Monday, January 23, 2012

Romney campaign adviser Mankiw suggests $2 per gallon gas tax to 'alter behavior,' help 'global climate change,' and increase revenue, NY Times

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UPDATE, 3/20/12, This Romney adviser Mankiw it turns out is another Bush era retread: "Mankiw, who served as Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under George W. Bush." Mankiw is a global warming elitist (see below) who says Americans should move closer to their jobs because driving causes wars, starvation, etc. Bush didn't broadcast his far left radical views and the media certainly wasn't going to spill the beans.
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"N. Gregory Mankiw is a professor of economics at Harvard. He is advising Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, in the campaign for the Republican presidential nomination."

1/21/12, "1/21/12, "A better tax system (Assembly instructions included)" NY Times, Business, by N. Gregory Mankiw

"Tax bads rather than goods

"A good rule of thumb is that when you tax something, you get less of it. That means that taxes on hard work, saving and entrepreneurial risk-taking impede these fundamental drivers of economic growth. The alternative is to tax those things we would like to get less of.

Consider the tax on gasoline. Driving your car is associated with various adverse side effects, which economists call externalities. These include traffic congestion, accidents, local pollution and global climate change. If the tax on gasoline were higher, people would alter their behavior to drive less. They would be more likely to take public transportation, use car pools or live closer to work. The incentives they face when deciding how much to drive would more closely match the true social costs and benefits.

Economists who have added up all the externalities associated with driving conclude that a tax exceeding $2 a gallon makes sense.That would provide substantial revenue that could be used to reduce other taxes. By taxing bad things more, we could tax good things less."...

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3/20/12, "Romney econ adviser posts deport-seniors joke on blog," Politico, G. Thrush


via Tom Nelson

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