The two major American “political parties” are largely two sides of the same coin: they both trust and support expansive and intrusive government.
Polling has consistently shown that American voters–often by supermajorities–view their own taxes as too high. See here. The average American, when asked, states that the U.S. government wastes 51 cents of every dollar it receives. (One-fifth–fully 20 percent–say the government wastes 76 cents or more.) See here. The people want more freedom, but aren’t getting it.
Traditionally, the fake “two-party” system has provided something of a bellwether indicator of future trends. Republicans claimed to advocate lower taxes while Democrats (knowing how the public disfavors tax increases) generally strayed from explicitly advocating higher taxes, or claimed they sought to raise taxes only on “the rich.”
Now Hillary Clinton is vying against socialist Bernie Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination. Sanders advocates far higher taxes, and Hillary is promoting higher “capital gains” taxes–which supposedly would fall mostly on “the rich.”
Meanwhile the Republican frontrunners do not appear to be emphasizing any intentions to cut taxes anywhere.
Economist Stephen Moore points out that raising “capital gains” taxes would further stifle investment and drive the American economy even further away from its former traditions of entrepreneurialism and innovation. See here.
According to Moore, Hillary’s plan would cement the United States as one of the highest taxing countries on earth:
The American Council for Capital Formation finds that the Hillary Clinton plan would raise the capital gains tax to nearly the highest in the industrial world. The U.S. already has the highest corporate tax rate in the world, so this would be a double whammy. The Tax Foundation finds that, bang for the buck, lowering the capital gains tax rate is one of the most pro-growth measures Congress could adopt. The optimal capital gains tax is zero.
