Help Needed to Combat Left Wing Propaganda

April 15, 2009 | Robert Reich

[gdzla]

A Short Citizen's Guide to Kooks, Demagogues, and Right-Wingers On Tax Day

April 15, 2009 Robert Reich

No one likes to pay taxes, so tax day typically attracts a range of right-wing Republicans, kooks, and demagogues, all of whom tell us how awful we have it. Herewith a short citizen's guide (that is, a citizen's guide that's short rather than a guide for short citizens) responding to the predictable charges:

1. "Americans pay too much in taxes." Wrong: The United States has the lowest taxes of all developed nations.

2. "The rich pay too much! The top ten percent of income earners pay over 72 percent of all income taxes!" Misleading: The main reason the rich pay such a large percent is they've become so much richer than the bottom 90 percent in recent years. If you look at what they pay as individuals -- the percent of their incomes over and above the highest rate below them -- you'll see a steady decline over the years. When Republican Dwight Eisenhower was president, the marginal rate on the highest earners was 91 percent (after deductions and tax credits, closer to 50 percent); by 1980 it was still up there, at 70 percent (an effective rate of closer to 45 percent); under Bill Clinton, it was 38 percent (an effective rate closer to 28 percent).

Look at the after-tax earnings of families and you'll see what's really going on. Between 1980 and 2000, the after-tax earnings of famlies at the top rose more than 150 percent, while the after-tax earnings of families in the middle rose about 10 percent. The Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 raised the after-tax incomes of most Americans by a bit over 1 percent -- but raised the after-tax incomes of millionaires by 4.4 percent.

3. "The bottom 60 percent pay only 3.3 percent of the taxes!" Misleading again. Most Americans are paying more in sales taxes than they ever have. Property taxes have also been rising at a steady clip. And Social Security taxes have also risen (thanks to the Greenspan Commission), while earnings over about $100,000 aren't subject to Social Security taxes. So-called "sin" taxes (mostly beer and cigarettes) have also skyrocketed. All of these taxes take a bigger bite out of the paychecks of people with lower incomes than they do people with higher incomes.

4. "Obama is raising your taxes!" Wrong. Obama is cutting taxes for 95 percent of Americans, by about $400 per person a year -- not a whopping tax cut, to be sure, but not a tax increase by any stretch. Only the top 2 percent will have a tax increase, but even this tax increase is modest. Basically, they go back to the rates they were paying under Bill Clinton (their deductions will be limited to 28 percent, which is only fair). And they won't start paying this until 2011 anyway.

5. "The huge debts we're wracking up will cause your taxes to rise!" Wrong again. When it comes to the national debt, as I've said before, the relevant statistic is the ratio of debt to the gross domestic product. The only sure way to bring that debt down and make it manageable in future years is to get the economy growing again -- which requires that, in the short term, the government spend a lot of money (because consumers and businesses won't). In the long term, the biggest source of concern is rising health-care costs. And that's something Obama and Congress are aiming to tackle.

6. "We have a patriotic duty to stand up against Washington taxes!" Just the opposite. We have a patriotic duty to pay taxes. As multi-billionaire Warren Buffett put it, "If you stick me down in the middle of Bangladesh or Peru or someplace, you'll find out how much this talent is going to produce in the wrong kind of soil. I will be struggling thirty years later." President Teddy Roosevelt made the case in 1906 when he argued in favor of continuing the inheritance tax. "The man of great wealth owes a particular obligation to the state because he derives special advantages from the mere existence of government."

An acquaintance from law school, now a partner in one of Washington's biggest and wealthiest law firms, explained to me one day over lunch how he and his partners use tax rules to create offsetting taxable gains and losses, and then allocate the gains to the firm's foreign partners who don't pay taxes in the United States. That way, they keep the losses here and shelter their income abroad. I noticed he had an American flag lapel pin. "You're supporting our troops," I said, referring to his pin. "Yup," he replied, entirely missing my point.

True patriotism isn't cheap. It's about taking on a fair share of the burden of keeping America going.

[gdzla]

This was emailed to me today. I would like to reply point by point with the help of FR.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

This “thing” is so full of lies that I don’t know where to start.

[Ken522]

Consider the source: Robert Reichhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[BenLurkin]

We are taxed too much whether “The United States has the lowest taxes of all developed nations” or not.

Who gives a crap about tax rates in other nations?

