Two Very Good Political Cartoons

I’ve recently become a fan of Lisa Benson’s cartoons (see here, here and here), and this may be her best piece of work.

My only quibble is that there should be an elephant somewhere on the wagon since Schwarzenegger also was a big spender.

I’m also a big fan of the work of Michael Ramirez work (see here, here, here, here,here, and here), and he has a new cartoon about Paul Ryan’s plan for Medicare reform.

What makes this cartoon especially biting is that Ryan’s current plan isn’t quite as good as the one he proposed last year, but that isn’t stopping demagogues from complaining.

Which raises a good issue. If you’re going to be viciously demagogued regardless of whether you solve 5 percent of a problem or 100 percent of a problem, why not go all the way?

Maybe I’ll call this “Mitchell’s Don’t-Cross-a-Canyon-in-Two-Leaps Principle,” to complement “Mitchell’s Law” and “Mitchell’s Golden Rule.”

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Explaining Pro-Growth Tax Reform to the Senate Budget Committee

What do the flat tax and national sales tax (and even the value-added tax) have in common?

As I explain in this Senate Budget Committee testimony, they are all single-rate, consumption-base, loophole-free tax systems that fulfill the key principles of good tax policy.

But good theory doesn’t operate in a vacuum, which is why I make several additional points.

1. Echoing George Will, something like a VAT should never be implemented unless the income tax is completely abolished.

2. It’s impossible to have good tax policy if government is too big.

3. A proper definition of taxable income is necessary to understand what’s a loophole and what’s not.

4. Tax revenues already are projected to significantly increase over the next few decades because of “real bracket creep,” meaning than a rising burden of spending accounts for more than 100 percent of America’s long-run fiscal challenge.

5. If you want the rich to pay more tax, keep tax rates reasonable.

On a personal note, I’m irked that my jacket is riding up on my shoulders. I’ve been trained to sit on the tail of my jacket when doing TV interviews, and I should have remembered that lesson during my testimony.

But at least I’m wearing my Bulldawg tie, so that compensates.

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