Unions, New Taxes and GM Crops
Andy Stern is leaving his post as head of the Service Employees International Union.
The Obama Administration may soon propose a Value Added Tax (VAT).
An op-ed in the Boston Globe argues that genetically-engineered crops are more environmentally-friendly than organic crops.
1. LABOR
Andy Stern is leaving his post as head of the Service Employees International Union.
CEI Expert Available To Comment: Editorial Director Ivan Osorio on why Stern may be retiring.
“While it could be seen as a case of knowing when to quit so as to go out on top, or of riding into the sunset following SEIU’s huge victory in helping ram Obamacare through Congress, there may be another, much less triumphant reason for Stern to quit now. He may be getting off the Titanic that is SEIU before it runs headlong into the proverbial iceberg in the form of severely underfunded pensions.”
2. TAX
The Obama Administration may soon propose a Value Added Tax (VAT).
CEI Experts Available to Comment: Vice President Wayne Crews and Warren Brookes Fellow Ryan Young on why the VAT is a bad idea.
“As far as taxes go, the VAT is especially destructive. For one, it would require roughly doubling the current size of the IRS. Sixteen years ago, CBO estimated compliance and administrative costs for a VAT at $8.5 billion annually. That figure can safely be placed at more than $10 billion by now. The IRS’ entire budget is currently $12.1 billion. All of this is in addition to the 16,000 new IRS employees needed to enforce the health care bill. VATs also lack transparency, making abuse almost inevitable. When traditional sales taxes are added to the goods we buy, we know what we pay simply by looking at our receipts. But VATs are hidden. Since manufacturers pay them in advance, they are factored into the prices consumers pay.”
3. ENVIRONMENT
An op-ed in the Boston Globe argues that genetically-engineered crops are more environmentally-friendly than organic crops.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Greg Conko on why this is true.
“As I wrote last October here on Open Market, environmental guru Stewart Brand has been saying the same thing for years. And the UK’s Royal Society, one of the most highly respected scientific bodies in the world issued a report last fall calling for broader use of biotech crops and other technologies to bring about a ‘sustainable intensification’ in global agriculture. And just today, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences’ National Research Council issued an in-depth study on The Impact of Genetically Engineered Crops on Farm Sustainability in the United States.”