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The Tool of Taxation

Old hammer during reconstruction of the building in Pleszew. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In graduate school a professor of mine often referred to the “toolbox of government.”  The characterization must have resonated with me because I still use it in my own classes almost fifteen years later.  Of course he was referring to the variety of actions that governments at all levels have at their disposal to implement and otherwise enforce public policy.  For our purposes we can narrow the contents of the “toolbox” down to the bare minimum:

• The power of government to deprive a person of liberty (think incarceration and in the most extreme form, the death penalty)—the hammer.
• The power of government to deprive a person of property (think real property and money)—the hammer.

Confused?  Don’t be.  Chief Justice John Marshall (1801-1835) is credited with expressing the position that the power to tax is the power to destroy.  In this regard the power to tax is the power to punish those who violate the law, ignore regulations, or otherwise challenge the general welfare—the hammer.  The power to tax citizens and residents, businesses, corporations, is generally available to most governments—from Congress to your local water district.  Check your text books, one of the first concurrent or shared powers listed is the power to tax.  Moreover, taxes are ubiquitous—fees: taxes; assessments: taxes; dues: taxes; levies: taxes; taxes: taxes.  The power to tax is the power of government to deprive.

In the months following the Supreme Court’s decision on the Affordable Care Act (Obama-care) , much will be made of the taxation aspect of the now upheld health care reform package—especially the individual mandate, which requires people capable of paying for health insurance to do so or risk a penalty (tax).  What do you think, is it the most intrusive tax ever devised by government (in this case by democrats)?  Is it a new tax?  Is it a tax increase (even though it only applies to people who don’t buy their own health insurance—and wouldn’t we otherwise call these people free-riders or equate them to people who don’t buy car insurance and drive up all of our rates)?  With all the hammers we get hit with every day, is this the one we’re really going to object to?  Ouch!  I know how to fix it; where’s my hammer?!

–DENNIS FALCON

Get Ready for Several Weeks of Useless Analysis

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to render its ruling on the constitutionality of Obama Care. However, the media coverage of the ruling and the resulting political fallout will be the same. Regardless of the ruling, both republicans and democrats will try to spin the Supreme Court’s ruling in a way that benefits their side. Meanwhile, the news media will overflow with coverage concerning the political impact of the ruling, but will ultimately fail to explain the ruling divorced from the typical horse-race coverage.  Horse race refers to the news media’s focus on which candidate is up or down in the latest public opinion polls. My prediction is that the news media, regardless of the Supreme Court’s ruling on Obama Care, will bombard its audience with poll numbers for the next several days along with a bloviated analysis of said poll numbers with a pretentious and misguided sense of accomplishment for delivering what they consider to be the news. Get ready for several weeks of useless analysis and blatant political spin.

–TERRANCE MULLINS

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The Awesome Power of the Bully Pulpit

A bully pulpit refers to a public office, specifically the presidency, which provides the holder a terrific platform for rallying support for a specific issue or simply to make one’s view public. Due to the stature of the presidency the bully pulpit can bring issues to the forefront that was not initially in debate. For example, Pres. Obama, with the power of the bully pulpit, was able to shift the debate concerning illegal immigration last week by declaring why his administration will stop deporting young illegal immigrants brought to the United States at no fault of their own. Specifically, the U.S. will no longer deport illegal immigrants who meet the following criteria:

• Came to the U.S. before age 16
• Lived in the U.S. for at least 5 years
• In school, graduated, or a U.S. veteran
• No felonies, not a threat to the U.S.
• Not older than 30

As president, Obama has an unparalleled opportunity to make and set policies while the bully pulpit allows the president to announce those policies and rally support. Meanwhile, candidate Mitt Romney, Pres. Obama’s republican challenger, can only react to the agenda of the incumbent president and merely make untested and immaterial promises to the electorate. As a result, Mitt Romney is now faced with the politically difficult task of either alienating independent voters by holding firm with his previously stated hard-line stance on illegal immigration (e.g. self deportation, zero tolerance) or angering the conservative base by flip-flopping on the issue altogether. One reason why Romney is in this problematic situation is due in part to Obama’s ability to set policy as the sitting president and the awesome power of the bully pulpit afforded him.

–TERRANCE MULLINS

Related articles

• Immigration, Obama, Romney and the Republican Party: Who Fumbled the Ball? (themoderatevoice.com)
• Obama Changes the Subject (politicalwire.com)