IFF: Everyone Doesn’t Need To Do It

The argument that “everyone else is doing it” is no more compelling now than it was when you first tried that excuse with your parents. Egging the neighbor’s house, skipping school, drinking to excess. These are things you should not do because your friends are doing it. Your mom usually scolded you for thinking that way. Mom would ask me, “If your friends were jumping off a bridge, would you?” It didn’t happen much. I was a good kid. Really. Likewise, tax policy shouldn’t be governed merely because everyone else is engaging in dumb behavior. To be sure, there is a lot of dumb behavior disguised as good public policy. Corporate welfare is endemic. That’s no reason we should do it, too. If that sounds a bit harsh right before Christmas, I apologize. But the legislative session is quickly approaching. Lawmakers are trying to decide now what to “give” us during 2014/ Wayne Hoffman , Idaho Freedom Foundation. More here.

Thoughts?