Why higher taxes make us work harder

It’s pretty much gospel on the right to state that lowering taxes raises government revenues and increases the incentive to work. Conversely, raising taxes somehow reduces government revenues and decreases the incentive to work. The idea put forward is, “Why should I work harder when the government gets 20/30/40 percent of it anyway?” By the same logic, wouldn’t the current increases in energy and food prices create the same incentives or disincentives?

In the real world, most people live paycheck to paycheck. If taxes increase, and take home pay falls, the last thing they’re going to do is work less. Thank about it. I’ve got friends who are being affected by the economy. They can’t afford their current standard of living. How do they deal? Get an extra job, work longer hours, cut back on unnecessary expenses. No one I’ve talked to thinks they should work less as a result of the squeeze. And yet this is gospel to the right wing.

As for raising revenues through lower taxes, could somebody take a look at the national debt and tell me what the current administration has done to us with tax cuts? How did we pay for WWII, which got us out of the Great Depression? Tax hikes. Big ones. Massive ones. And nobody whined about disincentives to long hours at the hedge fund.

It would be a beautiful thing if the next President could grow a spine and tell it like it is. We will have to raise taxes and just take it. We need to tie patriotism to shared effort and cost. The same people who hate taxes seem to be the ones in favor of a $3,000,000,000,000.00 war in Iraq, but not in favor giving poor kids breakfast. The American people can rally to a cause and be better than this. The consumer nation we live in today is not the America we’re capable of being.

I’d sure love to know what’s going through the head of some of those folks from Lehman Brothers, who were making literal millions a year who are out on their butts this week trying to figure out who is hiring financial geniuses these days (answer- no one). Maybe a month ago they were maxing their contributions to America’s Watch and McBush/Qualin ’08 and now staring down a $9,000 a month mortgage and no job prospects whatsoever, do they have an epiphany? Do they gain a little insight into why some of us want to help out the disadvantaged by taxing the advantaged just a little more? I wonder.

I was lucky to fail miserably in life and in business before hitting one out of the park, because the memories of helplessness and frustration and need are still there, and I hope they temper my actions. We’ll muddle through like we always do, but it would be nice to see a lot more simple kindness from people.