Warren Buffett
Allahpundit at HotAir.com refers to the Buffett rule as “populist pander that does almost nothing to reduce the deficit” and I couldn’t agree with him more.
The Buffett rule is indeed political pandering at its worst and another attempt by the left to engage in class warfare.
Sadly, it’s an easy argument for the Democrats to make in the political spectrum: Make someone else pay for it. It’s a more difficult prospect to convince people that stealing from the rich is bad because it doesn’t directly affect most people. If the government mandates it then it must not be a crime, right?
So let’s talk fairness for a moment:
But it’s also true that the top 20% of income earners paid 70% of federal taxes in 2007, according to the most recent data available from the Congressional Budget Office. That group also pulled in 60% of total pretax income, according to the CBO.
Meanwhile, 46% of taxpayers won’t owe any federal income tax for 2011, according to the Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution.
If we really want fairness wouldn’t a flat tax make sense? If everyone pays the same percentage then the rich would still pay more than anyone else. Of course it would but you won’t hear the left ever argue for a flat tax. They don’t even really care about the tax revenue from the rich, they just want to incite Americans to vote for them by painting the GOP as the party for the rich and the Democrats the party for the common man.
That is of course complete baloney. If you want food stamps, vote Democrat. If you want a paycheck vote Republican.
People generally don’t want to depend on the government for their existence, they want to earn their own way. I support that as do all conservatives. For all the bad things you can say about the GOP, they are far closer to embracing that principle than the Democrats will ever be.
Interesting side note on Warren Buffett, one of his companies is being sued by the IRS for unpaid taxes. Ironic, huh? How’s that for fair share?
