“We have truly entered the world of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ when the CEO of a company that pays $16 million a day in taxes is hauled up before a Congressional subcommittee to be denounced on nationwide television for not paying more,” Thomas Sowell writes for Real Clear Politics.
“Apple CEO Tim Cook was denounced for contributing to ‘a worrisome federal deficit,’ according to Senator Carl Levin — one of the big-spending liberals in Congress who has had a lot more to do with creating that deficit than any private citizen has,” Sowell writes. “Because of ‘gimmicks’ used by businesses to reduce their taxes, Senator Levin said, ‘children across the country won’t get early education from Head Start. Needy seniors will go without meals. Fighter jets sit idle on tarmacs because our military lacks the funding to keep pilots trained.'”
“The federal government already has ample powers to punish people who have broken the tax laws. It does not need additional powers to bully people who haven’t,” Sowell writes. “Someone once said, ‘any government that is powerful enough to protect citizens against predators is also powerful enough to become a predator itself.’ And dictatorial in the process. No American government can take away all our freedoms at one time. But a slow and steady erosion of freedom can accomplish the same thing on the installment plan. We have already gone too far down that road. F.A. Hayek called it ‘the road to serfdom.’ How far we continue down that road depends on whether we keep our eye on the ball — freedom — or allow ourselves to be distracted by predatory demagogues like Senator Carl Levin.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Chris Renaldi” for the heads up.]
