So Why Do We Crave Tax Cuts?

I argued a while back that taxes are a good thing and attempted to refute what I consider the ideologically deluded and economically specious arguments against taxation. Many of you have agreed with me.

But anti-tax sentiment remains widespread, and the notion of raising taxes seems so politically toxic that we're willing to risk our economic future (and that of our children and grandchildren) rather than even consider the idea. As if it's some kind of law of nature, like gravity, that taxes can go in only one direction. Why is that?

For starters, nobody likes to pay for anything. We'd all prefer to get free beer at the pub and pass the collection plate on Sunday morning without putting anything in it. Taxes are no different. Rationally, we know that if we want a pleasant, safe, and humane society, we have to pay for it; we'd just rather not.

So anti-tax sentiment originates in the denial of our responsibilities. Then, of course, there are the programs we don't use, don't agree with, or don't see the need for. We don't have children, we have jobs, we're healthy. Who wants to pay for other people, especially people different from us?

But it isn't simply selfishness. Some folks are more individualistic than others. This is the stereotype of Americans, though many Canadians feel the same way. Not everyone sees the world in terms of community or society. Some people see the world only in terms of themselves or their immediate families. They'll take care of themselves thank you, and everyone else should have the moral strength to do the same. For these people, minimal government and taxation is an ethical position. Sincerely held, it's still misguided, because in our complex, interdependent society it's impossible to live independently of others. Come to think of it, John Donne said "No man is an island; we are all a part of the main(land)." And that was 400 years ago.

So there are reasons, bad and maybe slightly less bad, to be against taxation, but anti-tax sentiment has increased dramatically in the last few decades, even though taxes have actually decreased here in Canada. Is there more to it than simply the selfishness and perpetual adolescence of Baby Boomers?

Well, yes. For decades, we've been the target of an intense, unrelenting, anti-tax campaign. To say it was successful is an understatement. As a result, politicians have found it's been a vote getter to promise tax cuts and political suicide to say they'll raise taxes.

In effect, we've become hooked on tax cuts. Just as fast/junk food advertising turned us into a continent of obese, couch potatoes by preying on our infantile desires for sugar, salt, and fat; anti-tax propaganda appealed to our selfishness and irresponsibility, and turned us into anti-tax junkies.

If we're going to be physically healthy, we have to shun the Whoppers, get off the couch, and start moving. And if we're going to shed the deficit pounds, recover our fiscal fitness, and ensure our future economic health, we're going to have to swear off the anti-tax Kool-Aid. Don't count on the politicians to save us: they're the pushers. It's time we told them "No".

The who, why, and how of the campaign to turn us against taxation is a subject I'll address in a future post.