Jorge martinez is a well-educated entrepreneur who operated a small business in his home country of fiorentina. at the encouragement of his american relatives, jorge recently immigrated to the united states and applied for u.s. citizenship. "in fiorentina, tax rates were very high," jorge complained. "the government used the taxes i paid to finance all sorts of social programs to help the less fortunate. while this is a noble goal, it has really undermined the profit incentive of individuals such as me. i really feel that these high taxes have stifled economic growth." jorge's comments illustrate the reason many socialist countries are experiencing a(n):
