Apr 2009 21

Big government and corruption2

Dan Mitchell, in a video for the Centre for Freedom and Prosperity, makes a powerful case that big government breeds corruption.  The same thing is going on here, the sort of dodgy lobbying that Dispatches discussed this weekend is the result of Government decisions becoming so economically important, in terms of the money they spend and the regulations they put in place, that it is worth spending a fortune – or even breaking the law – in order to ensure they go your way:

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  • Adrian Wrigley

    The video is entertaining, but the message is almost completely wrong! It is not big government which gives rise to corruption – it is corruption breeding big government!
    The corruption was present when government was much smaller. The effect of the corruption was to drive wealth transfers from ordinary people through government to the corrupt. We see this in the US at the moment as the corruption of the banking system is forcing the pledging of ever larger sums from the taxpayer to bogus projects of every sort.
    The only solution involves removing the main drivers of corruption – the “free lunches” taken by those in control of unearned economic rents. These are the unearned value flows to the owners of things like oil and land. Abolishing Income Tax, Corporation Tax and Sales Tax is the right way to go, and I am glad to see the TPA calling for reductions. More than enough tax can be collected from Land Value Taxation and Carbon Tax on fuel import and extraction. Scrapping the baroque Tax Code in the US would go a long way to ridding the system of corruption – as well as allowing America to win handsomely in the international Tax Competition.
    It is clear that the corrupt Tax Code is a core component in the bloated, corrupt system of government, so why does not the TPA call for complete abolition of Income/Corporation/Sales Taxes?
    Corruption breeds big government.

  • http://www.systemicfiscalreformgroup.org Robin Smith

    I would add that:
    * bad tax policy at the root
    * breeds unjust social institutions (corruption)
    * breeds failed and bigger govt (corruption)
    * breeds ultimately a corrupt public
    Dont believe the last point? So name me one person you know who is willing to either:
    1) give up the free lunch they get with their land title
    2) does not aspire to getting such a land title if they do not already own one
    3) if they already own one does not try to get another one
    We all have our noses in the trough in varying degrees, not just MP’s and banksters. Lets get over it, starting with a little humility?