Career politicians will not solve our nation’s problems
Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz are products of the tax-spend-elect system. Former President Donald Trump and Sen. J.D. Vance, Ohio Republican, come from outside the system.
As a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2019, Ms. Harris bragged about never having worked in the private sector.
“For my entire career, I’ve only had one client: The people,” Ms. Harris proudly proclaimed, which is the same as saying that she has lived off the taxpayers for her entire adult life.
Just out of law school, Ms. Harris was hired as a deputy district attorney for Alameda County, California, and appointed to several state commissions by her then-boyfriend, former California Assembly Speaker Willie Brown.
From there, it was a steady climb up the political ladder, from San Francisco district attorney to California attorney general to U.S. senator to vice president.
She has never known what it’s like to start a business, create jobs or generate wealth. Government is her business. And for Ms. Harris, business has been good.
Her running mate, Mr. Walz, is a perfect match. He went from college to the National Guard to public education, where there is little accountability. He served in Congress for 10 years and has been Minnesota governor for the past six years. Like Ms. Harris, he has never collected a private-sector paycheck.
He didn’t need to worry about profit and loss, customer satisfaction, finding qualified employees or meeting payroll.
While Ms. Harris went to law school and Mr. Walz got a degree in education, Mr. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of Finance.
Mr. Trump was 25 years old when he took over and transformed his family’s business. He moved his father’s real estate business from residential property in the Bronx to Manhattan, where he built high rises, negotiated hundred-million-dollar deals and transformed the city skyline.
He built hotels, office buildings, condominiums, golf courses and casinos all over the world, creating jobs for tens of thousands in the process.
Mr. Vance grew up in poverty. After four years in the Marine Corps, he went to college and law school, wrote a bestselling autobiography and became a lawyer and venture capitalist.
Mr. Walz mocked him, sneering, “I don’t know what a venture capitalist does.” That’s true. In Mr. Walz’s world, you don’t raise capital. You take the money you need from the taxpayers.
Ms. Harris’ career reflects a deep and abiding devotion to taxes and government expansion.
She was the tiebreaking vote on the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which didn’t reduce inflation but did provide $324 billion more in tax revenue over 10 years – most of it in corporate taxes that will be passed on to consumers – including an added $79 billion for the Internal Revenue Service, whose employee union has endorsed her.
The nonpartisan Tax Foundation estimates that similar provisions in the 2025 Biden-Harris budget would reduce economic output by 1.6% and full-time employment by 666,000 jobs.
Now she wants to raise the top corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% and the highest capital gains tax rate from 20% to 28%.
She has also proposed a 25% tax on unrealized capital gains for the highest income bracket, which billionaire investor John Paulson predicts would “crash the market,” leading to a major recession, if not another depression.
Her answer to inflation is price controls on groceries to combat corporate greed. Though they appeal to economic illiterates, price controls have never worked.
While 28 states lowered taxes to spur a recovery after COVID-19, Mr. Walz raised them. He has significantly increased spending on public education and welfare. A recent audit by the Minnesota state auditor found significant fraud, waste and mismanagement of state agencies during his tenure.
Ms. Harris and Mr. Walz don’t understand the market economy because they’ve never been part of it. Their goal is to squeeze as much as possible out of it.
Between them, Ms. Harris and Mr. Walz have spent over half a century in government. The public service of Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance is limited to six years. Perhaps that’s why their ideas are fresh and innovative.
The national debt is $35.8 trillion, $7.9 trillion more than when President Biden took office. The border is broken. Crime is rampant. Inflation has taken a terrible toll on family budgets, from gas and groceries to housing.
Washington has failed us miserably. The answer isn’t another four years of two career politicians.
This column was first published at the Washington Times.