Just when I think Stephen King is forever on my shit list (the one-two punch of Under the Dome and 11/22/63 was nearly enough to kill me) he has to go and write something awesome about politics:
I guess some of this mad right-wing love comes from the idea that in America, anyone can become a Rich Guy if he just works hard and saves his pennies. Mitt Romney has said, in effect, “I’m rich and I don’t apologize for it.” Nobody wants you to, Mitt. What some of us want—those who aren’t blinded by a lot of bullshit persiflage thrown up to mask the idea that rich folks want to keep their damn money—is for you to acknowledge that you couldn’t have made it in America without America. That you were fortunate enough to be born in a country where upward mobility is possible (a subject upon which Barack Obama can speak with the authority of experience), but where the channels making such upward mobility possible are being increasingly clogged. That it’s not fair to ask the middle class to assume a disproportionate amount of the tax burden. Not fair? It’s un-fucking-American is what it is. I don’t want you to apologize for being rich; I want you to acknowledge that in America, we all should have to pay our fair share. That our civics classes never taught us that being American means that—sorry, kiddies—you’re on your own. That those who have received much must be obligated to pay—not to give, not to “cut a check and shut up,” in Governor Christie’s words, but to pay—in the same proportion. That’s called stepping up and not whining about it. That’s called patriotism, a word the Tea Partiers love to throw around as long as it doesn’t cost their beloved rich folks any money.
Go and read the whole thing.
Fair share? Stop whining? Isn’t 70% of the federal tax budget paid for by just 10-20% of tax payers? 50% of all households get a free ride! But that’s still not enough, and that 10-20% should just stop whining and hand over ALL their money?
Everyone needs to pay their fair share, regardless of income. Everyone. No one should be getting off lazy.
#1: Your last sentence is nothing but shrill hyperbole. Don’t be such a drama queen.
If you think that’s hyperbole, you haven’t been reading Constant’s posts. Or that Stephen King quote above. They are literally saying that the people paying all the taxes need to stop whining about it. It’s in bold.
Reymont, the wealthiest tax brackets are paying the lowest share of their income toward tax in many decades. They account for a large share of revenue because they hold a historically disproportionate share of the country’s wealth. Given the significant shortfall in federal revenue, it seems perfectly reasonable to me to bring tax rates on the wealthy in line with historical standards (i.e., higher).
Meanwhile, I assume you don’t really mean that 50% of US households get “a free ride” when in fact they’re paying property tax, sales tax, state income tax, other state and local charges, etc. The federal tax system was designed to be progressive precisely because other forms of tax are regressive.
I’m not worried about what percentage of the rich are paying. What pisses me off is that wages earned from the sweat of your brow are for some reason taxed more heavily than capital gains. It should be the other way around.
+1 #5/#6
So I just read the full Stephen King article, and I have a question: Do most middle class people pay more than 28% in income tax?
That’s about what I’ve always paid, maybe a little more. King says he pays 28%, but ought to be paying 50%. I thought the problem was that rich assholes were paying like, 15%, not 28%. 28% actually seems like a good number.
Can someone clear this up for me?
@4: I read the whole thing. No one’s asking anyone to pay ALL their money in taxes. Your sentence is still shrill hyperbole, and you’re still a drama queen.
Is this even real? It’s only on really obscure websites…