Tax cut hypocrisy

[One Bad Pig]

Democrats don't like last year's tax cuts because they think the rich should pay more, not less. Why, then, are they suing to stop part of the tax cut package which forces the rich to pay more?

Source: Business Review Board

Several Democrat-run states joined forces this week in suing the federal government over last year’s Republican tax cut legislation.... Under the new tax law, federal tax deductions for state and local taxes (SALT) are capped at $10,000. That means residents in these high-tax states will feel those taxes more acutely, making it politically more difficult for these state governments to maintain their high taxation policies. The Wall Street Journal reports, “In 2015, the states with the highest percentage of tax filers who claimed deductions for state and local taxes above $10,000 were blue states, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts.”...

The Democrats’ complaints here are a bit ironic, given that they’re constantly calling for the rich to be taxed more, and given that their states’ high earners (mostly wealthy Democrats) will be paying more as things stand. In New York, 8.3% of these residents will be affected; in Connecticut, it’s 8.4%. Nationally, 6.3% will pay more. Scott Shackford at Reason also notes the Democrats’ hypocrisy, writing, “These SALT deductions are not claimed equally across the population. They disproportionately benefit the wealthiest citizens who itemize their taxes. New York calculates that New Yorkers will see a $14.3 billion tax hike without the SALT deductions. But that doesn’t mean the hike will be spread across all the citizens of the state. It’s those who earn more than $100,000 a year who claim 81 percent of SALT deductions.”

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Oh, they mean other rich people should pay more.

[RumTumTugger]

Democrats don't like last year's tax cuts because they think the rich should pay more, not less. Why, then, are they suing to stop part of the tax cut package which forces the rich to pay more?

Source: Business Review Board

Several Democrat-run states joined forces this week in suing the federal government over last year’s Republican tax cut legislation.... Under the new tax law, federal tax deductions for state and local taxes (SALT) are capped at $10,000. That means residents in these high-tax states will feel those taxes more acutely, making it politically more difficult for these state governments to maintain their high taxation policies. The Wall Street Journal reports, “In 2015, the states with the highest percentage of tax filers who claimed deductions for state and local taxes above $10,000 were blue states, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts.”...

The Democrats’ complaints here are a bit ironic, given that they’re constantly calling for the rich to be taxed more, and given that their states’ high earners (mostly wealthy Democrats) will be paying more as things stand. In New York, 8.3% of these residents will be affected; in Connecticut, it’s 8.4%. Nationally, 6.3% will pay more. Scott Shackford at Reason also notes the Democrats’ hypocrisy, writing, “These SALT deductions are not claimed equally across the population. They disproportionately benefit the wealthiest citizens who itemize their taxes. New York calculates that New Yorkers will see a $14.3 billion tax hike without the SALT deductions. But that doesn’t mean the hike will be spread across all the citizens of the state. It’s those who earn more than $100,000 a year who claim 81 percent of SALT deductions.”

© Copyright Original Source

Oh, they mean other rich people should pay more.

yep

[Mountain Man]

Democrats don't like last year's tax cuts because they think the rich should pay more, not less. Why, then, are they suing to stop part of the tax cut package which forces the rich to pay more?

Because by the time the election rolls around, most low-info types will have completely forgotten about this lawsuit (assuming they even hear about it in the first place), and Democrats will be able to hang on to their "the rich don't pay enough taxes" narrative.

[rogue06]

As folks like Tom Daschle, Tim Geithner and Charlie Rangel demonstrate, Democrats are great at demanding that taxes be increased and then not paying them. That's for the suckers. And if they get caught they simply pay what they were supposed to have paid in the first place -- no interest or penalties. Like an interest free loan.

[Mountain Man]

As folks like Tom Daschle, Tim Geithner and Charlie Rangel demonstrate, Democrats are great at demanding that taxes be increased and then not paying them. That's for the suckers.

There was a while there when it seemed like "tax cheat" was a requirement for anybody in the Obama administration.

[Sparko]

Democrats don't like last year's tax cuts because they think the rich should pay more, not less. Why, then, are they suing to stop part of the tax cut package which forces the rich to pay more?

