rewards or punishments

Democrats – and I fear many Republicans – think we cut taxes to reward the rich. Democrats would raise taxes to punish the rich and to increase tax revenue for their favorite projects. Perhaps they could find some other way to punish the rich. Their demagoguery impedes economic growth and – as their phrase has it – “revenue enhancement.”

From CNN.com – Tyrrell: The supply-side miracle continues

Mr. Tyrrell has advocated spending cuts in the past. I wonder if he would object to having this categorized as wanting to punish the poor by taking away services they pay taxes for?

The fallacy in play here is called The False Dilemma. Since some people think that the Bush Tax Cuts are designed that reward certain groups, those who oppose those cuts must be looking to punish. This is of course wrong. There are any number of reason why one would object to tax cuts that have nothing at all to do with rewards or punishment.

By Stable Genius

I am the very model of a Stable Genius Liberal.