Leftists Admit They Want Big Tax Hikes on the Middle Class
While I disagree with statists, I sometimes admire their discipline. They are very good at staying “on message.”
I am 100 percent confident, for instance, that they intend big tax hikes on the middle class, even though they would piously swear an oath to the contrary. Indeed, I suspect more than 90 percent of them secretly would like a value-added tax.
It’s not that they necessarily dislike ordinary people, but privately they understand that you can’t finance big government by taxing rich people.
Simply stated, there aren’t enough of the “1 percent.” Moreover, rich people have significant control over the timing, composition, and level of their income, so class-warfare tax hikes inevitably will fail to generate much revenue (yes, the Laffer Curve exists).
So it makes sense that they want to screw the middle class, but it’s also obvious that they don’t want to admit this is their goal. As such, it’s always interesting and revealing when folks on the left slip up and admit their true intentions.
- The New York Times endorsed higher taxes on the middle class in 2010.
- The then-House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer also gave a green light that year to higher taxes on the middle class.
- Earlier this year, MIT professor and former IMF official Simon Johnson argued that the middle class should pay more tax.
In recent days, more leftists have come out of the we-only-want-to-tax-the-rich closet.
Here’s some of what Jared Bernstein, former economist for Vice President Biden, just wrote for the U.K.’s Financial Times.
That plan will have to include tax increases beyond just the wealthiest households, although that is the right place to start. But what should happen next? …The best thing to do, once the economic recovery is solidly under way, is to simply let the Bush tax cuts expire and return to the tax structure that prevailed under Bill Clinton. …I’d urge Democrats to be forthright with the fact that we’re way below where we need to be in terms of revenue collection.
Bernstein, by the way, was a co-author of the infamous prediction that enacting Obama’s stimulus would keep the unemployment rate below 8 percent.
The Washington Post also is on board with the idea of big tax hikes on ordinary folks.
…it’s impossible to tackle the federal debt by taxing only the wealthy. …the middle class is going to have to pay more…the only way to achieve tax reform with a reasonable increase in revenue is to reset everyone’s rates at Clinton-era levels.
Keep in mind, by the way, that these proposals are just the tip of the iceberg. Once tax rates are pushed back to 2000 levels, then the drumbeat will sound for additional tax hikes.
“The middle class is an easy target”
And, sooner or later, the left will push for its big goal of a value-added tax.
This is not a trivial threat. Obama, for instance, already has expressed support, saying that the VAT is “something that has worked for other countries.” Romney’s also untrustworthy on the issue, having left the door open to this European-style national sales tax.
But the main point of this post is to explain that class-warfare taxes on the rich are a real threat, but they’re also just the camel’s nose under the tent. The left’s real goal is to fleece the middle class.
There’s no way to boost the burden of government spending to European levels without mimicking European tax policies.
And the dirty little secret about European tax policy is that taxes on the rich are about the same on both sides of the Atlantic. The reason government is so much bigger in Europe is that they ransack the middle class.
Read More: http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/danieljmitc...
Top Opinion
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HOMBRE 2012/08/12 03:07:17
obomma is trying to get votes by class warfare with the " 1 % "
obomma will over tax the middle class , all his voters do not pay tax and they are hungry for the obomma free stuff he gives away..
yes, middle class , obomma wants your $$ , just like he wants the 1% $$, he wants every one;s money..
tax and spend,, that is the obomma way of business...
after all middle class,, you did not earn that money ,, some one paid it to you ........
"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money."
--Margaret Thatcher
“The substance of the eminent Socialist gentleman's speech is that making a profit is a sin, but it is my belief that the real sin is taking a loss”
--Winston Churchill
"For a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle."
--Winston Churchill
"How a politician stands on the Second Amendment tells you how he or she views you as an individual... as a trustworthy and productive citizen, or as part of an unruly crowd that needs to be lorded over, controlled, supervised, and taken care of."
-- Suzanna Hupp
"It doesn't require expropriation or confiscation of private property or business to impose socialism on a people. What does it mean whether you hold the deed or the title to your business or property if the government holds the power of life and death over that business or property?"
