Saturday, June 18, 2011

Tax increases and subsidies

As anyone who knows me can attest. I am a fiscal conservative politically. My first presidential vote was for Ronald Reagan, and I considered it the best gift a young voter could have been given. I am against tax increases, period.

But I don't understand Grover Nordquist's position on the ethanol subsidies and other similar issues. I want the government to simplify the tax code, and I want the government to stop picking winners and losers. Subsidies go against both. Technically, ending a subsidy has the same effect as raising taxes, but when you have such a narrowly defined subsidy, the elimination of it feels more like a reform to me.

And these are the sorts of reforms we need. Eliminate preferences for one style of business over another. Eliminate preferences for one behavior over another. Let Americans decide what they want to buy without a parental government telling them what is best for them.

Besides, the ethanol subsidy is immoral...

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