Someone once said that nothing is more certain than death and taxes. It is also certain that neither of them are well liked by the public. We have one political party in the US that bases its electoral chances on its willingness to cut taxes. It also labels its opposition as tax and spend liberals. It doesn't like to be associated with high taxes either. It has also been willing to join with their opposition in cutting spending since the opposition has made the public more concerned about budget deficits (only when Democrats are in office).
The Economist raises questions about the morphing of both parties into advocates against tax increases. The democrats refused to call the mandate penalty in its healthcare bill a tax, and neither did Mitt Romney when he passed a similar bill in Massachusetts. It appears that the republicans have won the battle for the new political high ground in the US. Their opponents may be trying too hard to be more like the republicans. They can't let the regressive Bush tax cuts expire unless they also let the middle class tax cuts expire as well. They are snookered by the GOP as long as they want to retain the middle class tax cuts. They also have been less effective than they might be in defending government programs that are well liked by a public that does not want to pay for them with taxes. The center in US politics has shifted over the last few decades dramatically to the right of the previous center. This is probably related to a shift in the US media in the same direction. Public opinion is determined largely by what the mass media decide to report.
No comments:
Post a Comment