Tax Cuts Won't Cut It
Peter Schiff
Oct 19, 2010
Congressional Republicans and Democrats are engaged in a heated debate over which Americans deserve not to have their taxes raised, with both claiming that some form of tax cut will stimulate the economy. The primary point of divergence is what type of cuts will be most likely to get Americans spending, and whether the wealthy will wastefully save their extra cash or use it to create jobs. This debate is academic. If a stronger economy (rather than pre-election posturing) is really the goal, then tax cuts alone will fail.
The real impediment to economic growth is not taxes, but the government spending that makes high taxes necessary in the first place. Given the widespread, but erroneous, belief that spending is the root cause of economic growth (rather than saving and investment), it may shock many to know, especially my fellow Republicans, that of all the three means to finance government - taxation, borrowing, and money creation - taxation is the least destructive over the long term.
I will discuss this topic in depth tonight on the debut broadcast of The Peter Schiff Show, my new weekday radio show on WSTC in Norwalk, CT. Stream it over the Internet from 6pm-8pm Eastern time, every weeknight at www.schiffradio.com.
Despite the visceral sting on April 15th, taxes have the virtue of being honest, direct, and most importantly, visible. By transferring purchasing power from one group to another, taxes take a pie that has already been baked and change how it is sliced. But taxes do create dangerous disincentives if they are abused. Raise taxes high enough and society's most productive individuals may stop working; keep raising them, and the public may riot. As a result, a government that relies primarily on taxes tends to be one that lives within its means.
Government borrowing, in contrast, doesn't just move money around from one spender to the next; rather, it taps into society's limited store of savings and directs funds away from private investment and towards the public sector. Decreases in the availability of private investment capital, which is where economic growth really comes from, can be extremely destructive over time. Borrowing also adds another cost that taxation doesn't: interest charges. Just as it costs less to buy something with cash than it does to buy it on credit, it costs society less to pay for its government upfront.
Printing is even more insidious. By creating money out of thin air, government debases the currency, stealing from savers and depriving the economy of a stable unit of account. The inflation that results from an expanding money supply distorts all economic activity and discourages the accumulation of future investment capital.
However, borrowing and printing have one huge advantage over taxation: they make it much easier to disguise the true cost of government while surreptitiously pushing the burden onto future generations. So while taxes are political poison, borrowing and printing have always been preferred by Washington.
Make no mistake, I am against raising taxes. I would prefer cuts in government spending. Yet, after years of lowering taxes, with the illusory hope that one day spending cuts would follow, I think it's time we tried another tack. Instead of "starving" government, which has proven to be a disaster, we should look to transfer more of the current cost of government to taxation, which might finally create the political will to actually cut spending.
To really make this strategy fly, we should revise our abominable tax code in a way that is less destructive to the economy. In particular, taxes should not: discourage hard work and risk taking, impede capital formation, impose high costs for computation and enforcement, favor particular groups or activities, or intrude on individual liberty any more than is absolutely necessary. Given these preconditions, I believe a national sales tax would be ideal. If Congress insists on taxing income, then a flat tax (whereby all taxpayers pay the same rate with no special deductions or credits for politically favored expenses) would be best. Unfortunately, we are stuck with the most harmful system of all: a complex, progressive income tax, with lots of politically motivated loopholes, deductions, and credits, that encourages a raft of unproductive activities, and supports an entire class of unneeded service providers to calculate.
By failing to address the spending side of the equation, neither the Democrats' nor the Republicans' current proposals will provide any genuine stimulus. The President's version will temporarily increase the purchasing power of the middle class, but the gains will come at the price of larger deficits, bringing larger tax increases down the road. By bringing down savings, which President Obama ironically touts as a benefit, the plan will diminish private investment, thereby slowing job growth.
While the Republicans' distaste for high taxes is admirable, they fail to see how increased borrowing or printing is worse. Unfortunately, after having been in the majority for twelve years with nothing to show on the cost-cutting side, those Republicans who do advocate for fiscal prudence have little credibility with the voters. Without corresponding cuts in spending, the full benefits of lower taxes - particularly as they apply to the rich - will never be realized. In the current environment, extra savings accumulated by the rich are largely "invested" in government securities rather than private sector ventures. Throwing more money into a government abyss can't help economic growth.
Rather than trying to disguise another misguided round of stimulus in the cloak of a tax cut, we should deliver what the economy really needs - genuinely smaller government. However, to accomplish this, we need leaders who not only understand economics but have the political will to level with the American people about how much government we can really afford.
Peter Schiff is president of Euro Pacific Capital and the host of The Peter Schiff Show.
Please note: The Peter Schiff Show will be produced by a new media company created by Peter Schiff. Euro Pacific Capital is not affiliated with this company. Neither Euro Pacific Capital nor any of its affiliates are responsible for the content of SchiffRadio.com.
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Oct 18, 2010
Peter Schiff
C.E.O. and Chief Global Strategist
Euro Pacific Capital, Inc.
1 800-727-7922
email: pschiff@europac.net
website: www.europac.net
Archives
 Mr. Schiff is one of
the few non-biased investment advisors (not committed solely to
the short side of the market) to have correctly called the current
bear market before it began and to have positioned his clients
accordingly. As a result of his accurate forecasts on the U.S.
stock market, commodities, gold and the dollar, he is becoming
increasingly more renowned. He has been quoted in many of the
nation's leading newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal,
Barron's, Investor's Business Daily, The Financial Times, The
New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The
Chicago Tribune, The Dallas Morning News, The Miami Herald, The
San Francisco Chronicle, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The
Arizona Republic, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Christian
Science Monitor, and has appeared on CNBC, CNNfn., and Bloomberg.
In addition, his views are frequently quoted locally in the Orange
County Register.
Mr. Schiff began his investment career as a financial consultant
with Shearson Lehman Brothers, after having earned a degree in
finance and accounting from U.C. Berkley in 1987. A financial
professional for seventeen years he joined Euro Pacific
in 1996 and has served as its President since January 2000. An
expert on money, economic theory, and international investing,
he is a highly recommended broker by many of the nation's financial
newsletters and advisory services.
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