[EVO X]

6. "We have a patriotic duty to stand up against Washington taxes!" Just the opposite. We have a patriotic duty to pay taxes.

Democrats don't seem to do a very good job of leading by example...

[wombtotomb]

Forgive the multiple postings of this video, but this is the message we need to be focusing on. Taxes are a symptom of the disease. The root of the problem is losing our republic and morphing into a democracy. The leftists are too ignorant of history to understand this! Please watch the video below and pass it to all you know. Thanks!!

.

The video is a description of the 5 supposed forms of government, from 100% government control (Communism, facism, totalitarianism etc) to 0% government (anarchy) it obliteraties all forms of government as only temporary and futile except for 2, olgiarchy and republic. It does this in a clear concise manner, which effectively shows even a grade schooler about them. It then, in the last few moments, explains Rome, its beginning as a republic, and its morph into a democracy. The parallels are well put, and clearly where this country is today. It is an excellent way to spread the word to those who have never been taught proper history, and that is alot of people since they have been re writing it for so long now.

I have been posting this sucker all over all day, and sometimes I forget that some are stuck at work, so I have included the above basic description of the video, however it does not do the video justice. I beg, implore and urge all to view it who have not. THIS is the reason we are so angry. Taxes are a symptom, losing our republic is the disease!!!!!

http://www.marchforliberty.org/multimedialinks.html

[Renderofveils]

Who gives a crap about tax rates in other nations?

From Ben Baack (of Ohio State University) on pre-revolutionary war economics here in the US:

Taxes were significantly higher in Britain than in the colonies. One estimate suggests the per capita tax burden in the colonies ranged from two to four per cent of that in Britain (Palmer, 1959). It was time in the British view that the Americans began to pay a larger share of the expenses of the empire.

Accordingly, a series of tax acts were passed by Parliament the revenue from which was to be used to help pay for the standing army in America. The first was the Sugar Act of 1764. Proposed by England's Prime Minister the act lowered tariff rates on non-British products from the West Indies as well as strengthened their collection. It was hoped this would reduce the incentive for smuggling and thereby increase tariff revenue (Bullion, 1982). The following year Parliament passed the Stamp Act that imposed a tax commonly used in England. It required stamps for a broad range of legal documents as well as newspapers and pamphlets. While the colonial stamp duties were less than those in England they were expected to generate enough revenue to finance a substantial portion of the cost the new standing army. The same year passage of the Quartering Act imposed essentially a tax in kind by requiring the colonists to provide British military units with housing, provisions, and transportation. In 1767 the Townshend Acts imposed tariffs upon a variety of imported goods and established a Board of Customs Commissioners in the colonies to collect the revenue.

Certain parallels between the British and our Liberal friends, neh?

[rightwinggoth]

income tax is fairly low compared to other developed nations but FICA wipes out the significance of that difference quite handily. much more so if you are self employed.

[ecomcon]

True patriotism isn't cheap. It's about taking on a fair share of the burden of keeping America going.

Utter hogwash. True patriotism is defending our republican form of government, liberty, and the constitution against power grabbing fascists like Robert (4th) Reich.

I have no interest in being "burdened" or "harnessed" by these proven failures that call themselves leaders.

[Renderofveils]

Also, the first protests and boycotts in that era were peaceful ones that had little to no impact on the regulations that had been enacted. It was not until the British began using violence against those protesting the taxation and regulation put in place by the British that freedom and liberty became clarion calls for a new nation.

[Zevonismymuse]

We have a patriotic duty to pay taxes.

We have a patriotic duty to preserve and protect the Constitution. The bailouts and stimulus are nothing but government power grabs designed to keep the citizens dependent on the government. All the arguments for increased taxes are straw man arguments.

[ecomcon]

Yep. Always got money back until I became self employed. Same income, way more taxes.

[tacticalogic]

Notice how they carefully limit their talking points to federal income taxes when they talk about how much the "rich" pay, but when they address the issue of how much the bottom of the scale pays, all the taxes are suddenly on the table.

They conviently leave out the carbon taxes he's wanting to impose. You might be able to get a tax cut under Obama if you you don't use electricity, gasoline, heating oil, or diesel fuel, or have to buy anything that requires the use of them. Other than that, you're going to get hammered.

[NoobRep]

What a complete imbecile this guy is.

