Professors profess, but who do we follow?

Any opinion by a professor at MIT, in the US, is treated as a heavenly pronouncement by our media. So when a professor says that India's corporate taxes are low, it makes headline news. " We don't talk about taxing the rich in any form, it's all about lower taxes....we are still talking about cutting corporate taxes. Our corporate taxes are not high, they are low," he said. He said that there is now a consensus on policies of "redistribution at the bottom end". Why does he say that? Because he is professor at Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab and has written a 'highly acclaimed book Poor Economics'. Our knowledge of economics is not even an infinite fraction of the exalted professor but we feel that since he is a professor of poverty he would have little interest in seeing poverty disappear. If he really wants to reduce poverty in India he would research ways of helping the poor not to have children, which would increase wages by reducing the supply of cheap labor, improve the health of women because of fewer pregnancies, improve the health of children as parents afford better nutrition and improve education by reducing overcrowding in schools, resulting in long term reduction of poverty. In theory, redistribution sounds very seductive. If you take Rs 10,000 in taxes from a billionaire he will not even notice it but if you give Rs 10,000 to a poor man it would immediately relieve stress on him by doubling his income for a month. Trouble is that a lot of this money leaks out from the system. This is known as 'Okun's bucket' after Arthur Okun who likened redistribution to a leaky bucket. In India, where corruption is a way of life, 84% of funds leak out so that the poor are left with pennies. Even charities spend a fraction of all the donations they receive on good causes. But there is very good reason for lower tax rates. Indian startups are shifting their registered offices to Singapore, on reaching a certain size, because tax rates are low there and rules are much simpler. Even worse, Ireland has lowered its corporate tax rate to 6.25% from an already low rate of 12.5% to attract multinational giants like Google, Apple and Microsoft. Naturally, companies will shift their tax bases to where they pay the lowest taxes. What are you going to do, attack Ireland? The EU has accused Apple of evading $8 billion in taxes. Apple has paid 318 million Euros to settle a tax case in Italy. All by basing operations in Ireland. Even in the US, where MIT is based, the rich spend millions of dollars to save hundreds of millions in taxes. National wealth vanishes overseas, quite legitimately. Is there nothing the government can do? Simplify tax laws, keep them constant and do away with loopholes. It is idiotic to allow companies to show zero profits and then force them to pay a Minimum Alternate Tax. A professor at Harvard thinks that inclusion is better than redistribution. Harvard or MIT, who wins?