55,000 Egyptian tax department employees are returning to work after a work stoppage where they demanded higher wages:
They carried banners reading, "Our salaries do not even allow us to get a pair of shoes" and shouted for the finance minister and prime minister to hear them out and meet their demands. Police surrounded the protesters with metal barricades to prevent them from reaching the Cabinet building.
[...]
The protesters were demanding a pay hike or that they be incorporated into the Finance Ministry, where wages are higher, rather than local administrations.Later Thursday, the state-run news agency MENA, reported that Finance Minister Youssef Boutros Ghali has accepted to move the 55,000 Real Estate Tax employees to his ministry.
"We were asking for our rights, we do most of the taxes' work and we get almost nothing," said Nada. He said a new employee of the real estate tax authority starts out with a salary as low as $45 a month.
Imagine if U.S. property tax assessors were treated that badly! Of course, it's still better treatment than early American tax collectors got:
On January 25, 1774, according to the account in the Massachusetts Gazette, Hewes saw [British Customs Agent John] Malcolm threatening to strike a boy with his cane. When Hewes intervened to stop Malcolm, the two began insulting each other, after which Malcolm struck Hewes hard on the forehead with the cane. After receiving treatment from the well-known Patriot doctor, Joseph Warren, Hewes went to a magistrate’s office to get a warrant for John Malcolm’s arrest.
That night, a mob seized Malcolm in his house and dragged him into King Street, where, over the objections of Hewes, he was covered with tar and feathers [and made to drink hot tea]. They then took him to the Liberty Tree, where they first threatened to hang him and then threatened cut off his ears if he did not apologize for his behavior and renounce his customs commission. Malcolm relented and was sent home. The event was reported in newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic.
"Bostonians Paying the Excise-Man"
Do Opponents of S-CHIP Expansion Hate Children?
It's hard to say no to children in need. The desire to help children is so fundamental that it can be hard for some people to reject poor public policy if it's enacted in the name of needy kids. This conflict between the desire to protect children and the desire to enact sound fiscal policy is at the center of the S-CHIP debate, a topic we have written about numerous times (here, here and here, among others). Unfortunately, many legislators and voters do not realize that these two goals need not be mutually exclusive; sound fiscal policy helps everyone—adults and children, rich and poor.
A new article from the Mises Institute titled "How Can You Oppose Health Care for Children?" analyzes the drawbacks of expanding S-CHIP with higher tobacco taxes, including some of the tax policy concerns we have written about. The article concludes:
Those favoring expanding SCHIP trumpet their compassion for children and attack opponents as inexcusably mean. But the Scrooge-versus-Tiny-Tim imagery is neither accurate nor complete. Instead, it crowds out rational consideration of an extremely questionable policy, especially when combined with urgent "we must act now" rhetoric. And if the strongest arguments supporters can make for it require both substantial misrepresentation and high pressure, they have a poor case.
FairTax Podcast with Bruce Bartlett
With the recent surge in the polls of Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, the FairTax is a hot topic these days. The FairTax, which would replace the current income, payroll, estate and corporate income taxes with a national retail sales tax, has a large following of grassroots supporters, as well as many members of Congress (Senate and House). There are some academic economists who also favor it. On the other hand, it also has its critics and those who question the claims made by FairTax supporters.
The Tax Foundation recently conducted a podcast interview with one of the FairTax's biggest critics, Bruce Bartlett. Bartlett, once an adviser to President Reagan, has recently drawn the attention of many in policy circles following the release of his book that is critical of the economic policies of the Bush administration entitled Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy.
Last year, the Tax Foundation conducted a podcast with a FairTax supporter, Laurence Kotlikoff, who is a well-respected public finance economist from Boston University and the leading proponent of the FairTax in academic circles.
For more on the FairTax, both pro and con, here are some recommended articles, as well as a video link to an AEI event held earlier this year on the issue:
General information on the FairTax:
The FairTax Book by Neal Boortz and John Linder (Amazon page)
Legislation from Library of Congress (includes text of legislation, status, CRS Summary, cosponsors, etc.)
The FairTax (description from Fairtax.org)
National Retail Sales Tax (President's Tax Reform Panel chapter on a NRST)
Articles by Laurence Kotlikoff on the FairTax:
The Case for the FairTax (Kotlikoff op-ed in The Wall Street Journal)
Taxing Sales Under the FairTax: What Rate Works? (article in Tax Analysts discussing issues concerning the FairTax rate)
Simulating the Dynamic Macroeconomic and Microeconomic Effects of the FairTax
Articles by Brookings economist Bill Gale on the FairTax (mostly questioning the claims of FairTax supporters regarding required rate):
The National Retail Sales Tax: What Would the Rate Have To Be?
A Note on the Required Tax Rate in a National Retail Sales Tax: Preliminary Estimates for 2005-2014
Video of AEI panel discussion (including Kotlikoff and Gale) on what rate works under the FairTax
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