A well-funded group had put a proposal on the poll, Measure Q, that may have levied an annual $49 per parcel (of land) in Monterey County for ten years. The cash would go to youngster care. In early August, after I learn the proposal, I simply knew that the majority the most important gamers within the county would favor it or, in the event that they didn’t, would keep silent. Who would oppose a subsidy “for the kids”? However I additionally believed that it was a foul subsidy. Ought to taxpayers pay for different folks’s youngster care? And may they be taxed to pay for an ill-defined and comparatively open-ended subsidy for which there was near zero accountability? I wished to write down a poll argument towards Measure Q. I didn’t suppose opponents of the measure would win, besides it was essential to supply voters an argument towards the tax enhance quite than a clean web page within the voter information. I gained’t hold you in suspense. We did win. Furthermore, our aspect was outspent by roughly 600 to 1.
This is without doubt one of the opening paragraphs of David R. Henderson, “Tax vs. Details: An Election Story,” Defining Concepts, December 1, 2022.
One other excerpt:
On the identical time, although, debate was occurring on social media. Chris Kramer, a pal and ally who follows the Nextdoor social community extra intently than I do, instructed me that folks have been quoting my argument that the tax was regressive. Rosemarie Barnard had instructed me that most individuals wouldn’t perceive what a regressive tax is. I had extra confidence than she had, but it surely later occurred to me that their understanding of financial idea might need mattered lower than I had thought. The phrase “regressive” sounds, nicely, regressive. Many individuals name themselves progressives. What group of individuals go round calling themselves “regressives”?
I really like the editor’s line after the title: “A proposed tax enhance meets a small however decided band of opponents.”
Learn the entire factor.There’s some good economics in there about whether or not the burden of a land tax is on renters or landowners.
The image above is of a juggernaut, which is what the aspect in favor of the tax, the aspect that spent $600,000 to our $1,000, felt like.
