Don't tax you, don't tax me, tax that fellow behind the tree

61% of Americans are dumber than a box of hammers.

That's the only conclusion I can draw from a 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll released on Monday.

Sixty-one percent of Americans polled would rather see taxes for the wealthy increased as a first step to tackling the deficit, the poll showed.

Alternative conclusion — the people at 60 Minutes and Vanity Fair have a congenital case of cranial-rectal syndrome.

Take your pick.

But wait, I hear you cry. The rich need to pay their fair share!

Let's see now. The top 1% of all income earners in the U.S. pay 40.4% of the total taxes collected.

In contrast, 36% of all Americans filing tax returns pay absolutely nothing into the system. Even worse, a typical married couple filing a joint return can now make over $50,000 with two children and pay zero in federal income tax.

How? Refundable tax credits, that's how. The 2010 earned income credit is as high as $5,666 for taxpayers with three or more qualifying children. This is in addition to the $1,000 per child tax credit. That's $8,666 which comes out of some rich guy's pocket only to be redistributed to someone else.

There's a word for a person who does that sort of thing without the imprimateur of a government program — thief.

Unfortunately there are all too many thieves out there, chomping at the bit to tell 60 Minutes and Vanity Fair how much they love that Robin Hood fellow.

How much more can "the rich" pay? Who's to say they'll stand by and let themselves be taxed into penury? Rich people have an uncanny ability to remain rich. That is, they adjust their actions and efforts in order to minimize their tax burden. Really, they do.

Twenty years ago Congress passed a luxury tax on yachts. And suddenly nobody bought yachts. The yacht business went belly up. The carpenters and electricians who built the yachts, the dealers who sold the yachts, the marinas who berthed the yachts, all soon lost their jobs.

The exact same thing happened when the class warriors decided to tax private jets. Thousands of people in the general aviation industry were put out of work.

No worries, right? We'll just find another group of rich people to tax. Sooner or later the money will come rolling in! Someone has to pay for all these entitlement benefits and it sure ain't gonna be us!

"When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic."
— Benjamin Franklin

The end is nigh.

Posted at 08:57 by Chris Wysocki   [/news]   Comments | Perm Link |
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