(N.b. - This is actually a rearranged and expanded version of this post from last Thursday. I happened to stumble across the printed version of the cited article on Sweden over my morning tea earlier today, so I wanted to revisit this with more details and emphasis on Sweden. — Sk.)

Last month (28 June) saw the 300th anniversary of the pivotal Battle of Poltava. Poltava was a watershed in the history of eastern Europe (and the world), as it marked the emergence of Peter the Great’s Russia as a major power - and the dashing of any hopes for Ukrainian independence for the next 282 years.

A third consequence was that Poltava marked the end of Sweden’s long run as a major power with an extensive and far-flung empire. After Poltava, Sweden gave up on its imperial status - and largely withdrew from the rough-and-tumble of continental politics.

Nowadays, Sweden is giving up on another long run - its run as the “model” welfare state.

More below the fold.

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Tucked deep inside Mark Steyn’s excellent (as usual) weekend column is this bit of shocking news:

Last week, the donut chain Tim Horton’s, which operates on both sides of the border but is incorporated in the state of Delaware, announced that it was reorganizing itself as a Canadian corporation to take advantage of Canadian tax rates.

I’ve been sending up warning flares about this sort of thing for some time, and perhaps the only surprise is that it’s taken so long for things like this to actually start happening.

Let’s review a few facts below the fold….

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Todd Beeton at MyDD argues that the right is out of touch on taxes and quotes Gallup. It turns out that his argument is mere sophistry. Gallup says:

A new Gallup Poll finds 48% of Americans saying the amount of federal income taxes they pay is “about right,” with 46% saying “too high” — one of the most positive assessments Gallup has measured since 1956. Typically, a majority of Americans say their taxes are too high, and relatively few say their taxes are too low.

Compare these with who actually pays taxes who actually pays taxes, which Ari Fleischer reminds us of. Gallup says that 48% say that they are paying “about right”. But 40% don’t actually pay income taxes:

When you make almost 26% of the income and you pay only 0.6% of the income tax, that’s a good deal, courtesy of those who do pay income taxes. For the bottom 40%, the redistribution deal is even better. In 2001, these 43 million Americans, who earn less than $30,500, made 13.5% of the nation’s income but paid no income tax. Instead, they received checks from their taxpaying neighbors worth $16.3 billion. By 2005, those checks totaled $33.3 billion.

If I didn’t pay tax, I would probably argue that I am doing “about right” too. The 8% that does pay taxes and says that they are “about right” is what Beeton is really arguing about that. That’s not a really compelling argument. And then, according to Gallup, there are 3% who think that they are paying too little.

So 11% of the population both pays taxes and thinks that they are paying “about right” or “too little”. And 46% think that they are paying “too much”. So about 1 in 5 tax payers are happy with what they are paying, while 4 in 5 income tax payers think they are paying too much.

In fact, Gallup’s numbers support Fleischer’s argument, not Beeton’s. As Fleischer notes, George W. Bush took people off the tax rolls:

According to the CBO, those who made less than $44,300 in 2001 — 60% of the country — paid a paltry 3.3% of all income taxes. By 2005, almost all of them were excused from paying any income tax. They paid less than 1% of the income tax burden. Their share shrank even when taking into account the payroll tax. In 2001, the bottom 60% paid 16.3% of all taxes; by 2005 their share was down to 14.3%. All the while, this large group of voters made 25.8% of the nation’s income.

Of course the numbers of “about right” are at an all-time high. The number of people not paying income taxes are at an all-time high.

 A few days ago, several RS contributors discussed how and why the U.S. should consider restricting the “franchise,” i.e. the right to vote.  This semi-unserious discussion was triggered by a recent Rasmussen survey showing that only 53% of Americans believe that capitalism is preferable to socialism.  In fact, this survey shows that for those under 30, it’s almost a dead heat - 37% prefer capitalism, but 33% prefer socialism.  This is a stunning outcome, and it seems to reflect a fundamental disconnect from the responsibilities of citizenship in a free country.

I’ve often stated that a person begins the journey towards conservatism the first time they see the huge chunk of taxes that the government confiscates from their paycheck.  Conversely, the trip towards liberalism begins when the government giveaways kick in.  Today, tens of millions of Americans do not pay income taxes* - and many receive welfare tax credits in addition to not paying* in the first place.  These government junkies have become indentured servants of the US Government and are chained to leftist political giveaways such as Obama’s proposed “tax credits” that pay even those who owe no income tax.

So, it appears that the only citizens who are truly invested in the process of government without indebtedness to politicans are those who are taxed.  This taxation may be property ownership and property taxes, but it seems that restricting the franchise to property owners may be too restrictive - after all, there are many “invested” taxpayers who live in apartments or other non-property-owning situations.  So I’ve argued that any restriction of the “franchise” should be applied to paying income taxes. 

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