By Michael Schaus
Saturday, December 27, 2014
The self-proclaimed “Robin Hood of Rock” is beginning to
sound a little more like Grover Norquist than a traditional pop-culture
leftist. The U2 frontman, Bono, recently praised Ireland’s extraordinarily low
tax rate, while claiming that the move has brought unparalleled prosperity to
the Emerald Isle. According to the UK Independent, Bono boasted about the
tax-policy’s ability to bring wealth to Ireland for the first time in
centuries:
“We are a tiny little country, we don’t have scale, and our version of scale is to be innovative and to be clever, and tax competitiveness has brought our country the only prosperity we’ve known.”
He even managed to point out that the increased economic
growth has boosted social services and government functions throughout the
region:
Because of its generous tax allowances, he added, Ireland has reaped the benefits of “more hospitals and firemen and teachers”.
And he’s quite right. In his quest to rid the world of
poverty, it’s nice to see that Bono is not blinded by some sort of ideological
stubbornness to “progressive” initiatives. After all, the tens of thousands of
jobs that migrated to Ireland (in a quest to seek marginally more favorable tax
conditions) had quite a beneficial impact on local communities, families, and
anti-poverty programs. I mean, sure, it seems obvious; but when billions of
dollars start flooding into Ireland, it tends to help their overall economic
condition.
Of course, most of this is old news to economists named
Art (who drew a “Laffer” curve on a cocktail napkin) and students of the
Austrian school. But, it’s still pretty impressive when the self-styled “Robin
Hood” of pop-culture stumbles across economic enlightenment. Increased economic
activity (and by extension, economic growth) is a boost to everyone in the
community.
Not only are tens of thousands of people finding
themselves with newfound wealth, but their newly-acquired spending habits are
enriching those around them. And, regardless of their low tax rate, the
government coffers are seeing an uptick in revenue, due to the velocity of
money picking up in the increasingly dynamic economy. After all, we’re not just
talking about Apple moving a few thousand jobs to Cork, but international
giants of all industries are eyeing Ireland for their corporate headquarters.
Capitalism as it turns out, is a rather effective
anti-poverty program. Which pretty much explains why Bono is defending a
“controversial” anti-tax government. He’s made a name for himself in
philanthropic circles for doing everything in his power to combat poverty. And,
to be fair, his quest has not been one long parade of bleeding-heart
liberalism. In 2003 he won a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to alleviate
world debt; and he’s even gone out of his way to praise the efforts George W
Bush made to combat Aids in Africa.
I guess it only makes sense that he finally identified
capitalism for what it truly is: The world’s most highly effective anti-poverty
program.
Of course, the UK Independent was sure to point out that
Ireland’s tax policy is “controversial”. And why is it “controversial”? Well…
because other countries are tired of seeing their major corporations emigrate
to the industrialized world’s lowest tax jurisdiction. Essentially, governments
that have called upon tax-exempt EU bureaucrats to “investigate” Ireland’s tax
structure (and expressed disdain for Ireland’s competitive tax rate) are
engaged in state-sponsored envy. They are institutionalizing greed. After all,
the objective of governments should be the protection and encouragement of
civilian prosperity… And it seems to me that Ireland is doing a fine job of
attracting some much-needed capital.
Now, c’mon Liberals… If a rock star can “get it”, surely
you can wrap your brains around this concept as well, right?
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