James Pethokoukis of US News & World Report has a post at his blog about an idea for a new tax that is being talked about in DC. Sen. Joseph Lieberman is suggesting that we should consider a new tax to fund what could be a long-term war on terror.
As Mr. Pethokoukis writes in his post:
What lawmakers might want to consider instead is what if anything they can do to keep economic productivity high --or even boost it to greater heights. Robust worker output is why the U.S. economy has been as strong as it has been in recent years. According to new data out this morning from the Labor Department, worker productivity rose 2.2 percent in 2006, continuing a string of strong annual gains starting in 1998. Yet the increases in 2005 and 2006, though solid, were more than a point below the increases seen from 2000 through 2004. Getting productivity back to those levels is a goal both Republicans and Democrats can agree on.
Indeed! And much of this growth is coming from small businesses, which benefit most from lower taxes and a simple and fair tax system. Let's not complicate things with more specific taxes or additional targeted tax cuts. 60,000 pages of tax code and 600 active tax forms is already stifling our growth potential -- let's not add more complexity on to our existing mess.
