Column: My Point of View, by Jerrold Dettle

Would the crucifixion have occurred if Roman Legions had not been present in Israel? Did enforcement of Roman taxes cause the insurrection of the Jews? When Edward Gibbon wrote of civilization’s great fall he attributed oppressive taxes in the Roman Empire as a major cause.

When German princes took up arms against their religion, a motivating force was the oppressive taxes the bishops forced on their people in order to build massive cathedrals.

Many believe the lawyer and anarchist Maximilien de Robespierre was driven by the oppressive taxes of the French monarch, when he took a guillotine from town to town lowering the height of the king’s cronies by a foot.

The onset of the American Revolution in the 18th century was inspired by overwhelming taxes imposed on us by our government (the British crown) at the time.

The Weimer Republic fell because of the oppressive duties negotiated by the Treaty of Versailles. The result was the election of Adolph Hitler.

When the Soviet Union fell, many educators felt it was because the aristocracy in the Politburo demanded excessive funds for the forcible expansion of Marxism.

Is Western Europe coming apart today because of a philosophy of providing more amenities to the people than the European Union can possibly gain through the personal taxation of the citizens?

Close to home, the Minneapolis author, Jason Lewis, who wrote the book, “Power Divided Is Power Checked,” stated “the greedy hand (central state government) assumes it’s fair to tax one set of Minnesotans and not others. But having different rules for different citizens is the antithesis of ‘fairness’ and reeks of the arbitrariness of despotism.”

On Feb. 14, the Albert Lea Tribune headline article quoted Dik Bolger, lifelong Twin Cities art dealer, as saying if “tax expenses push you a couple of percent higher, then I’m not competitive” (on a national basis). The same article stated Minnesota’s income tax is one of the highest in the nation and soon could move much higher, even to the worst in the nation. And now, the Minnesota Vikings stadium package seems to be bursting the money bag apart at the seams. This future tax burden on Minnesota workers appears to be placing a monster on the backs of our children. On April 18, the St. Paul Pioneer Press editorial stated emphatically “a restraint agenda built on concern for competitiveness and of economic trouble down the road would help lawmakers face the persistence of the spend-spend-spend crowd.”

The recent tax proposal backed by our representatives in St. Paul contains questionable projects. Here are just a few: $63 million for more convention centers that appear to be more ego than economic; $14 million for another museum; $10 million for a snow monkey exhibit; $7 million for a sculpture garden; $4 million for more trails; $200,000 for minor league baseball.

All of these projects would be nice to have in the state, but not a driver for those who might move production jobs to our state. The amount of taxation and regulation is the major consideration. Adam Smith had it right when he wrote: “Countries with the lowest taxation and regulation have the greatest prosperity.”

Now! The new legislation seems to be on the verge of breaking the budget. This is just one of the coming tax tsunamis that will be drowning our children in disastrous debt.

Friedrich A. Hayek, winner of the Nobel Prize in economics and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991, wrote this: “To be controlled in our economic pursuits means to be always controlled. Whoever controls all economic activity controls the means for all our ends. An authority directing the whole economic system is the most powerful monopolist conceivable. Nothing seems at first to affect private life less than a state control of the dealings in exchange (money). Most people read its introduction with complete indifference. Yet the experience of most continental countries has taught thoughtful people to regard this step as the decisive advance on the path to totalitarianism and the suppression of individual liberty. It’s a fact, the complete delivery of the individual to the tyranny of the state. Not merely for the rich but for everybody. Once the individual is no longer free, the effective control of opinion is much greater than that ever exercised by any of the absolutist governments.”

Ask yourself! With the present politicians, why would you, as a business owner, personally start or move a business to Minnesota?

 

Albert Lea resident Jerrold Dettle is a member of the Freeborn County Republican Party.