Apparently, I spoke too soon. I was full of Hope for Change. Tax and Spend is back in fashion on Capitol Hill and the White House!
There is some extreme short-sightedness here. Sure, it makes for a wonderful sound bite… “raise taxes on those oil producing bastards and mega-corporations! They make enough money!”
There are two primary issues that will cost YOU (and me) more money:
Will a corporation simply absorb a tax hike and let their profit margin decrease? No… and they will pass that increase in operating expense on to you… at the pump, at the check out.
As operating expenses rise for a corporation, they must find ways to manage the expenses they have control over. Taxes cannot be controlled. Personnel costs are the single largest expense for any company. If the mandate is to save expense…the big line items take the first hit. Save dollars with dollars…not save dollars with nickels. Simply put… layoffs. Which means unemployment, health care, housing bailouts, etc., etc.
This is an expression of “spreading it around a little” that we heard during the campaign, even though it was denied and spun to sound like something else.
I won’t go so far a to declare Socialism (yet)…but it sure smells funny in DC.