Thursday, October 8, 2009

Unemployment & Taxes

So many of our politicians, both Democrat and Republican, try to use emotions and slight of hand, to trick us into believing there is a Santa Claus. That we can tax our neighbors into our own prosperity. Well, the facts don’t lie. Below are the latest statistics (yes, provided by our gov’t) of every state that has an unemployment rate below 7%.

State

Unemployment

Rate

Total Tax Rate Rank

North Dakota

4.3

49

South Dakota

4.9

50

Nebraska

5

39

Utah

6

35

Virginia

6.5

12

Montana

6.6

46

Wyoming

6.6

48

Iowa

6.8

31

Oklahoma

6.8

28

Vermont

6.8

44

New Hampshire

6.9

45

Let’s be clear – there is more to a good economy than low taxes. What good are low taxes if your state borrows and spends like a drunken sailor? What good are low taxes if you can’t afford a responsible and honest police force.

This post isn’t an end all argument that taxes are bad, they aren’t. However, it should be noted that if Virginia didn’t have the HUGE federal stimulus, paid for by us, plus a giant printing press in the Federal Reserve, there wouldn’t have been a single state below the 7% unemployment rate with a ranking below 28. Draw your own conclusions, but mine are pretty clear – governments that provide protection, a good court system and allow us to be as free as possible (that includes with our labor and income) – are better off for it.

1 comment:

  1. There is one other thing most of those states have in common, but you are not really allowed to point it out in modern day America.

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