Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Supporting Thoughts on Tax Day
I don't mind paying the 'rent' for the country, although a consumption tax makes a whole lot more sense than an income tax. However, I think progressive tax brackets (you pay not only more the more you earn but a higher percentage the more you earn) is legalized theft. There is no moral high ground for taking a higher percentage--the lefties do it because they can and that is the only justification.
So it's good to see others, like David Strom, think it's a bad idea for other valid reasons. Money quote:
It's pretty obvious: progressive income taxes serve to put a higher and higher burden on those people climbing the economic ladder. In fact, rather than serving the purpose of flattening out the economic class structure, progressive income taxes serve to entrench the wealthy at the top. Because as lower- and middle- class workers climb that ladder, bigger barriers are placed in their way.
The rich stay rich, while the rest of us work ourselves to the bone to get ahead. Liberals claim to be taxing wealth, but in fact are taxing mostly work and productivity. By doing so, they hurt the middle class and keep them from getting ahead.
Now what I can't figure out is this: are liberals just stupid when they claim to pursue social justice through progressive taxation, or do they know what they are doing and pursue these policies anyway? Do they know that they are helping to entrench a wealthy class and taking more and more away from those who actually work for a living?
After all, many of the so-called fighters for the working class in Congress acquired their wealth the old-fashioned way—they inherited it. These limousine liberals are doing just fine under the current system. Could it be that they knowingly pose as champions of the lower classes as they actively work to keep them down?
As compelling as this picture is, I doubt it.
I think they are just stupid.
So it's good to see others, like David Strom, think it's a bad idea for other valid reasons. Money quote:
It's pretty obvious: progressive income taxes serve to put a higher and higher burden on those people climbing the economic ladder. In fact, rather than serving the purpose of flattening out the economic class structure, progressive income taxes serve to entrench the wealthy at the top. Because as lower- and middle- class workers climb that ladder, bigger barriers are placed in their way.
The rich stay rich, while the rest of us work ourselves to the bone to get ahead. Liberals claim to be taxing wealth, but in fact are taxing mostly work and productivity. By doing so, they hurt the middle class and keep them from getting ahead.
Now what I can't figure out is this: are liberals just stupid when they claim to pursue social justice through progressive taxation, or do they know what they are doing and pursue these policies anyway? Do they know that they are helping to entrench a wealthy class and taking more and more away from those who actually work for a living?
After all, many of the so-called fighters for the working class in Congress acquired their wealth the old-fashioned way—they inherited it. These limousine liberals are doing just fine under the current system. Could it be that they knowingly pose as champions of the lower classes as they actively work to keep them down?
As compelling as this picture is, I doubt it.
I think they are just stupid.
Labels: progressive taxation
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 6:34 AM 
Comments:
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Rog,
I love it. "It is the liberals who are preventing hard working people from getting ahead. It is the liberals who make it easy for the wealthy to stay that way."
B/c my teams do not play on a grass surface, I have ceased carrying a shovel w/ me in my car which now holds every tool neceassry to fix a stick and some that aren't.
I sure could have used it here.
I think a consumption tax, which I have not really considered, is worth discussing, however, I am remembering something about a "Yacht tax" that had the consequence of devastating the state of Maine's yacht building industry.
Isn't the result of a consumption tax: "Now that yoiu have worked hard to accumulate wealth, we are going to tax the hell of out you if you spend it. Of course the guy down the road who inherited his wealth and family mansion is just fine."
T
I love it. "It is the liberals who are preventing hard working people from getting ahead. It is the liberals who make it easy for the wealthy to stay that way."
B/c my teams do not play on a grass surface, I have ceased carrying a shovel w/ me in my car which now holds every tool neceassry to fix a stick and some that aren't.
I sure could have used it here.
I think a consumption tax, which I have not really considered, is worth discussing, however, I am remembering something about a "Yacht tax" that had the consequence of devastating the state of Maine's yacht building industry.
Isn't the result of a consumption tax: "Now that yoiu have worked hard to accumulate wealth, we are going to tax the hell of out you if you spend it. Of course the guy down the road who inherited his wealth and family mansion is just fine."
T
# posted by 
: 10:06 AM
: 10:06 AM
Didn't really get the shovel thing--I'm sure it's my fault. It doesn't matter how you got the wealth you intend to use to buy things, it's that you are buying things. So Teddy Kennedy buying a case of vodka will pay the same "sales" tax that a self made millionaire would pay. The 'fair tax' is a national sales tax with breaks for the poor. I don't think it will work because people will try to cheat with a tax over 15% and revenue might fall. There are more sophisticated consumption taxes but I can't tell you the details. That which you tax, you get less of; that which you subsidize, you get more of. We should tax spending money, not earning it.
R,
A shovel is what you use to move the southern product of a north walking horse and what about the Yacht tax?
T
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A shovel is what you use to move the southern product of a north walking horse and what about the Yacht tax?
T
# posted by : 7:12 PM
: 7:12 PM << Home
