BA>>>>> ago, it's probably more than that now.

 BK>>  With national health care that cost will vanish, and be
 BK>>  equalized with foreign manufacturers.

 BA> That cost will not *VANISH*, Bob, it will simply be paid by
 BA> the taxpayers instead of the companies.

 It will vanish as a corporate burden against their international
 competitors. It will vanish from the negative side of the
 balance.

 BA> And who do you suppose will be paying the companies'
 BA> greatly increased taxes? The companies' customers, that's
 BA> who.  At least, those customers that can still afford to
 BA> buy those companies' products and services - right along
 BA> with paying their *own* greatly increased taxes.

 Ah, Bob, the cost burden will be no more than it was before,
 probably less, and it will be shared by foreign products as well
 as domestic, if it's taken off the operating cost and put on a
 sales tax.

 BA> What do you suppose would happen if companies started
 BA> printing product labels that said "The price of this
 BA> product is $9.99, the actual cost of making this product
 BA> plus our profit margin is $2.32, the rest of the price is
 BA> taxes and other government imposed expenses."  You can bet
 BA> your bottom dollar that the government
 BA> would make such labels illegal, instantly.

 And if they put on the labels for products now, our foreign
 competitors have a 15% advantage over us in health care
 benefits, what would they say?

 BA> Note that when taxes exceed the peoples' tolerance level,
 BA> people move out from under them.  Jeff Binkley posted two
 BA> recent articles on that very subject.  And it's no secret
 BA> that a decade or two (or three) ago several high-profile,
 BA> high income Europeans emigrated from there to here to
 BA> escape the high taxes there.  Those who

 Did they bring factories with them?

 Are they still doing that?

 Did they make life better for Americans?

 Did Europe miss them?

 Otherwise, who cares?

 BA> are able and can afford to relocate outside this country
 BA> will do so - and take their
 BA> assets with them, the government can't tax something that's
 BA> outside its reach. Note

 If they try to sell it in this country it will be taxed. If not,
 then someone else will.

 BA> that Senator Kennedy has for years been pushing for a
 BA> *crushing* exit tax penalty
 BA> (something on the order of 95%) on people who want to leave
 BA> this country with their
 BA> assets; basically the people are free to leave but the
 BA> government will confiscate all
 BA> of their assets if they do - just like any third world
 BA> banana republic.

 Stupid idea. Just establish the rule, if it's in this country,
 it's taxed by this country, regardless of where the owner lives.

 Don't forget, one big reason to move your factory out of this
 country is the cost of benefits. If you pay for those benefits
 in a sales tax, regardless of where you make the product, that
 reduces the incentive to leave the country drastically.


BOB KLAHN bob.klahn{at}sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn

... I'm just here for moral support. Please ignore the gun...
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