Some folks love to compare the U.S. to Europe unfavorably.
Not me.
Though I’m fine with learning from European states and cultures (hey: I like Switzerland!), I shudder when I hear someone suggest that America should be “more like Europe.”
Obviously, I’m not with our current president on this. He says we should tax the rich more, make them pay “their fair share.” And his left-leaning admirers append the phrase, almost under their breath, “like in Europe.”
Ugh.
But reserve some of that “ugh” not at the proposal, but at the assumption that European states tax the rich with higher “progressivity.” Veronique de Rugy, reporting on a new book by Bruce Bartlett, says that view is off base. European states tend to rely on the VAT, which is heavily regressive. Additionally, Europe’s high income tax rates kick in at lower incomes, so that Europeans lower down on the middle class ladder feel the bite of high taxes.
De Rugy concludes that America is a lot like Europe, on the whole, but that America’s “tax framework may be worse. . . . It disproportionately relies on the top earners to raise revenue, it exempts a large class of taxpayers from paying any income taxes, and it conceals spending in the form of tax breaks.”
This is all very interesting. But my take-away is not to emulate Europe, but — instead — the distinctively American policies we’ve let slip away. Our limited government principles don’t require us to endlessly chase new revenue streams.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
5 replies on “Regressive Europe”
Having lived almost 30 years in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe, I could not agree with you more. I have been saying for a couple of decades now that Socialism is a failed social, economic and political policy, and for that insight I rely on personal experience. It is America’s rugged individualism and enterprising attitude that makes us creative and strong. We should admire Europe for it’s unique gifts to civilization and America for having turned the corner from the old world to the new. And at the same time we should recognize that a 19th Century political philosophy which has been a failure everywhere it has been tried is not a good model for our own future. The only reason Obama and his followers are in thrall to Socialism is that it offers them greater access to and concentration of, power. But the beauty of our social/political experiment is that it worked BECAUSE the power relationship was reversed — from the people to the central government, not the other way around as in Europe.
Were our federal government persuing only those 17 duties that it was theoretically restricted to by the currenly ignored Constitution, we would not need an IRS or any federal income tax to cover its expenses.
Yeah, right. Let the fat cats off the hook for their fair share and stick it to the little guys.
You notce that this attitude only come from the high earners.
Confiscate 100% of the earnings of the millionaires and billionaires and it wouldn’t cover a third of what the government intends to spend this year. Then good luck on trying it twice. On the hook or off the hook, there’s not enough fat cats to pay for all the government had spent and is promising to spend. No way to make it work. So the government has NO place to turn to except robbing the middle class. Who is that? If you’be got a job, its you.
Now the question is to we try to get the economy rolling with the help of creative people like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates? Or do we set up tax policies that run them off to other countries? Because there are LOTS of places where they can live just as well.
Some Americans forget, and most (these days)have never learned, that people from Europe started swarming to this land mass hundreds of years ago to escape European foolishness. Having spent two years in a European nation, you find out that the State has the game rigged in its favor
– ALWAYS. No, there were no camps set up, and the secret police do not break down your door in the middle of the night. There is some repect for the rights of individuals, but THE STATE is always the un-spoken of 800 pound gorilla.
Some Americans are OK with that. And it makes me sad, and afraid.