Would Liberals like this Dutch tax policy?

From time to time certain people--I won't mention names or political persusasions--use Europe as an exemplar of good public policy. "We should ban the death penalty like the Europeans do." "We should have much more generous welfare policies, like the Europeans do."

And so on.

I've been meaning to keep a list entitled, "Do You Really Approve of All of Europe's Policies?" This brief description of Dutch tax policy would be near the top of the list. (The link to the original ABC news story seems to be broken.)

Comments

[Chris Meisenzahl]

Thanks Dr. Newmark. The link is gone but I found the story again at another site and posted that link too.

[aralls]

Unrelated, but check out the "L'Eggo My Leggo" article here:

http://www.techcentralstation.com/

[kyle8]

While it is true that a blind nut will find a squirrel every now and again. For the most part European policies are bad. There people live in very small homes (at least for most of the middle class), Pay way more than we do for food. Have much more unemployment.

To balance that out they get a lot of mediocre benefits like health care with incredibly long waiting lists. Not my cup of tea.

[JorgXMcKie]

Don't forget no Bill of Rights. Check out how Spain runs its anti-terrorist activities. The ACLU's collective head would explode if we did it the same way. Also, Napleonic Code countries (most of the EU, I think) don't have jury trials, they use 3 judge panels (who almost inevitably come from the ranks of the ruling elites.) Oh, yeah, their systems are to die for.

[David Foster]

"The idiot who praises, in enthusiastic tone
Each century but this, and every country but his own"

--Gilbert & Sullivan

[John Thacker]

You'd have to add Sweden's impressively broad school choice program in there too. And of course note that most of Europe has stricter restrictions on abortion than the US.