Keeping the Faith in the Private Sector

Forget the debt commission report.

There's a lot of good stuff in it, along with some bad. But it ain't going to happen; the votes aren't there. And even if they were, the report doesn't touch the biggest budget buster of all: ObamaCare.

So let's focus back on the most immediate threat to our economy: the Democrats' new tax hike. Sen. Chuck Schumer’s still trying to sell his "$1 million and over" tax increase, which the Joint Commission on Taxation estimates will bring in $31 billion a year.

We don't buy that figure, since a lot of rich folks always find ways to hide their income. But even if you accept that $31 billion figure, in whose hands would that money do more good -- in the hands of folks in the private sector, or in the hands of politicians and government bureaucrats?

Kept in the private sector, folks would either spend it or invest it back in the economy. If they just spent the money, that would still be a boost for the economy. But the Tax Foundation estimates that two out of every three dollars raised by the new “millionaires' tax” would come out of investment income. So if the "millionaire's tax" goes through, the private sector would lose about $20 billion in capital, which might otherwise be used to expand and hire new employees. That means fewer jobs, and a weaker economy.

And how would the government spend the money? As it always does: wastefully and inefficiently. If you believe they'd just dedicate the money to lowering the deficit, then you probably believe in the tooth fairy. Just look at their decades-long theft of our Social Security accounts.

Of course they could spend the $31 billion on a new stimulus plan. But the last stimulus did nothing to turn unemployment around, and that was 25 times bigger than $31 billion. Is it really worth taking $31 billion out of the hide of the American private sector for the sake of increasing stimulus spending by just another 4%?

Like so many other projects of this administration, the numbers just don't add up. It just doesn't make sense. And it shows that we've got to stop tax and spend policies and restore our faith in the private sector.