To the editor:

We often hear the argument that taxes must not be raised because this will reduce employment. The obverse is, of course, that keeping taxes low will increase employment.

This argument worked before the arrival of the global economy. Now, however, investment  goes wherever it will bring the most profit, that is, where labor is cheap and/or raw materials are available onsite. As we all know, most manufactured goods sold in the United States are made in China, while inquiries to phone companies are answered by operators in India.

The argument that raising taxes will reduce employment here is contrary to the nature of the free, unregulated market. According to an economics and labor expert, U.S. manufacturing jobs declined from 50 percent of GDP in 1950 to 30 percent in 1970 and 11.7 percent in 2010. Our wealthy citizens and corporations are not only importing parts and goods from China but even building factories there — while the Chinese government sometimes subsidizes production for Chinese jobs. Yet, according to the same article, “each new  manufacturing job (in the U.S.) generates five others in the economy.” (Louis Uchitelle, New York Sunday Times, Sept. 11). Surely we must aim at creating more manufacturing jobs in the United States.