In my opinion, taxes do affect WHERE manufacturing is done. Companies are now moving production off-shore for lower taxes and less regulation. Manufacturing in the USA is on a steady decline due to competition from imports and outsourcing of jobs for cheaper labor cost. The reduction in the manufacturing sector will hinder a recovery from this recession and future recessions.
+1 To reference "manufacturing in America" now vs. a time before NAFTA and globalization is to compare apples to lug nuts.
They HAD more power in our early history, but the greedy and power hungry Feds usurped it. Now, the Feds believe they can "do ANYTHING they want and the States/Constitution are powerless to stop them".
Stupidity, Which taxes? State? Property? Gasoline? Tobacco? All those rose heavily over the years. So did regulations, gov't agencies and the welfare state. Trying to compare income taxes alone with one sector is an exercise in, yes, stupidity.
Definitely. The founding fathers would literally be taking up arms if they were alive and saw how much the Feds have usurped. If you know anything about our history (hint: you won't learn it from school textbooks), you know our current situation is absolutely nothing like what was intended re: 10th Amendment, nullification, etc.
The Founders were ADAMANTLY OPPOSED to the USA ever having (1) a central bank and (2) a large, powerful Federal government. Now it's obvious as to why. The Founders had collective genius, but greed and the hunger for power have left us in a near-Communist state presently... getting worse by the day. Obama's "hope and change" message was all about "rapidly taking us the rest of the way to Communism"... but greedy, naive, stupid voters didn't understand that nor did they bother to "look into the man".. they were blinded with the euphoria of the promise of "free ice cream".