They’re Free To Pay More If They Like
Why don’t they? I don’t believe we have a tax problem, the core issue issue is a spending problem.
Stephen Moore: The Tax-Me-More Lobby Doesn’t Pay More – WSJ.com: “The same people who say they want to pay higher taxes don’t bother to contribute more voluntarily. … I wish I had a dollar for every time a wealthy liberal has declared he thinks he should pay more taxes. That list includes Warren Buffett, George Soros, Bill Gates Sr., Mark Zuckerberg and even Barack Obama, who now says that not only should rich people like him pay more taxes, they want to pay more. ‘I believe that most wealthy Americans would agree with me,’ he said of his tax-hike plan. ‘They want to give back to the country that’s done so much for them.’ The idea that the nation’s primary wealth and job creators—i.e., the people who carry the bulk of the tax load—aren’t doing enough for the country is a bit insulting. But the president is right that there is a seemingly endless number of terribly wealthy, guilt-ridden individuals who want Americans to pay more taxes. So why don’t they? … When taxpayer groups in Massachusetts won an income tax rate cut to 5.3% from 5.85% in 2001, they created an option for those opposed to the cut to file at the old rate. But according to Massachusetts tax records, each year only about 1,000 tax-me-more enthusiasts—fewer than 0.1% of the state’s residents—choose the optional higher tax rate. The total raised in voluntary tax contributions for the past tax year was a pitiful $69,000, which means the average income of the donors was less than $25,000—hardly John Kerry territory. And this is arguably our most liberal state, where Mr. Obama won over 60% of the vote. So much for the irresistible liberal urge to ‘give back to the country.’ … What liberals don’t get is that there are patriotic reasons for strongly opposing higher tax rates. To name a few: Higher tax rates will damage the economy and throw Americans out of work. Higher taxes, history proves, won’t be used to balance the budget but to finance government expansion. And higher taxes take the pressure off Congress to make the deep spending cuts that are so urgently necessary. If wealthy liberals want to pay more for wind-energy grants, wool and mohair subsidies, high-speed rail to nowhere, National Public Radio and two years of unemployment benefits for nonworking Americans, I’m all for it. But don’t hold your breath, because when liberals say they want higher taxes, they mean on you.“
Stephen Moore: The Tax-Me-More Lobby Doesn’t Pay More – WSJ.com: “The same people who say they want to pay higher taxes don’t bother to contribute more voluntarily. … I wish I had a dollar for every time a wealthy liberal has declared he thinks he should pay more taxes. That list includes Warren Buffett, George Soros, Bill Gates Sr., Mark Zuckerberg and even Barack Obama, who now says that not only should rich people like him pay more taxes, they want to pay more. ‘I believe that most wealthy Americans would agree with me,’ he said of his tax-hike plan. ‘They want to give back to the country that’s done so much for them.’ The idea that the nation’s primary wealth and job creators—i.e., the people who carry the bulk of the tax load—aren’t doing enough for the country is a bit insulting. But the president is right that there is a seemingly endless number of terribly wealthy, guilt-ridden individuals who want Americans to pay more taxes. So why don’t they? … When taxpayer groups in Massachusetts won an income tax rate cut to 5.3% from 5.85% in 2001, they created an option for those opposed to the cut to file at the old rate. But according to Massachusetts tax records, each year only about 1,000 tax-me-more enthusiasts—fewer than 0.1% of the state’s residents—choose the optional higher tax rate. The total raised in voluntary tax contributions for the past tax year was a pitiful $69,000, which means the average income of the donors was less than $25,000—hardly John Kerry territory. And this is arguably our most liberal state, where Mr. Obama won over 60% of the vote. So much for the irresistible liberal urge to ‘give back to the country.’ … What liberals don’t get is that there are patriotic reasons for strongly opposing higher tax rates. To name a few: Higher tax rates will damage the economy and throw Americans out of work. Higher taxes, history proves, won’t be used to balance the budget but to finance government expansion. And higher taxes take the pressure off Congress to make the deep spending cuts that are so urgently necessary. If wealthy liberals want to pay more for wind-energy grants, wool and mohair subsidies, high-speed rail to nowhere, National Public Radio and two years of unemployment benefits for nonworking Americans, I’m all for it. But don’t hold your breath, because when liberals say they want higher taxes, they mean on you.“
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