Tax Philosophy

I was reading some random gibberish today and came across a pretty concise explanation of our current tax situation. For the most part, I agree with it: Imposition of a future obligation to pay is, of course, functionally speaking as much of an imposition of financial obligation as is imposition of a currently collected tax. It's just better hidden and easier to wish away, with, in the case of national debt, the added "virtue" of not having the need to determine a priori upon whom the burden of paying will eventually fall--which itself may end up remaining hidden even after the debt is paid through that other hidden tax of overly inflationary policies--so that you can continue to claim that it imposes nothing on any particular individuals. This speaks to the same scenario I cited in this post, where some politicians actively encourage spending money that we do not have - rather than either reduce the governmental spending, or increase the governmental cashflow (raise taxes). If we take on more obligations than we can afford under the current tax scenario, the only way to deal with this difference is to borrow money. This is where we get the concept of the "national debt", which is in the $9 trillion neighborhood (that's $9,000,000,000,000). This is referenced in the above quote as "a future obligation to pay", which (of course) it is. This process also has another, more insidious consequence. Because the government is now borrowing from the same pot of money as everyone else is, the demand for borrowed money increases. Since the supply of money to be loaned does not change, this extra demand results in higher interest rates for EVERYONE. So, in short, a high budget deficit means higher interest rates. Increases in the budget deficit offer some unique insight into the true interests of various historic administrations. This site has some pretty interesting data. This information continues to be of concern in the current (2007) fiscal year, as shown in this GAO report. Now you know... and knowing is half the battle.