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June 10, 2008
Only Capitalists Get What They Pay For
As Ernest Christian and Gary Robbins point out, we are not exactly getting our money's worth from Big Government:
[T]he government says that the tax burden will be $2.6 trillion in 2008. But counting the "deadweight" loss from damage done by taxes to the private economy, the real tax burden is twice that — roughly $5.2 trillion, according to various estimates, including ones published by the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Congressional Budget Office. On the spending side, a study by the Office of Management and Budget showed that government programs on average fall 39% short of meeting their goals. Thus, in 2008, government will spend $2.7 trillion to provide $1.65 trillion of benefit.
A real tax burden of $5.2 trillion to pay for a $1.65 trillion benefit seems a bit excessive, even by Washington standards.
They ought to feel grateful we receive any benefit at all. The cost of the recently defeated Lieberman-Warner global warming bill would have been exorbitant, and it would have provided no benefit whatsoever. Look forward to a similar bill appearing next year, when there will be someone in the White House foolish enough to sign it.
On a tip from Byron.
Posted by Van Helsing at June 10, 2008 8:10 PM
Comments
Political logic: $5.2 trillion is good. $10.4 trillion is better.
Posted by: conservativeteen at June 11, 2008 4:55 AM
