In his column “Leader proves money can buy friendship after all” (4/4, Opinion), Carl Hiaasen disparages Rep. John Boehner while failing to mention the cozy relationships between lobbyists and many prominent Democrats.
He regurgitates the typical, tired liberal propaganda that the wealthy are not paying their fair share, and questioning the confiscatory Obama tax increases on the wealthy is being greedy.
Perhaps Hiaasen needs remediation in basic statistics. According to cbo.gov, the top 5 percent of wage-earners pay 44 percent of all taxes. Contrast this to the 60 percent of lowest wage-earners, who contribute only 14 percent of the tax revenues.
Hiaasen writes “If government is serious about rebooting the economy, reforming health care and improving education, everybody’s going to pay for it.” He just leaves out the truth that the wealthy are being asked to pay a large (dis)proportion of it.
Josh Weber
Westwood
the rich do pay to much, and the government spends WAY too much. i have had this discussion many times with friends at www.affluence.org - probably because it effects us so directly. it is disgusting to me to think about the mentality supported by obama raising the taxes on the rich by $1 trillion. 'down with the rich, they stole our money' when in fact the rich create jobs and keep (or kept) america competitive on the world stage
Posted by: spirit | April 09, 2009 at 12:17 PM
The wealthy pay 68% of the entire income tax base into the coffer. FACT.
The only FAIR and CONSTITUTIONAL tax is a fair tax. It says it in the US Constitution, you might take the time to actually read it. I am not wealthy but sure in the hell sick of paying higher taxes then witnessing "poor" dressing nicer than we do and having no foscal issues while throwing down $50 on Yo and all hardways.
Posted by: NoMoreMrNiceGuy | April 09, 2009 at 09:13 AM
Yes!! The wealthy pay too much!! The secret is finally out!!
In fact, as our highest achievers, why should they pay anything at all? All good things for all the rest of us come from the high efforts and high smarts of our highest achievers!! The wealthy should pay nothing in taxes. Their presence is enough of a contribution to society and the rest of us should be grateful for even that much.
(I suspect Josh is only getting his tax fugures from Rush Limbaugh again but I'm too lazy to go look. We've been through this before. At best, the figures only prove how much more packed at the top end America's wealth is than what it was even 5-10 years ago. Nice work, Josh.)
Posted by: whispering_to_kc | April 08, 2009 at 10:23 PM
solomon
Don't even you get tired of the constant chorus of "we must all pay" and the constant fact that by "all" they mean 5% of the population or less?
Posted by: Engineer | April 08, 2009 at 04:46 PM
No racial slant there, right?
Posted by: solomon | April 08, 2009 at 02:42 PM
The upper 2% pay 68% of the entire taxation as compared to the lower 50% that received an extra $1,000 they did not contribute.
What's funny, chumps like Obama circumvent their own legislation with fancy lawyers tricks.
I betcha Al Sharpton pays less than his fair share while demanding at least 50% on white individuals.
Posted by: NoMoreMrNiceGuy | April 08, 2009 at 09:13 AM