The author of this Mises Daily article contends that taxes on business stifle economic growth.
He’s right, but I’d add that all taxes do that, but drawing resources into the web of politics, where they are mostly devoted to things that do not promote (and sometimes actually impede) the production of goods and services. If left to private decision-making, those resources would be used to far better purpose.
During the reign of the Bourbons, the French people were taxed heavily so that the nobility would have the resources to do the things they thought important, such as waging wars and building palaces. Would there have been more prosperity if instead taxes had been cut or even eliminated, allowing individuals and business owners to spend and invest as they thought best? Of course. When it comes to making intelligent use of resources, our elected representatives are hardly better than Louis XIV.
