it and spend it as they see fit (leaving aside basic defense, of course, for which any rational person would voluntarily pay).
Will the conservatives start to make the moral argument and not only the economic one? Not likely. If they do, they’ll retain power for a long time. If they don’t, which is more likely, liberalism will once again rise — though by default, not because most are convinced it’s true.
Capitalism desperately needs a moral defender. Any volunteers?
