patrick.net

The Dictator endorses Romney:

"....But if it was the money that I was giving, I support – and I give my full support to – Mitchell Romney. He has the makings of a great dictator. He is incredibly wealthy but pays no taxes, and it's not much of a leap to go from firing people to firing squads and from putting pets on the top of a car to putting political dissidents on the top of them."

http://www.politico.com/blogs/click/2012/05/the-dictator-endorses-mitchell-romney-122788.html

Calling switzerland socialist is amusing. The swiss are way more about free markets than America is (lower taxes, less regulation) -- they just have better politicians than we do, and don't have to run the world's military.

Kevin says

Calling switzerland socialist is amusing. The swiss are way more about free markets than America is (lower taxes, less regulation) -- they just have better politicians than we do, and don't have to run the world's military.

Even the Heritage Foundation study in 2012 showed Switzerland has higher tax revenues as a % of GDP than the US. Regulation varies by industry. Certainly health care and banking has lower regulation in Switzerland, while there is more environmental and labor regulation.

I wouldn't call Switzerland a socialist country either, however. But it is certainly MORE socialist than the US.

And Switzerland has higher GDP per capita, a lower Gini coefficient, longer life expectancy, lower infant mortality....wait..

Why shouldn't we become more socialist again?

david1 says

Why shouldn't we become more socialist again?

Because then we wouldn't be God's Chosen Nation (tm). In God's Chosen Nation (tm), the poor are just lazy and deserve to suffer!

david1 says

I wouldn't call Switzerland a socialist country either, however. But it is certainly MORE socialist than the US.

Yeah, the blanket demonization of socialism is absurd.

david1 says

Why shouldn't we become more socialist again?

Because socialism is very unprofitable for the top .01%, and they are entitled to any amount of money they can get their hands on.

david1 says

Even the Heritage Foundation study in 2012 showed Switzerland has higher tax revenues as a % of GDP than the US.

I'm referring to corporate taxation, actually. It's a flat 8.5% in switzerland. The swiss lean pretty heavily on a (highly regressive) sales tax / VAT.

david1 says

I wouldn't call Switzerland a socialist country either, however. But it is certainly MORE socialist than the US.

Which industries does the swiss government own?

Switzerland is much more business friendly than the US is, by a long shot. It's pretty much the only way that a tiny country in the middle of europe that's surrounded by mountains and has few natural resources could be so successful.

Kevin says

Which industries does the swiss government own?

Switzerland has Universal Health Care and each Swiss is required to purchase health insurance. A similar policy in the United States that you may have heard of is being classified as "socialist" and challenged in the Supreme Court.

The Swiss have the most dense rail network in Europe. This rail network is Federally administered.

The Swiss have a system very similar to our Social Security, except it is more socialist. For example, a woman on maternity leave in Switzerland is paid 80% of her salary for 14 weeks by the government. There is a government sponsored additional retirement insurance program as well that Swiss workers may purchase voluntarily.

The Swiss have a national bank similar to the Federal Reserve.

Kevin says

I'm referring to corporate taxation, actually.

How convenient. The corporate tax rate is unimportant, actually, considering sales Taxes / VAT are really corporate taxes. In a free market, prices inclusive of taxes are set by the market.

That is, the price of a car inclusive of taxes is set by the market. 30,000 swiss francs - 8% VAT is $27,778. That is $2,222 in taxes. If a car manuacturer has a 10% (BMW published) operating profit margin, he makes $2,778. On that profit, he pays flat 8.5% in switzerland, so another $236. Total taxes are $2,458. Total operating costs are 90% of $27,778, so $25,000. The profit without the VAT would have been $5,000, since he would have sold for the same price. So the manufacturer pays 49% effective taxes.

What this shows is you can't simply look at "facts" published by some conservative source that has an agenda about how high corporate taxes are here vs. the Switzerland. But the simple fact remains that as a % of GDP, taxes are higher in Switzerland than they are in the US. When you see something like that, but then also see corporate tax rates lower & indivdual income tax rates lower, something should make you scratch your head.

If you believe prices are set by the market, then a VAT only causes deadweight loss which is really just an additional corporate tax. VAT taxes restrict demand while income taxes do not. A multinational company who has access to VAT free markets as well is really the only benefactor to Switzerland's low Corporate income tax rate.

What we need is not a Value-Added Tax. What we need is a Non-Value-Added Tax, i.e. a tax on financial "activities" that generate profit but don't do squat for the real economy.

And I thought Democrats were spinless. In the fastest flip-flop ever Bachmann gives up her Swiss citizenship.

http://go.bloomberg.com/political-economy/2012-05-10/bachmann-backs-off-swiss-switch/

So, I guess the question now is what is worse:

1. The support of a socialist/communist.

-or-

2. The support of a spineless flip-flopper who seems to have no real convictions and who amplifies Romney's Etch-a-sketch effect.

?

Kevin says

I'm referring to corporate taxation, actually. It's a flat 8.5% in switzerland.

I wonder though if the biggest corporations in Switzerland get away with paying no -- or even money back -- taxes like they do here.

Anyway as taxes go david does make a good point:
david1 says

But the simple fact remains that as a % of GDP, taxes are higher in Switzerland than they are in the US.

Clearly they are not following the US trend of getting taxes as low as possible.