I Love Derrick Jackson

He gives me no shortage of material.

But there is little conclusive data on the direct relationship between taxation and entrepreneurship, and plenty of examples where nations with high taxes have robust small businesses.


Jackson's argument here is irrelevant.


The "tax" question is another place where we need to frame the debate differently.


“If you are open to a larger government, and the underlying objectives are to support education and the general welfare of the people, that can work. Entrepreneurs need qualified workers and they need customers who have good income,’’ Bosma (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor) said.


Bosma hits on the crux of the matter.  The "Larger Government" issue is what matters here.  His statement regarding the needs of entreprenuers is correct but, at least in the US, is the issue not of income, but income vs. price.  As the government beast swallows more personal income through the bureaucracy to support unsustainable and/or worthless programs, less is available for people to spend and prices increase as people demand more in pay.  I may be oversimplifiying here, but you should be able  to do the math.


But the second issue here is the loss of liberty that goes hand-in-hand with a government supplied "general welfare".  As governments get bigger, they impose more restrictions on their citizens.  It becomes a soft tyranny where you must comply with the government to receive you daily bread.


Letting the Bush-era tax cuts expire for all Americans, he (Zoltan Acs - George Mason University) said, would solve “80 percent’’ of our current fiscal problems, but instead, the tax cuts have been extended, leaving politicians to “to balance the budget on social programs that might help produce more educated workers and economic growth.’’


Acs also misses the bigger picture of government.  Rescinding the Bush-era tax cuts will not fix any budgetary problems.  Government has shown time and again that they have no ability to stop spending more  than they take in.  Throwing more money at the beast will only make it more hungry.


But it still gets back to larger choices. “If all the taxes go to war and not education, that’s not conducive, either,’’ Acs said. The United States may never be a crown jewel of socialism. But we could at least learn from other nations on taxes before we have no entrepreneurs to tax.


So now we have ascertained Acs' point of view.  He is a typical Lefty who is nothing more  than appeaser and a Socialist. The argument that we need to spend less on defense and more on people is absurd in light of the Constitution.  "Common Defense" is specifically called out in the Constitution as a responsibility of  the Federal Government.  Social Justice is not.


Jackson needs to study more.