Sometimes he wins me over, but rarely. Our views philosophical, social, and political differ too much, but I will endeavor to share with you examples of when he wins me over.
Sometimes I disagree on principle(s), sometimes because I don't think he carries his thoughts to the conclusions that I see as logical and inescapable.
The following is an example of what I mean by carrying his thoughts through to conclusion. Not unsurprisingly, he is against the recently passed health care initiative. The principle reasons are that personal responsibility will continue to be eroded and that government ought not be involved in this arena to such an extent. As a way to encourage personal responsibility, he proposes a tax credit, I repeat a tax credit, for those who purchase their own insurance, not a mere tax deduction. Given that personally purchased insurance ranges from easily $500 a month to over $1,000, many would end up paying absolutely no federal income tax. Take my case: I've checked, the cost for insurance for me if I were purchasing it on the open market would be, given my age even without a health checkup, over $500 a month depending on benefits. Umm. Multiplied by 12 = $6,000. My tax after deductions was 5,831. Fair enough.
I would not pay a penny.
I know that he can't deliver his entire tax code proposal in a blog, but I can't figure out where this suggestion would lead us. What do you think of his idea?
2 comments:
I have always enjoyed reading George Will. He doesn't just write, he crafts. His writing is quite impressive. I have also disagreed with him on occasion. He is against Proposition Initiatives as being too populist. However, I am not necessarily against populist initiatives that are enacted via state propositions. Sometimes such propositions are the way to go around intransigent legislators.
As for the tax credit idea, I would need to hear more details. However, if it entails more "wealth redistribution" then I am against it. We have enough of that already. The government would need to replace the lost revenue and would therefore raise taxes in other areas or reduce spending. Based on experience the former would happen and the latter would not.
Really, as I clumsily tried to intimate, I didn't do Mr. Will justice regarding the tax credit thing. He has stated his support of credits twice in my readings, but obviously he must have a broader set of aspirations.
I don't know what I all entail. Nevertheless, the tax credit thing intrigued me, but left me wondering where he was going with it.
I doubt that it entails anything at all to do with 'wealth distribution'. He is steadfastly against anything resembling that.
I understand the wariness of populist initiatives. Quite frankly the masses can be very mistaken in many areas. However, Utah's legislators have placed onerous restrictions on the them that go too far.
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