W.C. Fields Had it Right

An independent tax commission in California has analyzed the state's tax sources. In the Golden State 144,000 people pay 1/2 of all state income taxes. With a population of 36,757,000 (2008), that makes 36,613,000 people dependent upon 144,000. When the state of California is dependent upon 0.4% of it's population to provide 50% of it's revenue there is a problem. It some of that 0.4% of the population decides to take their money and go to another state like say, Nevada, which has not income taxes, then California loses a significant amount of revenue.

Such a small tax base has lead California to become bankrupt. Because people have the constitutional right to move from state to state, you can, and do, see people moving from high to low tax states. Florida, has increased it's property taxes to the point that people are leaving for the first time in history. NY is now famous for famous rich people leaving. I wonder why when Intel expanded it didn't do so in Silicon Valley but did so in Colorado Springs? I think saving millions of dollars every year on your income taxes may have been a reason.

The prime example is Detroit, which doesn't even have a single new car dealership from any of the Big 3 automakers anymore, or for that matter any new car dealerships at all. A city with a population of around 1 million people and not a single new car dealership. "MotorCity", the home of the modern automobile, has ZERO new car dealerships while in little ol' Citrus County Florida with a population of 140,000 you can find 8 new car dealerships. It makes no sense to open a profitable business in these hi-tax regions of the USA when there are other regions where you are allowed to keep what you earn.

The entrepreneurs cannot and will not pay more in taxes, they can and will move their business and investments to where they can make money and provide jobs. Who would invest in something when they know that 1/2 of all they earn will be taken away in taxes? The cost/benefit ratio is not there.

We currently have liberals in congress and the white house, not because the people of this country voted for liberals and wanted their policies but because the people voted against what we had. As W. C. Fields put it "Hell, I never vote for anybody, I always vote against."

We cannot give everybody health care, and do all the "change" Obama has promised and only tax those who make more than $250K. It is not possible, as there is not enough money available to tax by people making more than $250K, and if they are taxed more they will change their behavior so that they either make less than $250K or go to where they are not taxed so much. Rewarding bad behavior (being dependent upon the government or somebody else to take care of you), and punishing good behavior (working hard to provide for yourself), will result in more people dependent upon the government for their livelihood, and less people actually working and generating wealth. This is a recipe for disaster.

Unfortunately Obama and company are basing their actions on another famous W. C. Fields quote “If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.”