Cuts Boost Economy by Keeping More Money in Hands of Productive People

The Editor,

You write that businesses that are “languishing at the bottom of the economic ladder” deserve a tax holiday…….(Re “Tax Holiday A Necessity For Troubled Times In Liberia”, FrontPageAfrica Editorial)

But a tax holiday is a temporary tax relief.  How about a permanent tax relief, like a tax cut??

The chief economic reason for cutting taxes is to allow individuals (entrepreneurs) to keep more of their own money, so that they can invest it, take risks with it, or use it in other productive activities.

In short, tax cuts boost the economy by keeping more money in hands of productive people.

But cutting taxes without cutting our government’s spending would be irresponsible, and would rob the tax cut of its kick. 

If you want long term economic growth, you must cut taxes and cut spending at the same time.

Cutting spending means a smaller, limited government.  And that mean that you have to get rid of your bloated bureaucracy and your useless government employees! Why not?

Because if you visit any government agency today, you are more likely to see government employees coming to work 3 to 4 hours late, hanging outside the work place, or sitting on their fat asses doing nothing! And at end of each month, you give them a paycheck for doing nothing!

What the hell is wrong with you people?  When will you fire these good-for-nothing people?? They are a drain on our national budget, you know!

When I visited Liberia, a friend asked me to deliver money (envelope) to Bossman Borbor, a member of his free-loading family.  Bossman worked at National Fire Services (NFS) in Liberia. And I remember going there twice to drop off the envelope.

Day one: I got there around 10am and they told me that “Bossman don’t come in until 12 noon because he usually suffers from hangover after drinking Club Beer all night!”.

“Oh yeah”, I said. “Ok, look. Tell drunken Bossman that I’m coming back tomorrow morning at 10 o’clock sharp! If he’s not here, I’m taking his brown envelope back to America– okaaay!  

Day two: Of course, Bossman got the message about his brown envelope. On day two, Bossman was there bright and early, ready to take possession of his brown envelope! But here’s the point I’m trying to make: We have too many of these drunken Bossmen and their subordinates, “working” in our government, who are a total liability on the Liberian taxpayers.

The Liberian economy would grow faster if you cut out the fat (Alex Tyler, George Mulbah, Eugene F. Kparkar, Jewel Howard Taylor, etc), and make it easy for productive individuals to invest, take risks, and keep more of the fruits of their labor. (Psalm 128:2).. Anything wrong with that??

Martin Scott, Atlanta, Georgia
[email protected]