Vision

I have many friends who are liberal and intelligent.  (And no; I am not being sarcastic.)  What I cannot understand,  however, is how so often their vision about change is so limited.  Here is but one example.

The federal government is waging a stealth two-pronged war on medical innovation. And it will cost not just American jobs, but American lives.

The first prong is through new taxes. Recently, the Cook Medical company announced that it was canceling plans to open new factories because of the impending ObamaCare tax on medical device manufacturers scheduled to take effect in 2013. The 2.3% tax on total sales (not profits) will cost Cook $20 million dollars a year. As a result, the company will not be opening five plants that would have employed up to 300 people each.

Cook is not the only medical device company affected by the tax. Stryker (which makes artificial joints) will cut 5% of its workforce. Medtronic has announced the tax will cut into its investments in future products. Jonathan Rennert, chairman of Zoll Medical (which makes advanced cardiac defibrillators) has stated that the tax will mean “less innovation, fewer jobs, and fewer lives saved.”

Most of the liberals I know seem to believe that the only way to raise more federal dollars is through more taxes and higher rates.  But, if jobs are lost, it doesn't matter if the tax rate is 2% or 80%.  No taxes are raised if there is no job.  It may seem counter-intuitive.  Yet, the more attractive rates are for business, the more business can be conducted, the more jobs and transactions there are - and more tax dollars are raised.  So yes; we can have fewer taxes and lower rates - and raise more revenue.

Of course, I didn't even address the issue of what will happen to medical innovation with punative taxation.  That is another story unto itself.

 

Comments

[J. Reed Anderson]

Once upon a time, Peg, people had manufacturing jobs (or mining, or logging, or...) got dirty and sweaty, and on their wages paid income tax. The more who pay taxes, the more taxes there are collected. Yes, a tautology, but missed by progressives. Out on the Bakken, men and women are getting dirty, sweaty, tired, and making a helluva lot more money than a Starbucks or Caribou coffee server (and quite frankly, are far less gender-neutral than the latter, too). Progressives just don't get it, Peg. Fewer people paying more taxes on income is not equivalent to simply more people paying income taxes.