Those of us who watched the final presidential debate this week heard Senator McCain’s reference to Joe the plumber. In the following days, Joe became a political football that was kicked, passed, and carried up and down the political field. The politics aside, let us take a few minutes to explore the real economic issue with Joe the plumber.
Joe works for a plumbing company in Ohio. He is interested in buying the business for which he currently works. As anyone of us looking to purchase a business would do, he looked over the books to determine if it would be a good investment or not. During a campaign stop in Ohio, Senator Obama came down Joe's street to talk with the residents. Joe approached him about his proposal to raise taxes on Individuals and businesses making more than $250,000 per year. Joe told him that this proposal would affect the business he was considering buying. Senator Obama’s response tells us much. He told Joe that he did not intend to hinder his success but felt it necessary to spread the wealth.
In a capitalist economy such as the United States, small businesses are a critical component to job creation. Small businesses are created when someone like Joe has a dream to improve his or her financial position, and believes the best way to accomplish this is starting or buying a business. Joe’s boss is apparently interested in selling his business and Joe is interested in buying it. However, if Joe, or any other perspective buyer, is discouraged from buying the business because of increased taxation, Joe’s boss may choose to liquidate his business instead. Should he do this, all of his employees, including Joe, will be unemployed.
The real issue with Joe the plumber is government policy should encourage small business creation and not hinder it. Arbitrarily increasing taxes on individuals or businesses because their income exceeds a certain amount places a cap in economic growth. Is it wise, under our current economic climate to place such a cap on economic growth?
No comments:
Post a Comment