David Stafford's  Instablog

Recently there have been discussions concerning different tax treatments for differently connotated cash flows. This can be succintly encapsulated in the debate concerning the levels of capital gains tax vs. income tax.

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I was recently watching a hearing in Washington on this matter, and of course there was the usual discussion, do taxes cripple business, tax shelters, Buffet Rule, etc etc.

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Amidst all these discussions there seemed to be kind of an obvious monkey in the corner, sitting calmly eating bananas. No, I was not attending the meeting, however, perhaps it is based on my own naivety, or my own ignorance, but when should businesses and individuals be treated as one in the same?

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Granted, there's all sorts of legal hedges that relate to treating corporations like individuals to limit liability and so on, however, perhaps this concept of an individual's investment related capital gains, and a businesses' capital related capital gains, seem to be two different things, as far as economic utility is concerned. ( Not that outside of this hedged pseudo-academic discussion it really maters to me personally.)

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Hence, as I watch these discussions, I wonder if behind all the discussions of marginal this that and the other, there lies a gentle chomping noise. The sound of rustling, and a sound of matted fur sliding over wooden surfaces, the sound of a monkey in the room, watching with glee, as his antics go unnoticed.

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Hence, not that I'm a proponent of one camp or another, but it seems this monkey's presence should be mentioned.