Recently, our esteemed President floated another one of his brainy ideas. This time it was in a speech about the debt ceiling “crisis”. His plan is to raise taxes, by disallowing the deduction, on corporations that purchase aircraft for business use. Looking at it from a purely “soak the rich” point of view, it makes sense; make those lousy, good for nothing rich people pay more taxes, Right? Sure, that may make some feel good, but what are the true consequences of that decision?

There are over 1 million Americans employed by the aircraft industry and about a quarter of a million aircraft have been produced in the state of Kansas. The five major aircraft manufacturers are located in the Wichita, KS. area and produce about 25% of the taxes the state uses to run its operating budget. Now, with those facts in mind, there is no doubt the taxes that the employees of those companies pay, far exceeds the taxes to be collected by disallowing the deduction.

To borrow one of the Presidents favorite statements, because he thinks we are all idiots, “Let me be clear”. The government produces NOTHING, it makes NOTHING, it sells NOTHING. When the government says it needs to increase revenue, understand, that is code for, we need to raise taxes. Taxing companies that own aircraft does nothing but cause them to stop buying aircraft. That in-turn causes the manufacturer to cut costs by either moving out of the country to find cheaper labor or cut employees since they are not selling aircraft. The net effect: an overall drop in taxes since the employees are no longer paying into the system. This isn’t rocket science, it is basic econ 101.

So, no matter how much you may dislike the rich, they produce jobs by buying these aircraft. Don’t take out your frustration on them, take it out on the people in Washington that spend more than comes in. Tell them to quit making promises to people to give them whatever they want, when they can’t pay for it. A quote often attributed to Thomas Jefferson, but actually said by Gerald Ford is: “A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have,”