THE RICH SHOULD PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE

“The wealthy are definitely under taxed relative to the general population,” Warren Buffet told CNBC’s Becky Quick 

“There’s no doubt that what we want government to do in terms of better education and better health care means that we need to collect more in taxes, ” Bill Gates said during a recent conversation in New York.

“I myself should be paying higher taxes and all wealthyAmericans should have to pay their fair share. I think we can all agree on that,”Howard Schultz said at the university.

Sen. John Kerry keeps telling us “the rich” need to pay more in taxes. The senator and his wife are among the 400 richest Americans. He says that he has “a plan to tax the rich.” 

“Right now I’m actually surprised by how much money I got,” the 44th President said in his address to more than 10,000 people gathered in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Tuesday. (Barack Obama)

“Damn right I will raise taxes on the rich” , Bernie I love spending other peoples money Sanders.

Thus we have just a few quotations from a long line of virtue signalers painlessly pontificating about what they owe but are not willing to pay in taxes unless under government duress. Four billionaires, a multi-millionaire and a millionaire are examples of many exploiters promoting a popular and painless approach we might call, ‘I’ll do as I say, only if the law requires it’. 

Some one should remind these progressives about something they probably do understand. The United States Treasury accepts checks and wire transfers of cash. So why don’t these millionaires and billionaires write an extra check or two and sent it to the IRS each year? 

It would be hilarious if it were not so disingenuous. I just watched good old Bernie bob and weave at a town hall meeting when asked at least three times if he’d pay the 50% income tax he suggests millionaires pay, now that he is a millionaire. Each time he answered the question not asked. He demonized corporations and billionaires rather then do what he wants others to do. Oh, and a bunch of kids screamed and applauded. This is the perfect example of action free moral primping. His politics are an example of a pure unvarnished fraud. And his tax returns reveal his charitable generosity turns out to be 3%. What a great guy! Won’t pay the 50% he demanded others pay while setting a terrible example with his private giving. Nice place to be if he can get away with it. I guess he is waiting for working taxpayers to pick up the slack he leaves behind. 

Don’t know if Kerry or Barack give much in the form of charitable contributions but the other pontificators give billions to private charities. They have foundations dedicated to charitable causes. When given the chance they choose to give to private not government entities. The IRS is not among the institution they voluntarily support. In fact they hire $1,000 per hour tax attorneys to be sure they send not one extra cent to the IRS or state taxing authorities. 

They are publically progressive but privately conservative. In Bernie’s case he is both publically and privately cheap. The others send their charitable resources where the dollars will be most efficiently spent to a positive end with the least possibility of waste and fraud. They act this way because they know that government with its massive unaccountable bureaucracies and maze of confusion at all levels has millions of black holes where billions of dollars are lost to oblivion.

These are examples of rich lefties who verbally assuage their guilt while refusing to direct resources in a direction they know will be wasteful. It allows them to benefit from both of two incompatible worlds. Their public persona is one of ‘I believe I should pay more’ as they stand high on their verbal moral high ground. But their private behavior reflects, ‘pay as little as the law permits’. It’s nice publicity and a great voter acquisition strategy for wealthy politicians as long as the media and general public don’t call them out for their hypocrisy. 

Maybe I missed it but I have yet to hear or read about a mainstream media interviewer who asked any of these moral giants why they don’t send more money to the institution they claim is in dire need of more of their money.

In their businesses they know how destructive profligate spending can be, that it often paves the road to bankruptcy. So why support an institution that overspends irrationally? Every one of these orally virtuous men of wealth knows that once the 2016 tax reform bill was passed we saw federal revenue increase as tax rates went down. As it always does, revenue increases and growth can be sourced to tax cuts. Kennedy, Reagan, Bush and Clinton (under some duress) lowered taxes. The economic growth it simulated generated additional revenue. 

Yet the mantra persists, ‘I should pay more but am not going to pay more’. In a left-wing political world of class warfare grounded in envy and resentment these people are admired. It will be interesting to see if the American public takes the rhetorical billionaire bait that will be offered by whichever leftist candidate the Democrats eventually nominate in 2020?  

I am writing this on April 15, 2019. This would have been the perfect day for those trumpeting how much more they should pay in taxes to tuck an extra check in the envelope they are sending to the IRS or wire an additional couple of million dollars to the United States Treasury. I am not holding my breath.

It just occurred to me that the only things about Bernie that are Jewish is his birth and his exemplifying to perfection the yiddish word ‘chutzpah’. He never created one job nor has he given his share in charity or taxes ( by his millionaire definition). Yet he tells us that Howard Schultz (not my guy) is not qualified to run. The Sandman demonstrates lack of self-awarenss in spades.