Forget trickle-down economics, it’s time for a tax-hike tsunami! As JFK liked to say when hawking government spending, “a rising tide lifts all the boats.” Stupid Reaganomics treat individual citizens as “boats,” which is wrong and probably racist. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) has a Progressive’s grasp of economics: Washington is blameless, corporations are evil, and bureaucrats need more money to adjust the level of all boats appropriately.
Though Sherrod – like President Obama – isn’t specific about his assuredly non-socialist methodology, what if we used the class-warrior’s dream scenario of doubled corporate income taxes and fully “reclaimed” CEO pay? Starting with just the 2011 deficit of $1.62 trillion, how fast could we balance the budget with a little extra from the kings of the S&P 500 index?
Pictured above: the 2011 deficit bucket, and the 5.783% drop that would result from dramatically increasing taxes on twenty-four of America’s largest employers (view source workbook). That’s a reduction from $1,620,000,000,000 to $1,526,319,144,240. Even if soaking a few hundred more corporations could cover the remaining 94.217%, would it be worth it?
Of course it would! As any Progressive will tell you, raising taxes on The Rich has no negative effects. Among the things that won’t happen if Sherrod Brown and President Obama tax their way to the chart above:
- None of the corporations’ 5,037,561 employees will lose their jobs.
- None of the corporations’ products or services – health insurance, prescription drugs, medical devices, food at supermarkets & restaurants, gasoline, business & consumer lending, construction equipment, air travel, shipping, cell phone service, broadband access, fast food, the thousands of items available at Amazon.com & Wal-Mart, toothpaste, diapers, detergent, baby soap, Band-Aids, movies, television, newspapers, computer software, iPods, laptops, servers, networking equipment, etc. – will get more expensive.
- None of the funds or individuals holding the corporations’ 63,350,800,000 shares of stock will be ruined… unless they deserve it!
- None of the world’s entrepreneurs or executives will stop investing in American businesses.
It’s a good thing raising taxes is an all-around win… otherwise, Ohioans would need to start looking for a senator with more sense than Sherrod Brown!
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Cross-posted at that hero.
