[d-ray657]

Not all economic questions need to be partisan, but it is unrealistic to suggest that economic analysis is not values laden. Most certainly, tax policy is values laden. So is any prediction of the behavior of individual and business given particular stimuli. For example, one area where there is a substantial gap in perception between Whell and I is the level of trust that we have in the response of business entities or individuals given the opportunity to retain a greater portion of profits. I tend to think that the inclination would be to keep more rather than invest more. I do think we have ready evidence of what happens when we rely solely on the market to make an equitable distribution of the society's wealth - we have a gilded age. To borrow Whell's nomenclature (though not his conclusions), I don't trust those who have control of financial and physical capital to properly value human capital.

I also do not see the harm or unfairness in taxing different types of income production. After all, we as a society provide the infrastructure and social framework that permits capital to be put to productive use. Why should not some of the value gleaned from that be returned to society? Because our perspective causes us to differently evaluate the utility of taxation at all levels of wealth creation, one can't say that an economic analysis that damns such taxation does not reflect a political perspective.

Regards,

D-Ray