The Republican Party has been reduced to two types: Godless pseudo-intellectuals, who just don’t want to pay their taxes, and God-fearing anti-intellectuals, who just don’t want to pay their taxes.
Strategy of Numbers, a novel by Clint Irwin: Available now for $2.99 on Kindle and all other ebook formats. In print: $14.95 on amazon.com
August 24, 2011 7:47 pm By Peggy Hollinger and James Boxell in Paris “French president Nicolas Sarkozy has given the green light for a highly political budget, placing the burden of new revenue raising on the richest and on big companies while preserving the benefits of some tax breaks for ordinary workers. Just nine months away from a presidential election, France’s high earners will face higher taxes as the government seeks some €12bn in extra revenue by the end of next year to help bring public finances under control.
Unveiling new austerity measures, launched after the country’s growth stuttered to a halt in the second quarter, prime minister Francois Fillon said: “We have passed the threshold of tolerance on debt.” Though he also scaled back forecasts for growth from 2 per cent this year and 2.25 per cent in 2012 to 1.75 per cent in each of those years, Mr Fillon said the new measures would ensure France could meet its promise to cut its budget deficit from 5.7 per cent of GDP to a marginally better than expected 4.5 per cent next year and 3 per cent in 2013.
His remarks were clearly aimed at reassuring global debt markets, after investors questioned the stability of France’s triple A credit rating and its ability to cut debt amid slowing growth. Mr Fillon also pledged a further €3bn in savings in the budget for 2013, which will not be decided for another year. However, Mr Sarkozy, whose popularity remains at record lows, also has to reassure a nervous electorate.
… Gains on property investments, excluding primary residences, will also be taxed more heavily, bringing a considerable €2.2bn in extra revenue next year. Mr Fillon also announced plans to limit the tax breaks given to companies incurring losses. This measure will not only bring in an extra €1.5bn to state coffers in 2012, but has the added benefit of helping to harmonise French and German corporate tax systems. President Sarkozy and German chancellor Angela Merkel have made this a key element of their proposals for greater European integration. The government will also rein in the benefits for companies of tax-free overtime one of Mr Sarkozy’s flagship measures introduced after his election in 2007. Conscious of what promises to be a difficult election, the burden of the government’s adjustment will fall on companies, which will from next year face charges on the over-time, although workers will not. However, the poorer classes of society have not escaped totally unscathed, with a higher tax on cigarettes and alcohol.”
Fiscal sanity exists somewhere. And this guy is the “conservative” over there.
New Rule: Rich People Who Complain About Being Vilified Should Be Vilified
It’s so hard for one person to tell another person what constitutes being “rich”, or what tax rate is “too much.” But I’ve done some math that indicates that, considering the hole this country is in, if you are earning more than a million dollars a year and are complaining about a 3.6% tax increase, then you are by definition a greedy asshole.
And let’s be clear: that’s 3.6% only on income above 250 grand — your first 250, that’s still on the house. Now, this week we got some horrible news: that one in seven Americans are now living below the poverty line. But I want to point you to an American who is truly suffering: Ben Stein. You know Ben Stein, he had a game show on Comedy Central, does eye drop commercials, doesn’t believe in evolution? Yeah, that asshole. I kid Ben — so, the other day Ben wrote an article about his struggle. His struggle as a wealthy person facing the prospect of a slightly higher marginal tax rate. Ben whines in his article about how he’s worked for every dollar he has — if by work you mean saying the word “Bueller” in a movie 25 years ago. Which doesn’t bother me in the slightest, it’s just that at a time when people in America are desperate and you’re raking in the bucks promoting some sleazy Free Credit Score dot-com… maybe you shouldn’t be asking us for sympathy. Instead, you should be down on your knees thanking God and/or Ronald Reagan that you were lucky enough to be born in a country where a useless schmuck who contributes absolutely nothing to society can somehow manage to find himself in the top marginal tax bracket.
Last week Mayor Bloomberg of New York complained that all his wealthy friends are very upset with mean ol’ President Poopy-Pants: He said they all say the same thing: “I knew I was going to have to pay more taxes. But I didn’t expect to be vilified.” Poor billionaires — they just can’t catch a break.
But you are the villains. Who do you think outsourced all the jobs, destroyed the unions, and replaced workers with desperate immigrants and teenagers in China. Joe the Plumber?
And right now, while we run trillion dollar deficits, Republicans are holding America hostage to the cause of preserving the Bush tax cuts that benefit the wealthiest 1% of people, many of them dead. They say that we need to keep taxes on the rich low because they’re the job creators. They’re not. They’re much more likely to save money through mergers and outsourcing and cheap immigrant labor, and pass the unemployment along to you.
One of my favorites, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann said, “I don’t know where they’re going to get all this money, because we’re running out of rich people in this country.” Actually, we have more billionaires here in the U.S. than all the other countries in the top ten combined, and their wealth grew 27% in the last year. Did yours? Truth is, there are only two things that the United States is not running out of: Rich people and bullshit.
Here’s the truth: When you raise taxes slightly on the wealthy, it obviously doesn’t destroy the economy — we know this, because we just did it — remember the ‘90’s? It wasn’t that long ago. You were probably listening to grunge music, or dabbling in witchcraft. Clinton moved the top marginal rate from 36 to 39% — and far from tanking, the economy did so well he had time to get his dick washed.
Even 39% isn’t high by historical standards. Under Eisenhower, the top tax rate was 91%. Under Nixon, it was 70%. Obama just wants to kick it back to 39 — just three more points for the very rich. Not back to 91, or 70. Three points. And they go insane. Steve Forbes said that Obama, quote “believes from his inner core that people… above a certain income have more than they should have and that many probably have gotten it from ill-gotten ways.” Which they have. Steve Forbes, of course, came by his fortune honestly: he inherited it from his gay egg-collecting, Elizabeth Taylor fag-hagging father, who inherited it from his father. Of course then they moan about the inheritance tax, how the government took 55% percent when Daddy died — which means you still got 45% for doing nothing more than starting out life as your father’s pecker-snot.
We don’t hate rich people, but have a little humility about how you got it and stop complaining. Maybe the worst whiner of all: Stephen Schwarzman, #69 on Forbes’ list of richest Americans, compared Obama’s tax hike to “when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939.” Wow. If Obama were Hitler, Mr. Schwarzman, I think your tax rate would be the least of your worries.
