Robin Hood would be proud of the Washington Post’s perverted view of capital gains taxation. If the newspaper has its way, he wouldn’t have to steal from the rich to give to the poor. The government would be doing it for him.
Calling it the “most controversial tax break on Wall Street,” the Post promoted the idea of wrongdoing:
“[It] is not authorized by any law and was never approved by Congress,” wrote the Post.
The Post continued:
“But at a time of rising income inequality and with Congress engaged in a desperate hunt for cash to expand aid to a disgruntled middle class, the Wall Street money men have become an appealing target for Democratic lawmakers and presidential candidates, who say the financiers are woefully undertaxed,” wrote Jeffrey H. Birnbaum and Lori Montgomery in the August 3 Post.
The writers made investors and fund managers sound dishonest by referring to the current capital gains rate of 15 percent as a “loophole” and a “tax break.” It also called the proposed increase in the rate to 35 percent a “reform” instead of a tax hike.
The National Taxpayers Union [the group was not quoted by the Post] shared its opposition to modifying tax codes for capital gains with the Media Research Center:
“Capital income should be taxed at the lowest possible rate without respect to who the taxpayer is. Characterizing the treatment of capital gains as a loophole for some taxpayers will lead to it being called a loophole for everyone. Any concession to advocates of higher capital gains taxes is therefore more likely to embolden than to appease them.”
—Julia A. Seymour is an assistant editor for the Business & Media Institute.
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Comments Policy
Some people, me included,
August 3, 2007 - 18:45 ET by sarcasmoSome people, me included, think Robin probably "stole" from the rich tax collectors, but for some reason the government schools never seem to teach that side of the story...
JMR
Rally online with fans of Dr. Ron Paul.
Some people mis-understand
August 3, 2007 - 19:23 ET by mlongSome people mis-understand the Robin Hood story...he was fighting against the high taxes of the evil King that made people poor...suggesting high taxes hurt people is a message that no liberal would ever want to make,
*Sheehan-vs-Pelosi*
"This could get ugly"
*Sheehan-vs-Pelosi* "This
August 3, 2007 - 21:45 ET by Right2thePoint*Sheehan-vs-Pelosi*
"This could get ugly"
Thirty hits with an ugly stick on each side before any body can even tell a difference.
Congress engaged in a
August 3, 2007 - 20:01 ET by dscottCongress engaged in a desperate hunt for cash to expand aid to a disgruntled middle class
Where does the Post come up with this stuff? Since when does the government give aid to the middle class? We are normally fleeced by these jerks for their vote buying scams. Mark your calendars for 2017, the year when SS will no longer collect more money than they pay out. Any taxing of so called Wall Street money men will directly impact all of our 401k and IRA accounts. What these thieves are interested in is not Income inequality but the vast pot of money represented by retirement plans amassed by the middle class. It wasn't criminal enough for them to have spent the surplus Social Security trust funds on their vote buying scams, to the tune of $4.5 trillion, now they are looking to the $13 trillion invested by the same people they fleeced the first time around. Unbelievable!!!!
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. Marcus Aurelius
Lack of earmarks
August 3, 2007 - 20:31 ET by woolIf blame is to be ladled out- and it seems premature for that- than, while murtha was grabbing his earmarks, shouldn't ellison be responsible for getting bridge repair funding? Perhaps, while waiting to hear what cair wanted him to parrot next, he should have put his chit in with abscam boys slush requests.
How many times is your income taxed?
August 4, 2007 - 10:38 ET by WingletDriverThat is the question. Capital gains are already taxed because the corporation that generated this revenue is taxed at the corporate level. In generatng the revenue that will eventually go to employees, investors and stockholders, they were taxed for the goods and services they purchased. When you retire, your social security stipend will be taxed. And when you die, don't forget the death tax.
In reality, what the MSM will never analyze it just how much in taxes we pay. It's not only FITW, but Social Security (to include you employers mandated "matching" fund), Medicare, sales taxes, property, and so on. Feel free to add to the list. Although I'm not even close to being in the top tax bracket (and I have plenty of credits and deductions), I'm probably still paying nearly 40% of my income to Uncle Sam.
Other taxes? How about
August 4, 2007 - 11:12 ET by KJ_sezOther taxes? How about taxes on monies you spend, like:
...and my, favorite, government "fees" - which are nothing more than... more taxes:
So you might be paying 40% off the top to Uncle Sam, but you're probably paying another 15% to 20% when you attempt to enjoy the fruits of your labor by spending some of "your" money, making the purchasing power of every dollar you earn worth about $0.40 (which is roughly $0.02 in real, non-Fed, U.S. dollars).
Do you REALLY want Hitlary and Kaiser Bill in the White House?
Buffett blasts system that
August 4, 2007 - 12:36 ET by Howard_BealeBuffett blasts system that lets him pay less tax than secretary
Warren Buffett, the third-richest man in the world, has criticised the US tax
system for allowing him to pay a lower rate than his secretary and his
cleaner.
Speaking at a $4,600-a-seat fundraiser in New York for Senator Hillary
Clinton, Mr Buffett, who is worth an estimated $52 billion (£26 billion),
said: “The 400 of us [here] pay a lower part of our income in taxes than our
receptionists do, or our cleaning ladies, for that matter. If you’re in the
luckiest 1 per cent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think
about the other 99 per cent.”
And the funny thing is . . .
August 4, 2007 - 13:17 ET by WingletDriverHe is not forced to take deductions or tax credits. He can also choose to pay additional income tax. All you have to do is check the little box on the 1040 saying that you'd like to contribute more to help pay down the national debt.
I had a friend who used the line that he thought we were under-taxed. I asked him how much extra he sent to the IRS when he filed. That ended that line of discussion forever. Who in the MSM would ask Buffet that, especially since he has been sued by the IRS for underpaying his supposedly "too small" share.
The other funny thing is the amaount of fuzzy math he needs to use to justify his Marxist belief. Buffet paid over $8,000,000 in taxes. His secretary, according to him, paid $18,000.
Buffet's numbers do not add up for his secretary. Someone (even single with no deductions) who makes $60K a year is nowhere near the 30% tax bracket. It sounds like Buffet's lying again (like he did with Krispy Kreme and General Dynamics earnings reports).
For a Marxist, he's a
August 4, 2007 - 19:14 ET by Howard_BealeFor a Marxist, he's a pretty good capitalist.
"It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the
public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something
more than in that proportion." -- Adam Smith.
FDR won the War on Terror in ten words