Send Warren Buffett to Afghanistan!

Warren Buffett continues to express a grandfatherly concern for the nation’s working class…

“OUR leaders have asked for “shared sacrifice.” But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched.

While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks.” (NY Times – Warren Buffett)

There’s an easy solution to that one!

Expropriate the property of Buffett and his fellow billionaires, put guns in their hands and send them to Afghanistan. Turn their property over to the returning working class soldiers and their families. Problem solved.

But seriously, he raises some valid criticisms of our tax system...

“To understand why, you need to examine the sources of government revenue. Last year about 80 percent of these revenues came from personal income taxes and payroll taxes.” (NY Times – Warren Buffett)

Workaday people cannot escape such taxes, the rich routinely do, especially those who “make money from money” as Buffett explains. These are people who make money on trading, commission and dividends from investments. They don’t have to pay the payroll taxes working people do.

The El Lay Times editorial board chimes in on Buffett’s side…

Under the Tax Reform Act of 1986, which was signed by President Reagan, the number of tax brackets was reduced, loopholes were closed, the top tax rate was lowered and capital gains were taxed at the same rate as ordinary income. Yet in the years since, Congress has steadily drilled loopholes back into the code while lowering the tax burden for wealthy people who make money through investments rather than labor. That was the source of Buffett's complaint. (El Lay Times)

Some kind of a flat tax or national sales tax that exempted basic food staples would put an end to this class warfare rhetoric. And we need get it done so we can focus on real solutions that start by taking a crowbar to the Washington DC-Big Business pornographic embrace.

Higher Taxes or Increased Revenue: Which do You Want?

Big government statists make the common mistake of confusing taxes and revenue. They are not the same thing

Taxes are an assessment by government on your earnings. Revenue is the money flowing to the US treasury as a result of taxation. There is not a direct correlation between the two.   In fact, government data shows that often it is an inverse relationship.





Liberal Nostalgia

Poor liberals, staggering blindly around Left and Right Blogistan, suffering under the crack-brained theories of a Robert Reich or Rachel Maddow, parroting nonsensical "theories."  The latest shiny ideological bauble that has enraptured Left Blogistanis is the idea that government can restore fiscal sanity by returning to the sky high tax rates of the 1950's.

Why 70% Tax rates won’t work

...and this is what Mr. Reich and his friends always fail to mention—the individual income tax actually brought in less revenue when the highest tax rate was 70% to 91% than it did when the highest tax rate was 28%.

President John F. Kennedy's across-the-board tax cuts reduced the lowest and highest tax rates to 14% and 70% respectively after 1964, yet revenues (after excluding the 5%-10% surtaxes of 1969-70) rose to 8% of GDP. 

President Reagan's across-the-board tax cuts further reduced the lowest and highest tax rates to 11% and 50%, yet revenues rose again to 8.3% of GDP. The 1986 tax reform slashed the top tax rate to 28%, yet revenues dipped trivially to 8.1% of GDP.  (WSJ - Alan Reynolds)

So Robert Reich and his fellow travelers are peddling a cartload of statist crap.  The other factor these petty statists ignore is that in the 1950's we were the only viable post-WWII economy still standing.  We weren't just the only game in town, we were the only game in the world!  The rich had few options to hide their money from the avaricious clutches of the US government. Nowadays, the wealthy have a global smorgasbord of tax avoidance options.  They won't just sit here and take that level of taxation.

Our tax code is an incoherent mess. Half pay no income tax, the rich escape it, the working class cannot, businesses keep their money overseas to avoid US taxation, and friends of Obama like GM poobah Jeffrey HeMelts pay no taxes at all.

Caroline Baum lays out the solution quite nicely:

The solution, of course, is “the lowest rate on the broadest base with the least incentive to avoid, evade or not report taxable income,” Laffer says.

And once we find that illusive rate, let’s leave it there. Walk away. Forget about it. Tax policy, almost all experts agree, should be designed to raise revenue for necessary government programs as simply and as fairly as possible while minimizing economic inefficiency.

