On a regular basis we seem to hear some version of the following from political types: “Now is not the time to raise taxes.” “This is not the time to raise taxes.” “In this economy we can’t afford to raise taxes.”
My question is why don’t these same people let us know when it is a good time to raise taxes? Wouldn’t it be refreshing if someone would announce “Now is the perfect time to raise taxes.” Perhaps some research would reveal when it was a “good time” to raise taxes. Let’s see: August 1976 now that was a good time to raise taxes. Oh yeah, and September through November 1997 was an excellent time to raise taxes. Or maybe this: “Now is the best time to raise taxes since July 9, 1922 which was an absolutely perfect time to raise taxes.”
Maybe we could use a version of the terror alert system. Green would be raise taxes. Yellow would be neutral. Red would mean no new taxes. At least we would know when and when not to raise taxes.