Cutting taxes as pathway to prosperity simply doesn't work

To The Daily Sun,

After surveying various economic indicators last month, the Institute for Economic Inquiry at Creighton University predicted that the economy of Kansas will continue to worsen. Back in January, Money magazine suggested that Gov. Sam Brownback's massive tax cuts were "on trial"l. As in New Hampshire, one of Brownback's largest cuts was in the taxes on business profits.

Joseph Henchman of the Tax Foundation speculated that the state's unexpectedly large revenue shortfall was directly related to that cut. Gov. Brownback and Republicans in the Kansas Legislature, in a tacit admission of the failure of the ideology of growing the economy by cutting taxes, recently instituted a massive sales tax increase. According to ABC News, "they raised the state's sales tax to one of the highest rates in the nation."

There is an object lesson here for us. Cutting our way to prosperity is an appealing idea that simply does not work no matter how much we want it to. There is no free lunch.

Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said, "Taxes are the price of civilization." What does a civilized society do? We take care of our weakest members. We maintain our roads. We have good schools. We provide for public safety, etc. Enhancing the public good is what government does and we pay for it with reasonable taxes.

According to the Nashua Telegraph, in 2014, the New Hampshire tax rate was less than Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi and nearly the lowest in the nation. Governor Hassan's budget is the most reasonable choice.

Dave Pollak

Laconia