Harry Veeder wrote:

>I am wondering, who is the "public"? Does public = taxpayers?

I don't think so. Marxist economic theory has it, and I haven't heard any
convincing arguments to the contrary, that capitalists pay all tax. The
logic goes something like this - capitalists pay (on average) only the
minimum wages necessary to keep their employees functioning efficiently,
therefor any taxes nominally levied against the working class are an extra
cost of living that employers must add to the wages they pay.

Lower taxes are therefor of benefit only to employers in that it then
lowers the amount they must necessarily pay in wages. It seems consistent
with experience.

From this perspective it is therefor a complete waste of time to get
involved in tortured debate about "taxpayer" subsidy of private business,
unless you're a taxpayer/capitalist of course, in which case you might be
being hard done by if you don't get a fair share of the subsidy.

I like to think I still have an open mind about this theory though - any
comments?

Bill Bartlett
Bracknell Tas.