As usual on a Sunday, I was watching "Meet the Press" with my big cup of Joe and small hang over and heard an interesting point. We tax corporate profits which increase the cost of goods which supposedly has the same effect as regressive taxes like sales tax. The politician argued that we need to only tax personal income so corporations aren't burdened by the regulatory impediments that are supposedly harming our(American) global competitiveness.

He forgot to mention that wages would have to jump as well to counter the increased personal taxes which would cancel any cost benefits from reduced corporate taxes. The only benefit, and it may be large, would come from the reduced complexity of the current system. Another consequence is that the cost of employing workers would go up, increasing demand for automated smart systems which would cut employment starting with the working class and moving its way up as technology improves. It reminds me of the Butterfly Effect. Things are changing too fast because of technology for these old school thinkers to predict the consequences of their policy decisions.

If we had a president with the brains of Bill Clinton and the heart of Tim Russert the world would be a better place.