Economics Questions

Re: Return on investment

J.R.M. — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 22:59:54 GMT

Any calculation of a "return" on your tax dollars would most likely not consider the invisble costs. What would you have done with your money had it not been forcibly coerced from you?

Re: Return on investment

Andris Birkmanis — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 20:25:24 GMT

When was the last time you received dividends from IRS?

Ah, did they mean ROI in some metaphorical sense? I would imagine some pundit could evaluate the benefits the taxpayers get for the money extorted from them, but let's face it, this valuation would be completely meaningless (except if they took the prices in the private sector as a benchmark - and even then, it's not ROI, it's price). It's the usual socialist calculation problem - unsolvable.

Return on investment

mschapman — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 03:58:34 GMT

During the House Budget Committee meeting with Bernanke, one of the members mentioned that the average return to the taxpayer of every tax dollar is about $.60 and the average return for a dollar invested in the private market is about $1.30. Bernanke agreed with this statement. Is there any credible source to back up these figures? It was about the only interesting statement made during the meeting, other than the comedic effects of the Democratic members characterizing the Republican proposal to cut 2.5% of the budget as simultaneously insignificant AND draconian.