--Ronald Reagan
"Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations."
--James Madison to the Virginia Convention, 1788
"Democr...
"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money."
--Margaret Thatcher
“The substance of the eminent Socialist gentleman's speech is that making a profit is a sin, but it is my belief that the real sin is taking a loss”
--Winston Churchill
"For a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle."
--Winston Churchill
"How a politician stands on the Second Amendment tells you how he or she views you as an individual... as a trustworthy and productive citizen, or as part of an unruly crowd that needs to be lorded over, controlled, supervised, and taken care of."
-- Suzanna Hupp
"It doesn't require expropriation or confiscation of private property or business to impose socialism on a people. What does it mean whether you hold the deed or the title to your business or property if the government holds the power of life and death over that business or property?"
--Ronald Reagan
"Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations."
--James Madison to the Virginia Convention, 1788
"Democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largesse out of the public treasure. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefit from the public treasury, with the result that democracy always collapses over a loose fiscal policy, always to be followed by a dictatorship, and then a monarchy."
--Alexander Tytler
"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand."
--Milton Friedman
"One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions, rather than their results. We all know a famous road that is paved with good intentions. The people who go around talking about their 'soft heart,'--I admire them for the softness of their heart, but very often it extends to their head as well."
-- Milton Friedman
"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."
--Ronald Reagan
"Some of you in this room support higher taxes. I welcome your enthusiasm and am glad to report that the IRS takes both money orders and checks. "
--George W Bush
"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.' "
-- Ronald Reagan
"The siren song of redistribution of wealth by centralized government never ceases for those who seek irreversible and unusurpable control over the lives and liberties of private citizens."
--Josh Jones
"Anyone who robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul."
--George Bernard Shaw
jmorriss
05-11-2009, 09:27 PM
"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.' "
-- Ronald Reagan
"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."
--Ronald Reagan
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
Winston Churchill
"Some people regard private enterprise as a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look on it as a cow they can milk. Not enough people see it as a healthy horse, pulling a sturdy wagon."
Winston Churchill
"Study history, study history. In history lies all the secrets of statecraft."
Winston Churchill
No people is wholly civilized where a distinction is drawn between stealing an office and stealing a purse. . . . . Teddy Roosevelt
The first requisite of a good citizen in this republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his own weight. . . . Teddy Roosevelt
The reactionary is always willing to take a progressive attitude on any issue that is dead. . . . Teddy Roosevelt
There can be no fifty-fifty Americanism in this country. There is room here for only 100% Americanism, only for those who are Americans and nothing else. . . . Teddy Roosevelt
To announce that there must be no criticism of the president... is morally treasonable to the American public. . . . Teddy Roosevelt
As a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights.
. . . .James Madison
Commercial shackles are generally unjust, oppressive, and impolitic.
. . . . James Madison
Each generation should be made to bear the burden of its own wars, instead of carrying them on, at the expense of other generations.
James Madison
The Constitution preserves the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation where the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.
. . . James Madison
What prudent merchant will hazard his fortunes in any new branch of commerce when he knows not that his plans may be rendered unlawful before they can be executed?
. . . James Madison
A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.
Harry S. Truman
In my opinion eight years as president is enough and sometimes too much for any man to serve in that capacity.
Harry S. Truman
It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours. Harry S. Truman
To hell with them. When history is written they will be the sons of bitches - not I. Harry S. Truman
Those who want the Government to regulate matters of the mind and spirit are like men who are so afraid of being murdered that they commit suicide to avoid assassination. Harry S. Truman
"The siren song of redistribution of wealth by centralized government never ceases for those whose reverie is irreversible and unusurpable control over the lives of free men." - Josh Jones
"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it." - Dr. Adrian Rogers
"Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state." - Thomas Jefferson
"To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical." - Thomas Jefferson
"I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country." - Thomas Jefferson
"Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else." - Frédéric Bastiat
"In a man to man fight, the winner is he who has one more round in his magazine." - Erwin Rommel
"Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master." - George Washington
"When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic."
-- Benjamin Franklin
"If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one...."
-- James Madison, letter to Edmund Pendleton, January 21, 1792