California Wants to Make Itself Even Less Competitive
31st March 2017
And we’re just the people to let them.
Economists sometimes talk about a fictional $1 million tax on, say, beagles to illustrate the perverse effects of a poorly designed tax code. In theory, the tax could bring in $20 billion, given there are about 20,000 registered members of the breed. But in reality, the tax would yield little, because few people would claim to own such dogs, suddenly “discovering” that their beagles were really something else, maybe mixed breeds or schmeagles.
That idea is useful when discussing what’s benignly referred to as the “estate tax.” Critics refer to it by the ominous-sounding “death tax,” given that it imposes a 40 percent hit on accumulated wealth after its owner heads to that great estate in the sky. It’s really the “Tax on Your Dead Neighbor’s Family,” given it’s all about grabbing others’ inheritance.
The first thing Democrats think is “I can spend your money better than you can” and the second thing is “How can I use the power of government to rob you?” After a while of this, people start moving to Texas.