fiscal cliffs.corporate taxation and the sham of shared sacrifice

[xchrom]

http://www.nationofchange.org/fiscal-cliffs-corporate-taxation-and-sham-shared-sacrifice-1357221336

There are at least two distinct analytic instruments social critics use to evaluate public policy: the microscope and the mountaintop. Though the most incisive social critiques oscillate naturally between both poles, our national fetish for shortsighted solutions to long-term contradictions tends to consign most policy disputation to the province of the microscopic.

For confirmation, one needn’t look any further than the narrow parameters circumscribing our recent “fiscal cliff” debate. The alleged “fiscal cliff” bill—officially known as The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (H.R. 8)—was recently passed by both houses with bi-partisan support and now awaits the signature of President Obama. The Act’s provisions averted a number of scheduled income tax rate increases and punted forward mandatory sequestration cuts until March 1.

Though the bill offers some modest relief to low-and middle-income households by permanently extending Bush-era tax cuts to 98 percent of American families and federal benefits for the long-term unemployed by one year—while also letting the payroll tax holiday expire—it undoubtedly falls short of its original intention: sustainable economic growth through long-term revenue generation and debt reduction.

Though the recent “fiscal cliff” debate underscores a fundamental disagreement over the role of government and the legitimacy of our social contract, it unfortunately also perverts our conception of shared sacrifice. Policy discussions had through a narrow, microscopic lens will continue to evaporate our fundamental aspirations of economic fairness. We’d do well here to ascend to the mountaintop, to develop a higher altitude view of long-term revenue generation and debt reduction, and to shed our recalcitrantly presentist policy perspective. This is precisely why addressing “cliffs” atop one is critical: the elevation introduces an element of history.

[hobbit709]

1. We sacrifice, they share in the profits is what that means.