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Why The Super-Rich Say To Raise Their Taxes

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Uber-wealthy Warren Buffet is going public with his admonition that the “rich” should pay more in taxes.

“If anything, taxes for the lower and middle class and maybe even the upper middle class should even probably be cut further,” Buffett said in an interview with ABC’s “This Week With Christiane Amanpour” that is scheduled to air on Nov. 28. “But I think that people at the high end — people like myself — should be paying a lot more in taxes. We have it better than we’ve ever had it.”

This is music to a progressive liberal’s ears.

But despite the seeming altruism of this kind of statement, it’s ain’t gonna happen any time soon.  Why?  Because Warren Buffet and every other mega-wealthy American knows something the rest of us don’t.

The second richest man in America (third richest in the world) and others in that rarified sanctum reserved for the mega-rich tie up their money in non-taxable trust funds.  In fact, 90% of Buffet’s money is in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Asset Trust.  The rest of the money Buffet lives on comes from capital gains and is therefore taxed at the capital gains tax rate.  Translation for those of us who are more financially feeble-minded:  Buffet’s income is NOT taxed as regular (“earned”) income.

So why not just raise the tax rate on capital gains?  It’s a good and logical question but no one in their right mind is going to jack the tax rate on capital gains too high because doing this would hit the middle-income folks who are dependent on the income from their IRAs and 401ks.

So in what is perhaps the most hilarious of hypocrisies, even if “income” tax was raised to to 90%, Mr. Noble Buffet would still only pay capital gains tax, not “earned income” tax.

Huge difference, dear readers.  And the little lefty drones don’t have a clue.

The End Of Federal Money-Laundering?

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Taxes are a big theme in this year’s midterm election mudslinging contest.  It is not just a response to the current administration’s obvious attempts to crush the productive in order to maintain their personal wealth and delusions of power but rather quite a normal reflex.  Humans, being just another species of animal (regardless what self-perceived elitists like to think about themselves and others in their little herd), are normally self-protective, selfish, and therefore not really very generous until such time as they, themselves, feel their personal needs have been safely and securely met.

Progressives, in their contempt for the protections of  the fallibility of humans as written into the governing documents of the Republic by our Founding Fathers, have always known this.  And they have used it for their own equally selfish advantage by professing to offer something for nothing to those who have not fairly earned it.  The ideology of “distributing the wealth” plays on the inherently sympathetic nature of the inherently self-protective, using age-old exhortations to Man’s “higher nature” to press the guilt button and thereby gain acquiese to more and more of the fruits of their labors.

I see the rise of the Tea Party as a logical response to this theft.  And I have come to see the idiocy in believing there can be much (if any) good in what is essentially money laundering by the federal government.  The Enumerated Powers were quite clear yet today we pay thousands and thousands of bureaucrats two and three times the going rate to decide how we should be spending our money on things in which the federal government simply does not belong.  In the same way Jesus is reported to have overturned the tables of the money-changers in the temple, so now does the Tea Party stand to overturn the same thievery that has become the federal government.

What good does it to give money to what is essentially a charitable endeavor (food stamps, welfare, Social Security, even education) but allow a big bite to be taken out of it before it may be used as originally intended?  What most readily recognize as a charity gets double-dipped for they must give money to the federal government in order to be recognized as doing charitable work in the first place; then our tax dollars pay thousands of bureaucrats to monitor the flow of money from donor to recipient.  Would it not be better to be able to hand over some of your dollars directly to someone who is, say, stocking a food pantry and know that it is going to be spent on food, rather than going first to subsidize some bureaucrat’s above-average lifestyle?  Would you not be more willing to donate in the first place, and even to donate more?

I know I would.  And for anyone who thinks that this tax-loving bureaucratic micro-regulating of charities is a good idea, I would only point to organizations like ACORN and ask you just how well has that worked out?  In this age of free-flowing information, I would err on the thought that word of mouth about organizations pocketing more than reasonable expenses (United Way, anyone?) would spread quickly and they would soon find their donations dropping; the worst would have to close their doors and the userers in charge would have to go out and earn a real living.

The same can be said for unions, which have become little more than the worst kind of charities.  The truth is, teachers and teamsters, that your Viagra is not my problem and if you think your dues can make it so, just ask Jimmy Hoffa what happened to Michigan.  Even banks, when subject to the free-flow of information in a truly free market, would not stay in business very long when they force responsible customers to pay for their loans to customers who are less responsible.

The federal government has long overstepped its bounds and their demonstrations of entitlement to do so become more clear each day.  Why else is President Walking Eagle stumping around the country inciting violence towards those who disagree with his socialist policies – on our dime?  I don’t recall that calling those who don’t want to pay to support millions more people with entitlements the “enemy” was part of his job description.  But it is certainly in the job description of we, the people, to find and to root out the enemies both without and within.

And that is why November 2nd is so important.  There are lamestream media squeakings this morning about sending the “inexperienced” into our “complicated” contemporary federal government machine in Washington.  But at the end of the day and in the final analysis it is exactly such “inexperience” that is needed to cut the crap if we don’t want Americans to end up in Greece or France without need for a passport and plane ride.  They are needed to walk those Democrat-desecrated hallowed halls wielding the scalpel about which His Transparency lied during the 2008 election campaign and then use it to cut out the heart of progressive liberalism whether it comes in the guise of an ass or a RINO and restore the Republic; beholden to no one except those who sent them there to do that very job.

As the Justice Department would say, “Bring out your dead and vote early and often.”

A Small Business Owner Explains U.S. Economic Reality

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A friend forwarded this to me today in an email.  I don’t know who wrote it, but I think the author could be any one of the millions of small business owners in the United States today.  I do know if it were me, I’d be telling my employees the same thing.

This, not the dangerously idealistic, entitlement-lobbied cesspool of “Ivy-League elite” progressive thinking in Washington, is the reality of the the Obamanation.

 

To All My Valued Employees,
 
There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of this company, and more specifically, your job. As you know, the economy has changed for the worse and presents many challenges. However, the good news is this: The economy doesn’t pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job. however, is the changing political landscape in this country.
 
However, let me tell you some little tidbits of fact which might help you decide what is in your best interests.
 
First, while it is easy to spew rhetoric that casts employers against employees, you have to understand that for every business owner there is a back story. This back story is often neglected and overshadowed by what you see and hear. Sure, you see me park my Mercedes outside. You’ve seen my big home at last years Christmas party. I’m sure all these flashy icons of luxury conjure up some idealized thoughts about my life.
 
However, what you don’t see is the back story.
 
I started this company 28 years ago. At that time, I lived in a 300 square foot studio apartment for 3 years. My entire living apartment was converted into an office so I could put forth 100% effort into building a company, which by the way, would eventually employ you.
 
My diet consisted of Ramen Pride noodles because every dollar I spent went back into this company. I drove a rusty Toyota Corolla with a defective transmission. I didn’t have time to date. Often times, I stayed home on weekends, while my friends went out drinking and partying. In fact, I was married to my business – hard work, discipline, and sacrifice.
 
Meanwhile, my friends got jobs. They worked 40 hours a week and made a modest $50K a year and spent every dime they earned. They drove flashy cars and lived in expensive homes and wore fancy designer clothes. Instead of hitting the Nordstrom’s for the latest hot fashion item, I was trolling through the discount store extracting any clothing item that didn’t look like it was birthed in the 70’s. My friends refinanced their mortgages and lived a life of luxury. I, however, did not. I put my time, my money, and my life into a business with a vision that eventually, some day, I too, will be able to afford these luxuries my friends supposedly had.
 
So, while you physically arrive at the office at 9am, mentally check in at about noon, and then leave at 5pm, I don’t. There is no “off” button for me. When you leave the office, you are done and you have a weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have the freedom. I eat, and breathe this company every minute of the day. There is no rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour. Every day this business is attached to my hip like a 1 year old special-needs child. You, of course, only see the fruits of that garden – the nice house, the Mercedes, the vacations … you never realize the back story and the sacrifices I’ve made.
 
Now, the economy is falling apart and I, the guy that made all the right decisions and saved his money, have to bail-out all the people who didn’t. The people that overspent their paychecks suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed a decade of my life for.
 
Yes, business ownership has is benefits but the price I’ve paid is steep and not without wounds.
 
Unfortunately, the cost of running this business, and employing you, is starting to eclipse the threshold of marginal benefit and let me tell you why:
 
I am being taxed to death and the government thinks I don’t pay enough. I have state taxes. Federal taxes. Property taxes. Sales and use taxes. Payroll taxes. Workers compensation taxes. Unemployment taxes. Taxes on taxes. I have to hire a tax man to manage all these taxes and then guess what? I have to pay taxes for employing him. Government mandates and regulations and all the accounting that goes with it, now occupy most of my time. On Oct 15th, I wrote a check to the US Treasury for $288,000 for quarterly taxes. You know what my “stimulus” check was? Zero. Nada. Zilch.
 
The question I have is this: Who is stimulating the economy? Me, the guy who has provided 14 people good paying jobs and serves over 2,200,000 people per year with a flourishing business? Or, the single mother sitting at home pregnant with her fourth child waiting for her next welfare check? Obviously, government feels the latter is the economic stimulus of this country.
 
The fact is, if I deducted (Read: Stole) 50% of your paycheck you’d quit and you wouldn’t work here. I mean, why should you? That’s nuts. Who wants to get rewarded only 50% of their hard work? Well, I agree, which is why your job is in jeopardy.
 
Here is what many of you don’t understand … to stimulate the economy you need to stimulate what runs the economy. Had suddenly government mandated to me that I didn’t need to pay taxes, guess what?  Instead of depositing that $288,000 into the Washington black-hole, I would have spent it, hired more employees, and generated substantial economic growth. My employees would have enjoyed the wealth of that tax cut in the form of promotions and better salaries. But you can forget it now.
 
When you have a comatose man on the verge of death, you don’t defibrillate and shock his thumb thinking that will bring him back to life, do you?  Or, do you defibrillate his heart? Business is at the heart of America and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate it, not kill it. Suddenly, the power brokers in Washington believe the poor of America are the essential drivers of the American economic engine. Nothing could be further from the truth and this is the type of CHANGE you can keep.
 
So where am I going with all this?
 
It’s quite simple.
 
If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, my reaction will be swift and simple. I fire you. I fire your co-workers. You can then plead with the government to pay for your mortgage, your SUV, and your child’s future. Frankly, it isn’t my problem any more.
 
Then, I will close this company down, move to another country, and retire. You see, I’m done. I’m done with a country that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, will be my citizenship.
 
So, if you lose your job, it won’t be at the hands of the economy; it will be at the hands of a political hurricane that swept through this country, steamrolled the constitution, and will have changed its landscape forever. If that happens, you can find me sitting on a beach, retired, and with no employees to worry about ….
 
Signed,
Your boss