Monday, October 10, 2016

Policy: More or Less Tax and Spend

Sean wanted to know what the winning policies were that Trump and the GOP offer...


From G2A
"As for winning policies.

- Reduce taxes and regulatory burdens so that companies can afford to compete while remaining in America or moving here.

- Though it makes me a bit nervous. Apply some import fees so that consumers need to pay more for foreign made products. Maybe instead of "import fees", maybe we apply a $5,000 purchase tax for every Prius, Subaru, and other vehicle with under 50 percent domestic content

It makes NO SENSE to have an incredibly expensive country when our consumers are obsessed with buying low cost products and services."
From Sean:
"Reduce taxes and regulatory burdens so that companies can afford to compete while remaining in America or moving here."

Our taxes are below the OECD average. And our regulatory burden, while hard to quantify, ain't that bad either. We're 7th in the world in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Rankings, for instance.

"Apply some import fees so that consumers need to pay more for foreign made products. Maybe instead of "import fees", maybe we apply a $5,000 purchase tax for every Prius, Subaru, and other vehicle with under 50 percent domestic content"

OK, now you're making up your own policy instead of evaluating what Trump has actually proposed.
It seemed better to move this to it's own space. 

20 comments:

John said...

Please remember to compare all factors, not just our Number 7 Ranking.

The only places we score really well are "getting credit" and "resolving insolvency".

John said...

Now Trump certainly has talked about imposing tax penalties on imports. Whether they are paid by the company or the customer... The customer will be paying it.

Sean said...

"Now Trump certainly has talked about imposing tax penalties on imports. "

He has, but it hasn't been a nuanced view along the lines of what you wrote -- he's proposed slapping blanket tariffs on Mexican products (to pay for the wall) and Chinese products (because they're beating us at everything).

The consequences of that happening -- which he could largely do without Congressional approval, by the way -- would be immense.

Sean said...

"Please remember to compare all factors, not just our Number 7 Ranking."

The number #7 ranking looks at all factors. Our worst individual ranking is still in the top 30% of countries of the world. The notion that our economy is vastly uncompetitive because of taxes and regulation is just B.S., frankly.

John said...

Let's see:
Paying Taxes: 53
Starting a Business: 49
Getting Electricity: 44
Protecting Minority Investors: 35
Registering Property: 34
Trading Across Borders: 34
Dealing with Construction Permits: 33
Enforcing Contracts: 21


Resolving Insolvency: 5
Getting Credit: 2

John said...

And here is South Korea. The home of Samsung, Hyundai, LG, Kia, Hankook, Kumho, Doosan (ie Bobcat) and all our other household brands. List of Companies

Let's see:
Paying Taxes: 11
Starting a Business: 10
Getting Electricity: 1
Protecting Minority Investors: 5
Registering Property: 19
Trading Across Borders: 18
Dealing with Construction Permits: 12
Enforcing Contracts: 1

Resolving Insolvency: 4
Getting Credit: 13

Sean said...

And on Paying Taxes, the U.S. does better than...

Germany
China
Japan
Spain
France
Mexico

... among others.

On Starting a Business, we do better than...

Mexico
Brazil
Italy
Japan
Germany
China

... among others.

On Getting Electricity, we do better than...

China
Canada
Mexico
Israel
Belgium
Italy
Spain

... among others.

On Protecting Minority Investors, we do better than...

China
Germany
Russia
Japan
Mexico
Australia
Italy

... among others.

Sorry, our economy is not some sort of dystopian hellhole.

John said...

Please oh please then tell me why our consumers continue to buy everything foreign?

Trade Deficit

Here is an interesting argument that it does not matter... So what if we give foreigners our jobs and money... They turn around and buy things and companies in the USA. Not sure that will reassure the workers.

Forbes Trade Deficit: No Problem

John said...

A little dated but interesting. Big 3 vs World

Thankfully at least Honda and Toyota and design here to some extent.

John said...

I will never understand why folks want to go after NAFTA. Making Mexico affluent should be our first priority... It is always smart to have "good neighbors".

Mexico vs China

Mexico Site

Sean said...

By and large, the manufacturing industry for mass-market items has gone and it isn't coming back, unless we're willing to pay Third World wages to do so. In many ways, our manufacturing industry is actually doing quite well. Yes, we've lost a lot of our textiles, toys, consumer electronics and the like, but our heavy industry manufacturing is doing pretty well. In fact, even though, we've lost nearly 30% of our manufacturing jobs over the last 20 years, we're producing more (adjusted for inflation even) than we were back then.

So what we need to focus on is helping companies do the research and development for emerging technology, making sure our schools are able to provide qualified workers to work in these higher-tech factories, and yes, doing some things to simplify the tax and regulation process.

Anonymous said...

Trump wants to tax and spend. He just assumes that the economy will grow fast enough to increase tax revenues.

--Hiram

John said...

Sean,
The Democrats, Teacher's Union and Parent's are leaving a large swath of children so far behind that they are not even able be successful in High School.

How do you see their policies being "able to provide qualified workers to work in these higher-tech factories"?

Doubling down on:
- Parents have the Right to have more children than they can raise well.

- Teacher tenure based wages, job security, etc

Is definitely not going to get us there...

John said...

Related Link 1

Related Rebuttal

John said...

I think I disagree with this...

"the manufacturing industry for mass-market items has gone and it isn't coming back, unless we're willing to pay Third World wages to do so"

Though the labor cost is one issue, another is the logistical delay, complexity and cost. The communication costs due to time zones, language, cultures, etc. The potential lawsuits if your foreign supplier takes short cuts.

Then there is that delightful thing called automation that makes American, Japanese, German, etc competitive in some areas. And them robots are just getting more capable every day.

The big question is how do we get rid of all that extra ballast in our boat and turn them into rowers?

Sean said...

There's no evidence that conservative education "reform" produces better results. Weakening teacher tenure hasn't exactly been a panacea across the American South, has it?

John said...

I am open to other ideas...

But paying, retaining and placing Teachers because of their degrees and time served is definitely not the right answer. Especially when they use this to place themselves in the school with the easiest kids. (ie like in Mpls) And the most challenging kids who need the most help get the lowest paid Teachers and Administrators.

John said...

By the way, please remember that I see:

Poor Parenting and our society allowing it being 60+% of the problem and...

A poor educational system and our society allowing it being ~30+% of the problem...

It is just the unlucky kids who are screwed by all of us adults...

John said...

I did find it interesting that though both Clinton and Trump mention Poor Schools in Inner Cities... Neither of them would elaborate on their solution during the debates.

Must be a touchy topic...

Laurie said...

A Donald Trump presidency is among the greatest threats facing America, and the Republican standard-bearer is the worst major-party candidate for the job in U.S. history.
BY THE EDITORS OF FOREIGN POLICY