Tax Lawyer's Blog

“What are the odds that God whispered in your ear what I should do with my money?”

- Me¹ -

If you think the government deserves more money, give it some of your own. I promise not to object.

Howie Carr of the Boston Herald calls pro-taxers out for not walking the walk on tax increases:

Hey moonbats of Massachusetts — why won’t you pay more taxes? You’re always lecturing the rest of us how taxes are an investment in the future, the price we pay for civilization, etc., etc. But when given the option of personally paying your fair share, hey, come back here, you pony-tailed trust-fund recipient you. …

As the deadline for filing 2009 state income taxes nears, once again the Beautiful People of Massachusetts are proving that while they enjoy talking the talk, walking the walk is another thing altogether.

We have a two-tier income tax in this state, you know. You have the option of paying either at the standard rate of 5.3 percent, or at the old, higher 5.85 percent rate.

As of Wednesday, here are this years numbers, according to the state DOR:

Of 1,840,000 state tax filers, exactly 931 have opted to pay taxes at the higher rate. That works out to one-twentieth of one percent. Think of it this way: In 2000, only 60 percent of the Massachusetts electorate voted to cut the income tax, but a decade later 99.95% of the population has decided to take advantage of the tax cut a lot of them claimed they didn’t want or need.

The moonbat motto is: Do as I say, not as I do. Consider the charitable deductions (or lack thereof) of the most sanctimonious liberal politicians: Obama, Biden, Kerry. They throw around quarters – their own, anyway – like they were manhole covers. But they would gladly give you the shirt off somebody else’s back.

People scoff when you suggest that those who think Americans don’t pay enough taxes should set an example and voluntarily contribute more of their own. But it’s a legitimate, if not realistic, proposal that could bring a substantial amount of additional money into government coffers.

Consider this, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are two of the richest people in the history of mankind. Both have gone on record saying that the rich don’t pay enough taxes.

Mr. Gates, you have given hundreds of millions of your Windows greenbacks to your own private charitable foundation. But since you obviously think the government can spend my money more wisely than I can, why not give the money you earmark for charity every year to the government instead? Surely, it can do more and better things with it than any lowly capitalist can.

And Mr. Buffet, you are famous for your charitable giving, yet as far as I know you have not voluntarily paid an extra dime in taxes to the federal government. Still, you maintain that wealthy people pay too little in taxes. Well, you can do something about that. Instead of giving all those Berkshire-Hathway Benjamins to private organizations, why not redirect them to the competent, compassionate bureaucrats in Washington D.C.?

You see the absurdity, here, don’t you? Tax-the-richers who have a choice whether to give their money to the federal government or to private charity always choose private charity. And they do this with a straight face while making public pronouncements that they and people like them shouldn’t have this choice.

Makes you wonder whether the Gates’ and the Buffets of the world are saying they favor higher taxes just to enhance their public images.

In order to separate the true believers from the mere bullshitters, I made this proposal in a blog post last August:

Why not see how much revenue the government can voluntarily raise from rich people before forcibly taking money from them?

We could do this simply by adding to the IRS Form 1040 the following series of checkoffs:

(   )  Check here if you would like to make a donation to the government equal to 10% of your taxable income 

(   )  Check here if you would like to make a donation to the government of an amount equal to 5% of your taxable income

(   )  Check here if you would like to make a donation to the government of an amount equal to ___ % (insert percentage of your choice) of your taxable income 

(   )  Check here if you do not want to make a donation to the government 

I’ll bet that the fraction of benevolent, pro-tax Americans checking off one of the first three boxes is less than 931/1,840,000? 

Footnote:

¹ This is a paraphrase of a quote I read once, I forget by whom, on how to deal with judgmental people:

“What are the odds that God whispered in your ear what I should do with my life?”

Related Posts:

• IRS Voluntary Payment Check Off Box for the Benevolent Rich
• The Pro Tax Rich Should Voluntarily Pay More Taxes or Shut the #%&@ Up
• Tax on Rich is “No-Brainer,” Author of “Skinny Dip” Says

Bookmark & Share: