by Lam Luu

Created on: May 23, 2008

It is so amusing to read those articles on "Robin Hood politics". I always smile when reading those, and wonder to myself: what do those authors think? Do they really know what they are talking about? If they do, then they must be lying or something: what they call "Robin Hood politics" is not Robin Hood at all, and true Robin Hood politics simply cannot exist.

First, let me explain why the so-called "Robin Hood politics" is anti-Hood. Remember the legend of Robin Hood and his Merry Men? They robbed the rich to provide to the poor. This means two things: first, the rich (legally) did not owe Robin Hood anything; second, Robin Hood and his gangs did not do anything that benefit the rich (except prolonging the reign, since the people had less incentives to rebel). Now back to the so-called "Robin Hood politics." What does that politics do? It collects taxes, and use those taxes to provide public services and goods. Those services and goods include social safety nets, infrastructure, basic researches, public education, etc. If this kind of politics is true Robin Hood, two things must be right: those taxed do not owe anything, and the services are used only by those not taxed. It is true that some people pay more in taxes than others, so lump everyone paying taxes into one large "those taxed" are pretty unfair. Hence, I will divide people into two groups: those who are rich, pay a lot of taxes (in both terms of amount of money and percentage of income); and those who are middle and poor, pay less or no taxes. I will also assume here the rich ones are those who build their own fortunes. Those who are rich without working hard (inheritance, says, or illegal activities) should be taxed and throw back to work, should they not?

Let us also notice one more thing: the rich are the managers of large companies. This is pretty easy to explain: you cannot expect some direct-production workers to earn millions dollars a year. As we are all familiar with, in all companies, the higher a person's position is, the more that person own. Hence, the rich must be the one who occupy the tops. Make not mistakes: I am not accusing anything. The rich earn it: they work hard, they show true leadership, so they climb to where they are. Furthermore, we will also agree at this point that one's performance will be one's wage (with some changes that varies from company to company). This is, again, common sense. When a person is working hard, and produces great results, it is obvious that that

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