Checking in on the Skeptical Optimist

When we last checked in with the Skeptical Optimist, it was to note how pleasantly surprised he was that providing health insurance to fewer people now costs a lot more than it used to before GW took office.

Here he does his thing again:

I’ve noticed that those who favor tax rate increases tend to justify that opinion based on an objection to the deficit and the increasing national debt. Well here’s the good news: it’s not necessary to wait for the federal government to force a tax hike on everyone; it’s possible to take a grass-roots approach.

And he then goes on to suggest that those who think tax rates should be higher should just go ahead and send in checks to the gubmint.

Of course, this a guy who stated:

…tax rate cuts set up private-sector incentives for boosting the economy’s growth rate which grows the tax base, which increases tax revenues in the long run.

(Bolding and italicizing copied from SO.)

I’ll ignore the obvious issue of proof this is true over the range of tax rates we’ve observed over, say, the last 50 years or so, and simply note… one can always take the clever (assuming you haven’t made it to Junior High School) approach to the Skeptical Optimist’s tax rate cut argument that he took to the notion that tax rates are too low:

Well here’s the good news: it’s not necessary to wait for the federal government to cut tax rates on everyone; it’s possible to take a grass-roots approach. If the Skeptical Optimist believes that cutting tax rates boosts the economy, he can always go ahead and give his money away to other taxpayers in direct proportion to the amount those taxpayers make in income. This will encourage them to work harder and make more income, boosting the economy. In fact, if his logic holds, if he gives away enough money, his income (from doing what he already does in the growing economy) will go up by more than the amount he gives away. The amount he needs to give away to reach that point may exceed his own (current) resources by quite a bit, but if he truly believes, shouldn’t he be out borrowing money in order to put this plan into action?

Sure, its a silly idea, but in a spirit of solidarity with the Skeptical Optimist and his silly idea that those who are concerned about the state of the nation’s finances should just send in checks without waiting for tax rates to rise, let me end my post the same way he ended his:

I’ll be keeping my eye on the numbers to see if this movement catches on.