> RoMunn wrote: > Oh fine, then. Taxation is not just the means by which the government > collects revenue to undertake its daily business, it is an instrument > of policy. Can we all agree on that? > > Tax hikes against a group, a sector of the economy,
All 100% right (to me). Here's the problem: Let's through a series of contacts and "insider" info I secure a $250M loan from, say, MorganStanley with no collateral. Because I'm Bear Stearns. That is, government policy and **tax BREAKS ** have combined to give me, a rich guy, lots of money to invest with little oversight or regulation. Now let's say I invest in sub-prime housing. What that really means is that some moron paid $500k for a house that is really worth $200k, plus he was loaned the money when the ARM payment is 80% of his current income. Now, because the housing market is in a bubble, my original stupid bet rises simply because housing prices are. I book a 100% profit even though the rise in value of my portfolio is VERY suspect. I take a $25M bonus. My firm has 100 of me. After a few years of this it's discovered that my houses are actually worth half of their booked value and the borrowers are defaulting making the loans close to worthless. My bets threaten to rock the market so the taxpayer comes in and bails out my company. What have I done? Stolen $100M from taxpayers. Your complaint is that if we tax the bonuses of these people they might not make insanely risky bets due to taxes. Does that really sound like a downside to you? (granted 250K/yr is FAR from the above, but I"m just illustrating the hole in your logic and why it's no longer applicable.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;203748912;27390454;j Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:268387 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
