Matt Collins
12-06-2008, 07:11 PM
How do you spell relief?
Say "Tax Relief" instead of "Tax Cuts"
The next time you're proposing a reduction in taxes, consider saying "tax
relief" instead of "tax cuts."
Both phrases mean the same, but there is a profound difference in
effectiveness.
The phrase "tax cuts" may unconsciously suggest, in some people's minds, the
idea that some unjust pain or loss is to be endured. After all, something is
being "cut" or "removed." The phrase may create a mental image of suffering, or
suggest that some worthy cause will go unfunded.
The phrase "tax relief," however, makes it clear that taxes are a pain, a
burden, an affliction, from which we need relief. After all, no one would ever
want "relief" from a blessing or a positive condition.
You are proposing to end that pain, remove that burden, cure that affliction,
by relieving it.
As the liberal rhetoritician George Lakoff has observed: "The term 'tax relief'
evokes all of this and more. Taxes, in this phrase, are the Affliction (the
Crime), proponents of taxes are the Causes-of Affliction (the Villains), the
taxpayer is the Afflicted Victim, and the proponents of 'tax relief' are the
Heroes who deserve the taxpayers' gratitude.
"Every time the phrase 'tax relief' is used and heard or read by millions of
people, the more this view of taxation as an affliction and [those who would
relieve us of taxes] as heroes gets reinforced."
And it goes even deeper. Those who respond to your call for tax relief by
saying they *oppose* "tax relief" are implicitly saying they want to maintain
the pain, the burden, the affliction the phrase suggests.
So every time they use the phrase "tax relief," or respond to it, they are,
unintentionally, actually reinforcing your key argument.
There's nothing dishonest or deceptive about this. Words are powerful. How we
use them inevitably influences how people respond to our ideas.
Are there other things we need relief from?
How about "regulation relief," or "relief from the crushing burden of excessive
government regulation"?
"Relief from intrusive government bureaucracies."
"Relief from government meddling in our private lives."
"How do you spell 'relief'?" an old TV commercial asked.
L-I-B-E-R-T-Y.
* * * * * *
by Sharon Harris
Sharon Harris's One Minute Liberty tips are archived at:
http://www.theadvocates.org/one-minute.html
Say "Tax Relief" instead of "Tax Cuts"
The next time you're proposing a reduction in taxes, consider saying "tax
relief" instead of "tax cuts."
Both phrases mean the same, but there is a profound difference in
effectiveness.
The phrase "tax cuts" may unconsciously suggest, in some people's minds, the
idea that some unjust pain or loss is to be endured. After all, something is
being "cut" or "removed." The phrase may create a mental image of suffering, or
suggest that some worthy cause will go unfunded.
The phrase "tax relief," however, makes it clear that taxes are a pain, a
burden, an affliction, from which we need relief. After all, no one would ever
want "relief" from a blessing or a positive condition.
You are proposing to end that pain, remove that burden, cure that affliction,
by relieving it.
As the liberal rhetoritician George Lakoff has observed: "The term 'tax relief'
evokes all of this and more. Taxes, in this phrase, are the Affliction (the
Crime), proponents of taxes are the Causes-of Affliction (the Villains), the
taxpayer is the Afflicted Victim, and the proponents of 'tax relief' are the
Heroes who deserve the taxpayers' gratitude.
"Every time the phrase 'tax relief' is used and heard or read by millions of
people, the more this view of taxation as an affliction and [those who would
relieve us of taxes] as heroes gets reinforced."
And it goes even deeper. Those who respond to your call for tax relief by
saying they *oppose* "tax relief" are implicitly saying they want to maintain
the pain, the burden, the affliction the phrase suggests.
So every time they use the phrase "tax relief," or respond to it, they are,
unintentionally, actually reinforcing your key argument.
There's nothing dishonest or deceptive about this. Words are powerful. How we
use them inevitably influences how people respond to our ideas.
Are there other things we need relief from?
How about "regulation relief," or "relief from the crushing burden of excessive
government regulation"?
"Relief from intrusive government bureaucracies."
"Relief from government meddling in our private lives."
"How do you spell 'relief'?" an old TV commercial asked.
L-I-B-E-R-T-Y.
* * * * * *
by Sharon Harris
Sharon Harris's One Minute Liberty tips are archived at:
http://www.theadvocates.org/one-minute.html