Stephen King has been on a roll lately. His most recent novel 11/22/63 was a welcome return to form and his best work in years. And now he has this excellent essay, in The Daily Beast, on the subject of taxes:
Chris Christie may be fat, but he ain’t Santa Claus. In fact, he seems unable to decide if he is New Jersey’s governor or its caporegime, and it may be a comment on the coarsening of American discourse that his brash rudeness is often taken for charm. In February, while discussing New Jersey’s newly amended income-tax law, which allows the rich to pay less (proportionally) than the middle class, Christie was asked about Warren Buffett’s observation that he paid less federal income taxes than his personal secretary, and that wasn’t fair. “He should just write a check and shut up,” Christie responded, with his typical verve. “I’m tired of hearing about it. If he wants to give the government more money, he’s got the ability to write a check–go ahead and write it.”
Republicans used to argue that we need a flat income tax, because it was just terribly unfair that wealthy folks had to pay a higher tax rate than normal people. Their rallying cry was, “You shouldn’t be punished for being successful!”
But that’s not the rallying cry any more. Now their argument is that wealthy people should pay less than the rest of us. Tax loopholes that allow a billionaire like Mitt Romney to pay a mere thirteen percent tax rate is just fine. As they see it, that’s how it should be.
Heard it all before. At a rally in Florida (to support collective bargaining and to express the socialist view that firing teachers with experience was sort of a bad idea), I pointed out that I was paying taxes of roughly 28 percent on my income. My question was, “How come I’m not paying 50?” The governor of New Jersey did not respond to this radical idea, possibly being too busy at the all-you-can-eat cheese buffet at Applebee’s in Jersey City, but plenty of other people of the Christie persuasion did.
Cut a check and shut up, they said.
If you want to pay more, pay more, they said.
Tired of hearing about it, they said.
Tough shit for you guys, because I’m not tired of talking about it. I’ve known rich people, and why not, since I’m one of them? The majority would rather douse their dicks with lighter fluid, strike a match, and dance around singing “Disco Inferno” than pay one more cent in taxes to Uncle Sugar. It’s true that some rich folks put at least some of their tax savings into charitable contributions. My wife and I give away roughly $4 million a year to libraries, local fire departments that need updated lifesaving equipment (Jaws of Life tools are always a popular request), schools, and a scattering of organizations that underwrite the arts. Warren Buffett does the same; so does Bill Gates; so does Steven Spielberg; so do the Koch brothers; so did the late Steve Jobs. All fine as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go far enough.
You should read the whole essay. It’s terrific.
The trouble is that the reason the right-wingers are so successful at implementing their monstrously unfair tax policies is that hordes of middle-class folks keep voting for it. Their aren’t enough billionaires and religious fanatics to put them in office. They need hordes of oblivious, ignorant people to vote against their economic interests. That they have little trouble finding such people tells you something about contemporary America.