As things stand, tax policy is informed by special interests and implemented by lawmakers in the service of those interests. What’s good for one isn’t good for all, which is why tax uniformity should be the goal.

But no, some progressives don't care about facts and numbers, they just want to punish the rich, even if it results in less revenue flowing into the treasury, higher unemployment, and tax breaks for friends of Obama.

Picture yoinked from The Astute Bloggers

Stupid Statement of the Week

I love it when liberals slip up and reveal the truth...

It's easy to get a liberal to admit our growing debt is a problem.  It's the solution we differ on.

Like the Miller Lite commercials (Tastes Great!  Less Filling!) Conservatives and liberals shout at one another, "More Taxes!"  "Less Spending!"
 
Here's Uber lib Michael Tomasky making the case for taxing the rich (and inadvertently blowing it) :

If wealthy Americans were paying taxes at the rate they did 50 years ago, says former Clinton labour secretary Robert Reich, the government would be taking in $350bn more a year: budget woes over.  (Michael Tomasky – Guardian)

Hahahahahahahahaha! "budget woes over?"  Hardly!  350 billion would barely make a dent in Obama's 1.5 Trillion annual deficits.  Tomasky just proved the opposite: We cannot put our fiscal house in order by gouging the rich.

Thanks Michael!  And Thanks Robert Reich for blowing a humongous hole in your Soak The Rich argument!

When Winning Really Isn't Winning

Liberals were crowing about knocking off a conservative Wisconsin state supreme court justice, and the liberal candidate who stupidly declared victory before the votes were counted now has egg on her face.

The ballot count now shows the conservative incumbent with a probably insurmountable lead.  The results are not yet final, but even if the liberal Kloppenburg somehow wins, it is still not a liberal victory

Consider:  This election was held in the afterglow of the Madison liberal loon lollapalooza, the rage-filled teacher marches, trashing the capitol and protesting those union-busting meanies in the GOP who have the temerity to look after the interests of the taxpayer.  This election had an unprecedented turnout thanks to millions in union money and the rank and file marching in lockstep to the polling place.

And what does the left have to show for it?  50%.  Only 50% in the deep blue union stronghold of Wisconsin.  This is their high water mark.  Liberalism is a spent force in Wisconsin.  Sean Trend breaks down the numbers.

Finally, if those two little tidbits didn't start your weekend on a lighthearted note, this will: Uncoached - 10 Great Vintage Miller Lite Commercials

Happy New Year!

Wondering why your head hurts even though you didn't drink much last night?  Tax season approaches...

"The tax code is 10 times longer than the Bible, without the good news." 
-- Congressman Dave Camp (R-Michigan), as quoted by George Will


"I used to do my own taxes," Camp says, "until I got on Ways and Means." No more. The tax code is so complex that the chairman of the tax-writing committee, like many millions of Americans, cannot be confident he can properly perform, unassisted, the duty of paying taxes.(George Will)

The W-2's will be rolling in with the new year and tax season will soon be upon us.  It is estimated that 7.6 billion hours are dedicated to tax compliance in America.  Can government resolve to make our taxes flatter and simpler?

The Answer is:  0.  What is the question?

By now we've all heard of the pilot's home that was raided.  He had the temerity to point out that pilots are screened, but baggage handlers and other workers have unimpeded access to the tarmac.  This is a problem.  It is much easier for a prospective bomber to get hired as a baggage handler than as a pilot or air crew member.

There's also the story of rape victim Claire Hirschkind panicking at a TSA checkpoint and being dragged off in handcuffs.  There was very little sympathy from the baaing sheep being herded through the airport...

"I understand her side of it, and their side as well, but it is for our protection so I have no problems with it," said Gwen Washington, who lives in Killeen.

"It's unfortunate that that happened and she didn't get to fly home, but it makes me feel a little safer," said Emily Protine.

It doesn't matter to these mindless subjects that government lies to them, so long as the TSA fairy tales make them "feel better."  

Answer:  0
Question:  How many terrorist attacks has the TSA thwarted in its 9-year history?

http://www.news10.net/news/story.aspx?storyid=114138&catid=2