BCT Editorial – 3/31/08

This page was last updated on March 31, 2008.

Middle ground; Editorial; Beaver County Times; March 31, 2008.

The editorial subtitle is “Political climate, not taxes, is what is stunting growth in Pennsylvania.”

This editorial combines two of the Times regular topics, that the so-called “middle ground” is desirable – and “a cure for what ails ya” – and that Pennsylvania taxes are OK.

First, from previous editorials we learned by “middle ground” the Times really means leftist. The editorial entitled “Road to ruin” implied Sen. Joe Lieberman (D/I-CT) represents “the middle.” As I noted in that critique, “That’s BS! As I noted in another critique, ‘With the sole exception of the war on terrorism, Sen. Lieberman is as liberal as you get short of the MoveOn.org wackos. For example, Sen. Lieberman’s 2005 Americans for Democratic Action voting record was 94% and he was the VP candidate in 2000. The American Conservative Union gave Sen. Lieberman a 2005 rating of 8%.’ This is what the editorial considers ‘the middle?’”

Second, the apparent position that we should be content with a Tax Foundation ranking of #24 is also a recurring theme. Please see my critiques of “One factor” and “What gives?” Let’s use a football analogy I used in previous critiques. If the Steelers were the subject of this editorial, would it attempt to tell us finishing 15th out of 32 teams (the equivalent of 24th out of 50 states) at the end of the season isn’t so bad?”

Of course, these editorials never get around to putting our existing overall tax rate in historical context or mentioning that our overall tax rate is already near its historical high. The Tax Foundation reports 2007’s overall (local, state, federal) tax rate consumed 32.7% of our paychecks, pension checks, et cetera. That makes our current tax rate 6.4 times what it was in 1907 (5.1%), 25% higher than its highest point (26.1% in 1943) during World War II, 7.6% higher than it was in 1977 (30.4%), and only 4% lower than the peak of 34% in 2000. Keep in mind these figures are taxes only. They don’t include user fees (tolls, vehicle registration, etc.), proceeds from state-run lotteries, et cetera.

Ultimately, the editorial is correct in asserting the “political climate … is stunting growth in Pennsylvania.” That “political climate,” however, is too much leftist thought regardless of political party. History shows leftist principles consistently stunt growth by excessively constraining both businesses and consumers. That is, leftist principles stunt growth by excessively intruding on liberty.