[Speed Gibson,
Sunday August 8, 2004 at 9:55am]
Tax the Rich!
I saw Ember Reichgott-Junge "Face Off" with David Strom of the Minnesota Taxpayers League this morning on KSTP-TV's "At Issue" program, hosted by Tom Hauser. They spent a couple of those minutes debating tax policy, where at one point Ember proudly proclaimed that a Kerry Administration would repeal the Bush tax cuts for those making over $200,000 per year, making it possible to cut middle class taxes even more.
Again, what struck me was the pride with which she said this. I am to be happy that someone else's taxes are to be raised. I am going to be better off as a result. And since that someone else is already rich and therefore won't suffer at all, society as a whole will be better off. In other words, that someone else is over-compensated for what he or she does. Ember has no idea how such people make their money, but she is nonetheless certain that they are paid too much. She also seems unaware what a huge portion of our income taxes these people pay even now.
In America, we who would pay less frequently rub elbows with those who would pay more, no doubt much more than we know. It is entirely possible that the manager in the white shirt in a McDonalds that waited on you is a millionaire. Or the woman sitting next to you at a high school play. The fellow sitting next to you at the Twins game. The plumber that installed your new water heater. In America, you just don't know, if you even care. For the moment, you are equals. You both want Torii Hunter to catch that fly ball tailing away from him, and you're both just as happy when he does.
But what if they knew that you had voted for and urged on candidates exposing yet another round of tax hikes on the "rich" as defined by the Democratic Party. And you knew that they knew? You're no longer quite as equal, if you have any conscience at all. You feel a little guilty now, and perhaps you should, for sending back a steak in that rich owner's steakhouse. After all, if you really needed that money, what are you doing eating out at a nice restaurant?
Taxes don't have to be flat percentages to be quote - fair - unquote, as there is no way to objectively define fair. But a tax system already so heavily supported by high-income earners can hardly be made even more fair by further skewing it.
So please, Ember, spare us this pretense of nobility in raising taxes. Don't forget that taxes are not exactly donations; they are collected by force.
Again, what struck me was the pride with which she said this. I am to be happy that someone else's taxes are to be raised. I am going to be better off as a result. And since that someone else is already rich and therefore won't suffer at all, society as a whole will be better off. In other words, that someone else is over-compensated for what he or she does. Ember has no idea how such people make their money, but she is nonetheless certain that they are paid too much. She also seems unaware what a huge portion of our income taxes these people pay even now.
In America, we who would pay less frequently rub elbows with those who would pay more, no doubt much more than we know. It is entirely possible that the manager in the white shirt in a McDonalds that waited on you is a millionaire. Or the woman sitting next to you at a high school play. The fellow sitting next to you at the Twins game. The plumber that installed your new water heater. In America, you just don't know, if you even care. For the moment, you are equals. You both want Torii Hunter to catch that fly ball tailing away from him, and you're both just as happy when he does.
But what if they knew that you had voted for and urged on candidates exposing yet another round of tax hikes on the "rich" as defined by the Democratic Party. And you knew that they knew? You're no longer quite as equal, if you have any conscience at all. You feel a little guilty now, and perhaps you should, for sending back a steak in that rich owner's steakhouse. After all, if you really needed that money, what are you doing eating out at a nice restaurant?
Taxes don't have to be flat percentages to be quote - fair - unquote, as there is no way to objectively define fair. But a tax system already so heavily supported by high-income earners can hardly be made even more fair by further skewing it.
So please, Ember, spare us this pretense of nobility in raising taxes. Don't forget that taxes are not exactly donations; they are collected by force.