Some are questioning why “the right’ is reacting to President Obama's proposal for “modestly increasing taxes on the wealthy” and I would like to provide insight.
Speaking as a conservative, I like to look to the root core of the problems because staying on my path of conserving effort relegates me to the solution that produces the best results with as little effort as possible.
I think we can agree that window dressing, the traditional path that politicians from both sides take, will not solve the fiscal hole that we are in. Symbolism over substance works for what passes in Congress most of the time. Unfortunately, as Greece can currently attest to, it cannot dig you out of a hole that is so deep you can no longer see the sunshine. And like Greece, we are now going to have to make real meaningful cuts that will be painful to all.
The question is why can’t the rich just pay more as the President is asking for? These days multi-billionaire Warren Buffet is all for making the rich pay more, so it should be okay, right? Well, not so fast because old Warren is really at the center of the problem. He is what we would consider traditional rich. Those who have studied history know that the rich have highly paid accountants that neither you nor I (well at least not I) have access to. History teaches that the wealthy (and that includes the wealthy corporations) always have loopholes available to them or at the very least have highly paid lobbyists who can “buy” the loopholes to be put into the Federal tax code which stands at 72,536 pages chocked full of loopholes as of the 2011 reporting. These are all tax breaks that neither you nor I (well at least not I) will ever see! Warren Buffet derives his income from, dividends, something that WILL NOT be affected by the proposed changes, all the more reason for crafty old Warren to be crowing. This is more window dressing on display.
Couple that with the now substantial sum of Americans who are non-tax payers altogether yet receive benefits from the rest who are paying into the tax system and we can all plainly see that this makes for an anything but fair and just tax system. The ultra-high end and the low end skate clean while those in the middle are now being asked to pay more!
The middle class are largely the small business owners in our country. This means that the biggest segment that will be affected by Obama's proposal is the very engine that drives our economy. Their gross revenues by and large are over $250,000 and it generally does not get reported through traditional class C tax forms but less loophole laden schedules and without going into details it means it hits them all the more personally. It is also the segment that is traditionally comprises the middle class -NOT the two percenters such as billionaire Buffet.
This is also the segment of the economy where statistically most of the job creation comes from. People do not realize that more job creation comes through the small business segment than the mega corporations. Small/mid-sized businesses will stop hiring or pull back when they do not have the “profits” left over to expand. The entire economy will go into a contraction and we will enter another recessionary period. Now, either A: President Obama knows this and does not care or B: He is ignorant of the basics of the American economy. We are going to cause pain to solve this fiscal debt crisis no matter what but to cripple our economy in the process is too much like cutting off your nose to spite your face.
I don’t really want to even go into the fact that increasing the tax revenues by the President’s projected amount will only “fuel” the government for an additional eight days.
So if we are to really do something meaningful about the real problem, other than gin up more Marxist class warfare which never solves the real problem only exacerbates it, we will have to look elsewhere.
Our Government has gone for four years under Barack Obama without a written budget. In a time of fiscal crisis this is deplorable. Democrats, Harry Reid (and Nancy Pelosi through 2010) is/are largely responsible that were allowed to go on down this reckless path AND without pressure from the White House I might add. Spending has gone through the roof under this administration. I won’t bore you with the stats that we have all already heard ad nauseam. Suffice to say, spending is the real problem but it is cleverly being diverted from by the President's class warfare spin.
I know we all want to avoid the fiscal cliff. Let’s just try doing it with our eyes wide open this time.
