Tax Lawyer's Blog

I can’t begin to imagine the psychic trauma that must attend being a wildly rich liberal. Your entire Weltanschauung is comprised of the notion that disparities in wealth are caused either by a discriminatory system that unfairly favors the powerful (usually read “white males”) or by the outright corruption of the wealthy.

Being a rich liberal, then, requires one to loathe oneself.

But in order to fight against this self-hatred, he is compelled to prove to himself that he isn’t benefiting from a corrupt system and isn’t himself corrupt.

How does he do this? He announces in public for all to see that he’s ready, willing and able to give more of his money to the government for the good of mankind.

Ah, but wait a minute. The loaded egaliatarian, wanting to guard his wealth every bit as much as the conservative rich man, calculatedly tacks on a huge catch to his offer: He will only pay more taxes if everyone else does, too.

So, you see, there’s very little risk for the rich, guilt-wracked liberal to declare to the world that he is under-taxed because he knows the American electorate hates tax increases more than Brussel sprouts. Which, of course, means that it’s highly unlikely that anyone will ever actually ask him to part with more of his wealth.

Well played, indeed. The rich liberal gets the gain of appearing to be magnanimous without the pain of actually being magnaminous.

Do I have a future as a Freudian psychoanalyst or what?

Well, let’s see.

In my last post I wrote that I am pro-choice when it comes to tax increases:

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

Now here comes Washington Post’s Dana Milbank reporting that some rich liberals actually are willing to pony up and pay more taxes:

A group of liberals got together Tuesday and proved that they, too, can have a tax rebellion. But theirs is a little bit different: They want to pay more taxes.

“I’m in favor of higher taxes on people like me,” declared Eric Schoenberg, who is sitting on an investment banking fortune. He complained about “my absurdly low tax rates.”

“We’re calling on other wealthy taxpayers to join us,” said paper-mill heir Mike Lapham, “to send the message to Congress and President Obama that it’s time to roll back the tax cuts on upper-income taxpayers.”

“I would with pleasure sacrifice the income,” agreed millionaire entrepreneur Jeffrey Hollender.

So was my diagnosis correct?

Here we have three more pro-tax liberals who are unwilling to give the government more of their money unless and until they can force other people to give away more of their money, too.

But the inescapable truth is that guys like Schoenberg, Lapham and Hollender don’t have to wait for Congress to act in order to give the federal government more of their wealth. All they have to do is follow the advice of Nike and “just do it?”¹

Wouldn’t that set a better example for all the guilt-ridden rich liberals of the world to follow than the spouting of empty rhetoric in the public square?

And think about it, after all those greedy, capitalist, fat-cat lefties donate large chunks of their net worth to the vast American bureacracy, we’ll finally get that paradise on earth the radical left has dreamt of for more than half a century.

I won’t be holding my breath.

Footnotes:

¹  There is no law that prohibiting a rich liberal from increasing his tax liability. This could be done in one of two very simple ways. First, and most obvious, he could overstate his income. I have never heard of a case where a taxpayer was sanctioned for showing that he had more taxable income than he actually had. Second, the taxpayer could refrain from claiming otherwise allowable deductions.

Easier still, they can follow Milbank’s advice:

Of course, if millionaires really want to pay higher taxes, there’s nothing stopping them. The Treasury Department Web site even accepts contributions by credit card to pay the public debt. … But then they wouldn’t have the satisfaction of giving their tax-cut proceeds to the pro-tax movement.

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

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