“I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.”
- Thomas Jefferson -
Oregonians went to the polls last night in droves and voted 54% to 46% to tax people who make more money than they do.
From the New York Times:
Two ballot measures that would raise taxes on businesses and higher-income residents in Oregon appeared headed for approval late Tuesday.
The tax increases, which would raise about $727 million largely for public education and social services, were approved last year by the Legislature, but later put to a public referendum after opponents gathered signatures in a petition campaign.
The country has been closely watching the soak-the-rich shenanigans going on in Oregon and, given last nights victory for the purveyors of wealth-redistribution, most believe it’s just a matter of time before other budget-strapped states put similar class-warfare referenda on their ballots. After all, taking more of the peoples’ property is much easier than cutting costs and eliminating waste.
It’s bad enough when politicians appeal to the worst instincts of their constitutuents and demonize the rich and successful, but when the public itself directly votes for the confiscation of property for the “greater good” you have sown the seeds of statism.
I wonder what would happen if we let “the people” vote on a measure that, say, provided that the combined wealth of all Americans was to be re-divided equally among the people? I bet we’d have a healthy plurality of the electorate, if not an outright majority, vote “yea.”
These “get-the-other-guy” referenda are supremely cynical because the only way to sell them is to make the public believe that the haves somehow have cheated the have nots. And if that ain’t class warfare, I don’t know what is.
Pitting some Americans against other Americans is bad for all Americans.
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8 responses so far ↓
1 AspiringCPA // Jan 27, 2010 at 5:11 pm
With +50% in the wagon instead of pulling it…the voting will always end this way.
The only reason people would vote to keep money from being distributed to themselves is a sense of morality…which we are lacking as a country.
I am absolutely sick of the fact that people who went to college with me went for free (and I am paying loans back). I am sick of the sense of entitlement to the wealth of others.
Quick Story-
3 Generations ago my family was subsistence farming
2 Generation ago my family was teaching in local schools
1 Generation ago my family began to get post grad degrees
Now, I am working my butt of (tax season) to make my way in the world and am paying through the teeth for my education. But I refuse to take a step back toward the farm.
What gives anyone else the “right” to STEAL wealth that it took my family 4 generations of struggling to accumulate through dedicated personal effort? NOTHING.
2 Peter // Jan 27, 2010 at 6:38 pm
AspiringCPA,
Hating most what you want most is the height of hypocrisy.
Many people who vote to punish the rich are bitter that others have what they want. And, of course, when others have what you want you have only two choices:
1. Embark on a plan of self-improvement; or
2. Blame the rich for reminding you of your failures.
Governments who put tax-the-rich measures on ballots cynically believe most people will choose the latter.
And they may be right.
3 AspiringCPA // Jan 27, 2010 at 7:47 pm
I agree with a single stipulation:
Don’t become indoctrinated by the norm that many of these taxes will only effect “the rich.” Obama promised not to raise taxes on anyone with income under $250,000. Just because you have a profitible business flowthrough does not make you rich, but it will mean you get extra taxes. The Robin Hood mentality is deceptive even to the astute because we hear it on a daily basis.
Fun (or not so fun, depending on your income) Facts-
The Heritage Foundation provides a revealing statistic on Economic Freedon: Government Spending as a % of GDP. Ours is 37.4% That is more than Russia! Spending more than the socialists requires taking money from more than the top 10% of wage-earners.
Tax Foundation statistics show that the top 50% of taxpayers pay 97.11% of the taxes. 1/4 of all taxes paid were paid by those making between $33,000 and $115,000. Every other person with lower than $30,000 paid negligible amounts. I have seen statistics saying that the effective tax rate for those in the top 1% is lower than 20%. When the politicians say “tax the rich,” they are really talking about going to suberbia your house…and destroying your middle class spending power.
By the way, they are spending your money so that others will continue to be dependent on the government, not work, and vote for the Politician who gives them the most. Liberalism creates the problem it claims to solve.
Sorry for the wall of text.
4 Peter // Jan 28, 2010 at 2:19 am
Good points.
Not only did Robin Hood steal from the rich and give to the poor, he wore a tu tu. I can forgive the former, but he should have been hanged for the latter.
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