The morality of taxes
November 14, 2006| By Nathaniel Ward
Low taxes are a moral question, not merely a financial question, Heritage Trustee Steve Forbes tells members on Monday.
The issue of taxation is more than simply a money issue, Heritage Trustee Steve Forbes told a gathering of Heritage’s Executive Committee during the President’s Club meeting yesterday.
America was founded, he said, on a belief in the pursuit of happiness—and taxes pose an artificial barrier to that pursuit. The nation’s prosperity depends on the freedom to innovate, and taxes raise the cost of this sort of innovation, rendering it less likely. And the facts bear this out: both in America and overseas, low taxes and economic growth have led to increasing wealth and prosperity.
Conservatives should not hesitate to advocate low taxes and limited government, he argued, since they embody core American principles. What’s more, despite last week’s elections, liberals lack a mandate for radical change since the country still remains largely conservative.
Over the next two years, Forbes argued, conservatives must play both offense and defense. They must push for further reforms to the tax code and entitlements, while also working to prevent the implementation of big-government liberal policies on taxes and spending. He further insisted that any effort to act in “bipartisan” fashion and “compromise” with liberals would amount to capitulation to their economic agenda.
Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation.