Source: Business Review Board

Several Democrat-run states joined forces this week in suing the federal government over last year’s Republican tax cut legislation.... Under the new tax law, federal tax deductions for state and local taxes (SALT) are capped at $10,000. That means residents in these high-tax states will feel those taxes more acutely, making it politically more difficult for these state governments to maintain their high taxation policies. The Wall Street Journal reports, “In 2015, the states with the highest percentage of tax filers who claimed deductions for state and local taxes above $10,000 were blue states, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts.”...

The Democrats’ complaints here are a bit ironic, given that they’re constantly calling for the rich to be taxed more, and given that their states’ high earners (mostly wealthy Democrats) will be paying more as things stand. In New York, 8.3% of these residents will be affected; in Connecticut, it’s 8.4%. Nationally, 6.3% will pay more. Scott Shackford at Reason also notes the Democrats’ hypocrisy, writing, “These SALT deductions are not claimed equally across the population. They disproportionately benefit the wealthiest citizens who itemize their taxes. New York calculates that New Yorkers will see a $14.3 billion tax hike without the SALT deductions. But that doesn’t mean the hike will be spread across all the citizens of the state. It’s those who earn more than $100,000 a year who claim 81 percent of SALT deductions.”

© Copyright Original Source

Oh, they mean other rich people should pay more.

OPM. Other People's Money. That is how Democrats fund all of their social projects.

[rogue06]

As folks like Tom Daschle, Tim Geithner and Charlie Rangel demonstrate, Democrats are great at demanding that taxes be increased and then not paying them. That's for the suckers. And if they get caught they simply pay what they were supposed to have paid in the first place -- no interest or penalties. Like an interest free loan.

Another one: Claire McCaskill admits to $287,000 in unpaid taxes on private plane


And MSNBC seems to be a haven for tax cheats all the while complaining about tax cuts

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Al Sharpton owed something like $4.5 million

Melissa Harris-Perry owed $48,500 when she was still at the network.

Touré Neblett owed $59,700 when he was there.

Maryland filed a lien again Chris Matthews and his wife's house last year for failure to pay taxes (he has since paid it)

[rogue06]

There was a while there when it seemed like "tax cheat" was a requirement for anybody in the Obama administration.

Source: 36 Obama aides owe $833,000 in back taxes

How embarrassing this must be for President Obama, whose major speech theme so far this campaign season has been that every single American, no matter how rich, should pay their "fair share" of taxes.

Because how unfair -- indeed, un-American -- it is for an office worker like, say, Warren Buffet's secretary to dutifully pay her taxes, while some well-to-do people with better educations and higher incomes end up paying a much smaller tax rate.

Or, worse, skipping their taxes altogether.

A new report just out from the Internal Revenue Service reveals that 36 of President Obama's executive office staff owe the country $833,970 in back taxes. These people working for Mr. Fair Share apparently haven't paid any share, let alone their fair share.

Previous reports have shown how well-paid Obama's White House staff is, with 457 aides pulling down more than $37 million last year. That's up seven workers and nearly $4 million from the Bush administration's last year.

Nearly one-third of Obama's aides make more than $100,000 with 21 being paid the top White House salary of $172,200, each.

The IRS' 2010 delinquent tax revelations come as part of a required annual agency report on federal employees' tax compliance. Turns out, an awful lot of folks being paid by taxpayers are not paying their own income taxes.

The report finds that thousands of federal employees owe the country more than $3.4 billion in back taxes. That's up 3% in the past year.

That scale of delinquency could annoy voters, hard-pressed by their own costs, fears and stubbornly high unemployment despite Joe Biden's many promises.

The tax offenders include employees of the U.S. Senate who help write the laws imposed on everyone else. They owe $2.1 million. Workers in the House of Representatives owe $8.5 million, Department of Education employees owe $4.3 million and over at Homeland Security, 4,697 workers owe about $37 million. Active duty military members owe more than $100 million.

The Treasury Department, where Obama nominee Tim Geithner had to pay up $42,000 in his own back taxes before being confirmed as secretary, has 1,181 other employees with delinquent taxes totaling $9.3 million.




Source

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The story continues at the link above

[Teallaura]

[Starlight]

Why, then, are they suing to stop part of the tax cut package...?

Because the law change hurts Blue states and helps Red states so seems rather unduly partisan for the federal government to be doing.

