Debunking Myths that Taxes Undermine Economic Growth

[sfc_oliver]

Dennis describes Colorado Springs,

Where is Shady Run Pool, South Side Pool, North Side pool. Garfield Elementary, Princeton Jr High, South HS. Where is half of the South side? All under Democrat leadership these past 30 years. And I'm certain I haven't scratched the surface.

So come on Dennis look in your own back yard, it is after all more relevant than Colorado.

[Rick Rowlands]

I wonder how many people from Texas, California, New Zealand, Australia, Englad, etc. etc. have come to the valley to see Dennis' stunning work at the Struthers School District.  I know they HAVE come to Youngstown to see the Tod Engine.  Actually next month I will be meeting with a grad student from Germany who is here studying the preservation of industrial heritage.

Dennis is just pissed that I've done it without government money, and in his world, the sun doesn't shine unless some bureaucrat stokes its fire ever morning at 6 am.

[Youngstownshrimp]

I don't know Rick?  sounds like you got the Bobster all pissed, he is mudslinging now.  I can't believe he is calling your hard work to save a little YTown history a scrapyard.  I think you need to ask the Struthers school system if they think your Tod Engine is scrap?  I would offer the school kids a tour and then tell the system what kind of closet communist one of their teachers is.

[irishbobcat]

Colorado Springs: Conservatism's Shining City
By Terrance Heath

February 5, 2010 - 4:12pm ET


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If you've ever wondered where conservative economic policies like permanent tax cuts for the wealthy, slashed social services and government spending are supposed to lead us, look no further than Colorado Springs.

David Sirota's description of what's happening to that conservative stronghold should serve as a cautionary tale.

When the so-called tea party movement's anti-tax activists refer to the abstract concept of conservative purity, we can turn to a microcosm like The Springs (as we Coloradoans call it) for a good example of what such purity looks like in practice—and the view isn't pretty.

Thanks to the city's rejection of tax increases—and, thus, depleted municipal revenues—The Denver Post reports that "more than a third of the streetlights in Colorado Springs will go dark; the city is dumping firefighting jobs, a vice team, burglary investigators, beat cops; water cutbacks mean most parks will be dead ... recreation centers, indoor and outdoor pools [and] museums will close for good; buses no longer run on evenings and weekends; [and] the city won't pay for any street paving."

Meanwhile, even with the Colorado Springs Gazette uncovering tent ghettos of newly homeless residents, the city's social services are being reduced—all as fat cats aim to punish what remains of a middle class. As just one example, rather than initiating a tax discussion, the CEO of The Springs' most lavish luxury hotel is pushing city leaders to cut public employee salaries to the $24,000-a-year level he pays his own workforce—a level approaching Colorado's official poverty line for a family of four.

This is what Reaganites have always meant when they've talked of a "shining city on a hill." They envision a dystopia whose anti-tax fires incinerate social fabric faster than James Dobson can say "family values"—a place like Colorado Springs that is starting to reek of economic death.
Well, maybe it isn't a function of government to provide streetlights, municipal water, parks, swimmingpools, fire department, police protection, and paved roads. Or it won't be, anymore. Someday, we'll have to pave our own roads. Scratch that. We'll be free to pave our own roads and hire our own police, etc.

[irishbobcat]

My school board membership is far more reaching then your scapyard playground of old tinker toys on Hubbard Road....Cultural landmark my @#$!

[Rick Rowlands]

Dennis, I can go to 2261 Hubbard Road and show my commitment to this community through the cultural resource I have created.  What do you have to show for your years other than a bunch of half thought out Internet posts and a stint as a school board member?   

[Youngstownshrimp]

Irishbobster, if you care so much about the so called poor with free housing, food medical, heat, etc.  Please give us an example of how you help the poor locally, you know, some meaningful kumbaya organization?

[Dan Moadus]

Dennis, you claim Florida, and Colorado have no taxes and no services. California is soon to have taxes with no services. It is a state that embodies just about every crackpot idea that you put forward and they are on the verge of collapse.

[irishbobcat]

I figured as much you don't give a hoot about the poor, Rick..... go play with your tonka toy sheet and tube park

[Rick Rowlands]

Its called enlightened self interest, and it is the root cause behind every innovation that has ever occurred in the history of this nation.

I care as much about the poor as they care about me. 

[irishbobcat]

Dan, where do you get your info....from a Cracker Jack Box?

Do you want Ohio to emulate Colorado or Florida? 2 states with no taxes and thus no services??

Like I always said, conservatives only care about the money in their own pockets, not the welfare of the general population or the poor......

Go sit on your budget slicing knife and rotate, Dan......

[Dan Moadus]

My God, Dennis is trying to make a case that we should emulate California. So many people are fleeing the State that pretty soon we're going to have to take a star off the flag.

[irishbobcat]

Debunking Myths that Taxes Undermine Economic Growth
The Progressives States Network last week reported:
One reason states are readily raising revenue as an alternative to more cuts is that they can turn to a wealth of examples to debunk the rhetoric that raising taxes to fund services in a state is harmful to the economy.

Taxes Do Not Undermine State Economic Growth:  As we've highlighted in previous Dispatches, research consistently show that, contrary to right-wing rhetoric, there is no link between tax increases and job loss.

States with higher personal income tax rates experienced significant job growth in the past decade, as the Fiscal Policy Institute and Center for Working Families point out in their report, Back on Track and as the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found in a similar report.
Moreover, according to a 2008 Information Technology & Innovation Foundation analysis, states with some of the higher marginal income tax rates, including New York and Maryland, have more innovative new economy industries.  Likely as a result of larger investments in infrastructure, education, and technology, these states are better suited to foster economic growth that is sustainable and well-paying in an increasingly fierce global competition for jobs.
This builds on analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) detailing that states the collect the highest percentage of personal income in taxes actually sustain higher income growth.
Similarly, an older study by the California Budget Project (CBP) analyzed state economies and concludes, states that enacted large tax cuts between 1994 and 2001 - reducing revenue by at least 7 percent - subsequently experienced weaker growth in jobs and personal income and larger increases in the unemployment rate, on average, than other states."
Progressive Taxes Don't Cause Out-Migration of Wealthy Residents:  Opponents of progressive income tax reform like to argue that tax increases cause wealthy residents to leave a state.  In fact, states that have increased the top rate in recent years have not experienced any significant out-migration of wealthy residents:

California:  The California Budget Project found that there was a significant growth in millionaire households after California passed higher PIT rates in the 1990s and again in 2004.  In fact, the number of California millionaires increased by 37.8 percent between 2004 and 2006.
New Jersey:  A Princeton University report discovered that the passage of a higher top rate in 2002 had "little effect on migration patterns among half-millionaire households."
New York:  After the state temporarily raised income taxes on the wealthy from 2003 to 2005, the number of high income tax returns grew 30 percent, from 250,000 to 325,000.
A New York Times article, entitled "Taxes Not Seen as Making the Rich Flee New York" succinctly articulates:

[T]here is surprisingly little evidence to support the proposition that rich New Yorkers would bolt if forced to pay higher income taxes.  Though tracking the movement of wealthy taxpayers from state to state is difficult, experts on public finance and migration say they have yet to document a substantial 'rich drain' in states that have raised income taxes in recent years.

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Don't believe everything John Kasich tells you about tax cuts. They don't work!