L.A. Times obsessed with tax increases

Whisper “taxes” and L.A.Times journalists salivate like Pavlov’s dog (shown at right).

They pushed hard for Gov. Schwarzentaxxer’s record state tax increases of last month. Now, star journo Michael Hiltzik writes that rich folks are just lazy loafers who deserve to be taxed at even higher rates.

I remember when I came to the Orange County Register as an editorial writer in 1987, the Times as always was in full tax-hike fury. An enterprising member of Gov. Deukmejian’s staff wrote up a fake “tax bill,” listing all the new taxes the Times itself would pay if its wildest tax-increase dreams came true, and sent the bill to the Times’ publisher. Of course, there was no reply.

I would go further today: If you want tax increases, you should pay for them with 100% of your income and property taxed away. You then would live on food stamps and other welfare. It should apply to the Times’ owners and management, Schwarzentaxxer, and Hiltzik, whose salary must be at least $150,000, or about 4 times the $35,000 median income of American women.

Hiltzik’s fantasy

Hiltzik actually writes:

Those squawks sometimes take the form of a claim that too much taxation saps the economic value of the wealthy — their capacity to invest, to create jobs, etc. It’s proper to note that years of study have unearthed no consistent evidence that taxation causes the rich to alter their investing behavior much, at least not until their tax burden reaches a point vastly higher than what Obama contemplates.

Actually, you don’t have to be an economic historian to know what happened. All the booms of the last century came after tax cuts: 1920s, late 1940s, 1960s, 1980s, and late 1990s (Clinton cut capital gains twice).

The recessions and depressions all came after large tax increases, excepting only the small 2000-1 recession, which was caused by a rare deflation (by Fed boss Alan Greenspan, who, weirdly, followed it with 2001-2009 inflation gutted the economy, and is continuing under his successor Bernanke).

(The Great Depression was caused by the severe protectionist Smoot-Hawley bill, because tariffs are taxes. And the Great Depression was made “Great” by mega-tax increases under first Hoover, then FDR.)

Movin’ on up — to Singapore

Famed investor Jim Rogers became so disgusted with America’s Hiltzik-style high taxes and regulations that he split for Singapore. He said,

If you were smart in 1807 you moved to London, if you were smart in 1907 you moved to New York City, and if you are smart in 2007 you move to Asia.

In each case, the favored area featured low taxes, strong property rights, and a pro-growth attitude.

Who in his right mind would start a business in America under Obama and Schwarzentaxxer and Hiltzik, when Asia beckons as a low-tax haven?