The Constitution does not give the Federal government free reign to tax the people and do whatever the hell it wants with the money. Taxes are to be levied to cover operational costs of running the government, i.e., defense spending. Taxing the people to redistribute wealth and spend it on pig odor research, wood utilization research, museums and other garbage is the furthest thing the framers of the Constitution meant.

Also, it’s not what Obama is doing with our taxes now. It’s what he’s going to do to you, your kids and your grandkids and their kids. Someone has to pay for this massive and wasteful deficit spending spree he’s on and anyone who says otherwise is drinking out of the toilet. Soon, the interest alone on the spending is going to take up a significant part of our GDP-hundreds of billions of dollars.

From the Heritage Foundation, here is what Obama’s proposed budget will do:

# Raise taxes on all Americans by $1.4 trillion over the next decade
# Raise taxes for 3.2 million taxpayers by an average of $300,000 over the next decade
# Call for a pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) law despite offering a budget that would violate it by $3.4 trillion
# Assume a rosy economic scenario that few econo­mists anticipate
# Leave permanent deficits averaging $600 billion even after the economy recovers and...
# Double the publicly held national debt to over $15 trillion ($12.5 trillion after inflation)

This article should help with an understanding. I don’t think most people are protesting that their taxes are too high right now. They’re protesting Nazi Obama’s irresponsible policies that are going to turn us into California-bankrupt.

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/bg2249.cfm

[ecomcon]

#3 is particularly stupid. Previously, he argues that taxes are a good thing. Patriotic even. Then he bemoans the fact that people in the lower 50% are paying more taxes through sales tax, property tax, etc.

All taxes that democrats forced on them to protect their government jobs.

[ecomcon]

I’ll bet money that his last paragraph about his buddy is an utter fabrication. Or that it is an admission.

[Sir_Humphrey]

The issue here isn't taxes. You can slice and dice the numbers to make it look like the rich (i.e. the successful) either pay too much or too little.

The real issue is the size of government and the benefits they extend to us. If we want lower taxes we have to forgo most of the benefits/subsidies the government gives.

For the record I am perfectly willing to do that but it is the third rail in politics. (Ex. cutting social security benefits) That is the frightening thing about Obamanomics. Once a government benefit is given it, for all intents and purposes, becomes a "right" and never goes away.

[Man50D]

Here's one of I'm sure will be many suggestions. Don't fall for this false premise of accepting more socialism/communism. Address the history of the income tax code instead of addressing each point individually. An outline is below

An income tax is a concept that was espoused by Karl Marx in his Communist manifesto. To quote: "# A heavy progressive or graduated income tax."

The Supreme Court found in 1895 an income tax imposed in 1893 to be unconstitutional declaring that the act violated Article I, section 9 of the Constitution. Since that time an attitude prevailed to soak the rich. The income tax code enacted in 1913 was designed to tax the rich. People were taxed only 1% on the first $20,000 with the bulk of the tax being imposed at a rate of 7% of income over $500,000. Who could argue with the income tax since so few earned over $500,000! it was essentially a flat tax on income.

As late as 1939 only 5% of the population was taxed. Today more than 80% of the population is under the income tax. This once seemingly simple one tiered flat tax on income designed to target the rich has morphed into a multi tiered increasingly oppressive and intrusive 67,500+ page system we know today. It has has done exactly what Communist Karl Marx has sought to accomplish.

You can fire back by taking it one step further. Suggest the income tax code is beyond repair and needs to be replaced with a consumption tax via The Fair Tax Act (HR25/S296) that will abolish all federal income taxes with a consumption tax and abolish the IRS.Doing so will end taxation on productivity and eliminate the Marxism inherent in the income tax code. You may also want to include the links below to support The Fair Tax Act.

[NoobRep]

Here’s the bottom line summed up well by Heritage:

In the long run, Washington is dumping a colos­sal amount of debt into the laps of our children and grandchildren. Between 2008 and 2013, the budget will add $5.7 trillion ($48,000 per U.S. household) in new government debt. The annual interest on this debt would nearly equal the entire U.S. defense budget by 2019. Moreover, given the unsustainable costs of paying Social Security, Medicare, and Med­icaid benefits to 77 million retiring baby boomers, the federal debt will continue expanding after 2019.[15] Without real reforms, the result may be devastating tax increases for decades to come.

[sauropod]

Good video. It makes many of the points listed in The 5000 Year Leap.