(In case you're wondering, the title is snark, but please, stay with me).
Apparently, the rising economic inequality in the U.S. in recent years has not chastened Republicans one iota. Their response to President Obama's jobs plan and his plan to pay for it--which includes increases in income taxes paid by wealthy Americans--is typical. They cry "class warfare." It's their mantra.
In fact, not only do they want to keep taxes low for the wealthy, they complain about the fact that some people don't pay any federal income tax at all. These incredibly clever scoundrels have figured out a way to game the system. You see, if you're smart enough not to earn much money, you don't have to pay federal income taxes. It's pure genius!
More below the jump.
Of course, the whole argument is an illusion. Take a look at Pulitzer Prize winner David Leonhardt's analysis.
Income taxes aren’t the only kind of federal taxes that people pay. There are also payroll taxes and investment taxes, among others. And, of course, people pay state and local taxes, too.
Of course we know this, and we also know the other important piece of information regarding tax rates and income distribution that Leonhardt provides:
Over the last 30 years, rates have fallen more for the wealthy, and especially the very wealthy, than for any other group. At the same time, their incomes have soared, and the incomes of most workers have grown only moderately faster than inflation.
Yet none of this matters to the Republican candidates for president. Perry, Romney, and Bachmann have all recently rehashed this divisive and misleading argument about people who don't pay federal income taxes.
Perry:
“We’re approaching nearly half of the United States population that doesn’t pay any income taxes,” he responded. “And I think one of the ways is to let everybody, as many people as possible, let me put it that way, to be able to be helping pay for the government that we have in this country.”
He went on to talk up “having more people who are outside the wagon pulling,” since too many people in the wagon are being pulled.
Romney:
“We want to make sure people do pay their fair share. Half the people in this country pay no income tax at all,” he said, although later, he added, “I don’t want to raise taxes on middle Americans.”
(What a swell guy.)
Bachmann:
“Part of the problem is today, only 53% pay any federal income tax at all; 47% pay nothing.” She added, “We need to broaden the base so that everybody pays something, even if it’s a dollar.”
To return to the attempt at humor in my title, I'm waiting for one of them to start lamenting the unfairness of the capital gains tax.
"It's simply not right," Bachmann/Romney/Perry declared, "that the burden of capital gains taxes falls disproportionately on a few, hard-working Americans. Did you know that 98% of the unemployed paid no capital gains taxes last year? Why should we punish success and reward failure? We need tax fairness in America, folks...."
Seriously, though, President Obama's plan makes sense, and offers a reasonable approach to tax policy. The tax increases he proposes are modest, and they will be used, along with other savings, to pay for his jobs program in the short run and to reduce the deficit in the long run. All kidding aside, the Republican response demonstrates, again, that they are truly not interested in helping restore economic growth, improve the jobs situation, or bring fiscal responsibility to our budget.
UPDATE: I goofed on the poll and somehow deleted the quote, which was: “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” Sorry about that. I'll have to speak to my staff. :)