Thursday, June 14, 2007

You've made me very angry, indeed!

WSJ op-ed:

So Democrats are proposing to raise taxes on three million Americans in order to exempt 20 million from the AMT. The wealthiest 1% of Americans already pay more than one of every three income tax dollars into the Treasury. Under the Ways and Means proposal, the share of all income taxes paid by the top 1% would rise to nearly 40%. The top 2% would pay roughly as much as the bottom 98% of all taxpayers. Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel of New York seems to think this qualifies as tax fairness.

There is rough justice in watching Democrats squirm to fix the AMT monster they created in 1969 to punish 21 millionaires who legally escaped taxes at the time. And if Democrats want to do away with the AMT, we're all for it. One sensible idea from Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania would repeal the 1993 Clinton AMT tax hike, which raised the rates to 26% and 28% from the single rate of 24%. Mr. Specter's bill would relieve 10 million middle class tax filers from AMT tyranny.

But Democrats don't want to cut taxes; they want all of that extra revenue to spend. So instead they'd raise the top federal tax rate to its highest level in a quarter-century. A 44% top marginal rate would reduce U.S. competitiveness by reducing the after-tax return on investment. Less investment means fewer jobs and lower wages. A Tax Foundation analysis of tax returns finds that roughly three in every five Americans in the highest income tax bracket are small business owners, who create most new jobs.

Like Shaw said: A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul.

The tyranny of a government sponsored majority undermines democracy.

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