CHART: Taxes Soaring Past Highest Level Ever.
Well! There are a number of problems with this chart, so let’s tackle them in order.
1. The Y axis is tax revenue as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product, right? In truth, I don’t know. “Tax Burden” seems to be a wholly made-up term with no basis in reality. But it’s at least partially based on revenue, which is the most illogical possible methodology for determining the relative rate of taxation because it incorporates the distorting impact of economic performance.
The Heritage Foundation understands this, and also how to lie with statistics. The problem is that they aren’t nearly as good at lying with statistics as I am.
2. Nominal tax rates at a fixed percentage will necessarily generate more revenue in positive economic periods. This is because bad economic times trigger a variety of tax breaks, most notably loss carry-forwards, and typically come coupled with a precipitous decline in capital gains revenues as markets crash. That’s why there’s a big collapse in the 2005-2010 frame.
3. Note how the chart begins in 1975? This is because it marked the end of large declines in nominal tax rates for high-wage-earners as the post-WWII, post-Great-Society tax rates were rolled back. I’m sure whatever fantastical composite “Tax Burden” represents, but I’m sure it was larger “in US history” when top wage-earners were paying 80-90% of gross income.
4. Why no annotation for that bump in 85-90 from the Reagan tax increases?
Additionally, GDP includes government spending, so isn’t calculating taxes as percent of GDP is rather meaningless? All else being equal, if you keep taxes at the same rate and decrease spending, this percentage would increase, correct?
In 2009, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) introduced a bill called the Healthy Families Act that would require businesses that have at least 15 employees to offer some paid sick time to their employees. Although it gained an impressive 125 co-sponsors, it never made any progress in the Democratic Party-controlled House of Representatives, let alone the Senate.
A quick look at the interests backing and opposing the bill explains why. After the bill was introduced, a number of labor unions, faith groups, and non-profit organizations declared themselves in support. But on the other side of the issue was virtually every titan in corporate lobbying — ranging from the powerful U.S. Chamber of Commerce to the American Hotel and Lodging Association to the National Retail Federation. That’s right, these businesses all worked to ensure that the waitress handling your food could be sick with the flu…
If we’re ever going to catch up to 145 countries that require some sort of paid sick leave, we’re going to have to tackle money in our politics first.
Did (Wisconsin Republican Governor) Scott Walker Lie Under Oath to Congress?
Spoiler: the answer is Yes.
(via truth-has-a-liberal-bias)
The weirdest thing about Virginia Senate candidate George Allen’s love for the Confederacy? He’s from L.A.:
Allen isn’t really a son of Dixie. Like Bush, the prep-school scion turned rugged brush-clearer, he is a self-made Southerner. Allen grew up in a custom-built house on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean in a posh suburb of Los Angeles. His father, George Sr., was the Rams’ coach and a local celebrity, his mother a Tunisian-born homemaker of French and Jewish descent who dropped Arabic bons mots on her children. The closest the young Allen ever came to the South was on TV—a quirk his sister, Jennifer, noted in her 2000 memoir: “George loved Hee Haw,” the country-themed variety show. “His favorite character was the big, slow-witted Junior…There was also something mildly country-thuggish about Junior that I think George felt akin to.”
MakerBot expanding to MetroTech
Brooklyn-based MakerBot, 3-D printer manufacturer, is expanding to MetroTech and planning on adding at least 50 jobs this year alone. According to one of the company’s founders, Bre Pettis, “We’re going to put the tech in Metrotech”
Read more in the Wall Street Journal
I will be you for Halloween this year! I will!
The Credible Hulk
Oh, if only…
I AM THE CREDIBLE SHE-HULK
The year 2000 as envisioned in the year 1910
In 1910, French artist Villemard produced a series of illustrations depicting what life might be like in the year 2000. Yeah, he pretty much nailed it.
Curation and commentary regarding politics, international relations, and music.
