| The Salt Lake Tribune

Welcome to Behind the Lines, a weekly conversation between Salt Lake Tribune cartoonist Pat Bagley and BYU economist Val Lambson:

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Bagley: The Tuesday cartoon contrasts Oliver Wendell Holmes ("I like to pay taxes") with anti-tax activist Grover Norquist. Holmes was an abolitionist and decorated Union Civil War veteran who was wounded on several occasions. Appointed by Teddy Roosevelt in 1902, he spent 30 years on the Supreme Court and was one the nation’s most influential defenders of the First Amendment.

Grover Norquist is a lobbyist. His claim to fame is getting 98 percent of GOP legislators to sign a "pledge" not to raise taxes. Ever. His special talent is consigning legislators who cross him to political perdition. He is perhaps the most influential defender of entrenched privilege. Ever.

Just my opinion.

Lambson: It isn’t just a question of paying taxes or not paying taxes. It is a question of how much and what for. Let’s take these one at a time. Federal, state and local governments have been spending a third of GDP (that is, a third of the total value of goods and services) in the United States. What percentage of economic activity do you think should be directly controlled by government?

Bagley: The share of GDP claimed by the federal government is the lowest it’s been in 60 years. Currently about 15 percent.

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/are-taxes-in-the-u-s-high-or-low/

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2010/12/06/chart-of-the-day-u-s-taxes/

Lambson: True, but largely irrelevant. You are focusing on current taxes. Whether government spending is funded by current taxation or by future taxation (borrowing), it has to be funded, so government spending rather than taxation is probably the best measure of government intervention in the economy. That has been about a third of GDP quite steadily for some time. The question remains: What percentage of economic activity do you think should be directly controlled by government?

Bagley: Would you be happy if it was the lowest in the developed world? Okay, Korea’s is a bit lower:

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/background/numbers/international.cfm