Blue states already subsidize red states. Now red states want even more: What the state and local tax deduction fight is really about.

...states such as New York and New Jersey... pay far more in federal taxes than they receive in federal spending... wealthy populous blue states such as California subsidize less developed mostly red states. South Carolina, for example, despite its long history of opposition to the federal government, takes nearly $4 in federal spending for every dollar its citizens pay in federal taxes.

...For 80 years, residents of the populous, high-tax (and today mostly blue) states have subsidized their fellow citizens in lower income, lower tax (and today mostly red) states. ...paradoxically, shower[ing] federal largesse most lavishly on the opponents of big government.

The Republicans are so pathetic at running their states with their moronic low-taxes that they end up mooching off the federal government, which the competently-run higher-taxed Democratic states are pouring money into. And now Paul Ryan's latest nuttery is "hey, why don't we Republicans steal more money from the Blue states to prop up our failing Red states and their failed policies with?"

[rogue06]

And let's not forget billionaire Warren Buffett who notoriously wrote in the New York Times that he was against tax cuts and should be paying more (nothing stopping him from doing so) complaining that he pays a lower effective tax rate than his secretary. In fact, Hillary Clinton was a big supporter of the so-called "Buffett rule," which provides for a minimum 30% effective tax rate for the wealthy. Then it was revealed that his company, Berkshire Hathaway, of which he is chairman and CEO and is listed as its owner (controls 36.8% of it) admitted to still owing taxes for years from 2002 to 2009 to the tune of over $1 Billion.

It should also be noted that Buffett gets much of his money through other largely untaxed or low-taxed means than through what is considered individual income so it is no surprise that he pays a lower income tax rate than his secretary (who herself is a member of the 1% earning over $200,000 per year).

[rogue06]

Another Democrat politician who turns out to be a tax cheat is West Virginia governor Jim Justice (the state's richest man). In 2014 an investigation revealed that his company owed nearly $2 million in overdue fines for safety violations and in 2016...

Source: Billionaire Gubernatorial Candidate Owes $15 Million In Taxes And Fines

...owe $15 million in six states, including property and minerals taxes, state coal severance and withholding taxes, and federal income, excise and unemployment taxes, as well as mine safety penalties, according to county, state and federal records.


Source

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The NPR article goes on to note that

Source: ibid

In the past 16 months, while fines and taxes went unpaid, Justice personally contributed nearly $2.9 million in interest-free loans and in-kind contributions to his gubernatorial campaign, according to state campaign finance reports.

© Copyright Original Source

[One Bad Pig]

Because the law change hurts Blue states and helps Red states so seems rather unduly partisan for the federal government to be doing.

Blue states already subsidize red states. Now red states want even more: What the state and local tax deduction fight is really about.

...states such as New York and New Jersey... pay far more in federal taxes than they receive in federal spending... wealthy populous blue states such as California subsidize less developed mostly red states. South Carolina, for example, despite its long history of opposition to the federal government, takes nearly $4 in federal spending for every dollar its citizens pay in federal taxes.

...For 80 years, residents of the populous, high-tax (and today mostly blue) states have subsidized their fellow citizens in lower income, lower tax (and today mostly red) states. ...paradoxically, shower[ing] federal largesse most lavishly on the opponents of big government.

The Republicans are so pathetic at running their states with their moronic low-taxes that they end up mooching off the federal government, which the competently-run higher-taxed Democratic states are pouring money into. And now Paul Ryan's latest nuttery is "hey, why don't we Republicans steal more money from the Blue states to prop up our failing Red states and their failed policies with?"

...so now Democrats are complaining about the recipients of policies they implemented? Nice.

[rogue06]

...so now Democrats are complaining about the recipients of policies they implemented? Nice.

They continue to expose their own contempt and scorn for those they consider their "lessers." Remember when then Senate majority Leader Harry Reid was thrilled that he wouldn't have to be exposed to "smelly" tourists? Or how the Democrats rigged their own primaries in 2016 because they didn't trust their own base to select the right presidential candidate?

[Sparko]

...so now Democrats are complaining about the recipients of policies they implemented? Nice.

It is a bit ironic. They want to support social programs and a socialized government, but apparently NOT for "red" states.