George Will (cc photo: Keith Allison)
In his Washington Post column yesterday (10/10/10), George Will offered the kind of analysis one has come to expect from George Will:
Today, Barack Obama, a chronic campaigner, is out and about trying to arouse the masses against the inequity of not raising taxes on “the rich.” He opposes extending the Bush tax rates–they are due to expire December 31, when a higher rate is restored–for “millionaires and billionaires.”
And for quarter-millionaires. Expiration would mean an increase for households with incomes of at least $250,000. Obama’s $750,000 fudge sweeps many people into the plutocracy. In Obama’s Chicago, a high school principal can earn $148,000. A police officer with 25 years on the force can earn $114,000–not counting overtime. If the principal and the officer are married, supposedly they are rich.
It’s too bad the Post feels the need to print this kind of drivel. A few weeks ago (8/12/10), the paper published a helpful table that explains, using data from the Joint Committee on Taxation, how the competing Democratic and Republican tax plans would impact different income groups.
For families making between $200-500K, the Democrats are looking to preserve an annual tax cut of $6,743 (compared to pre-Bush tax cut rates). The Republicans are looking to save the same taxpayer $7,152.So the difference for this category–which includes Will’s principal-and-police officer married couple–amounts to about $400 a year. And Will’s couple would presumably pay less than that, since their total income just barely crosses the $250,000 mark.
In the same Post graphic, you can see that actual millionaires are the ones that would get significantly different treatment under the competing tax plans. Under the Democrats’ plan, those with incomes of $1 million and above would still see their taxes more than $6,000 lower when compared to pre-Bush tax rates–but they would not be allowed to extend, as the Republicans’ tax plan does, the full $100,000 tax break that Bush gave them.
So when Obama talks about a tax increase on “millionaires and billionaires,” that’s because that’s what it would actually be. Will might say he’s fighting for the Chicago beat cop, but what allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire on the wealthy would really mean is a hefty tax hike for George Will. “Save the tax cuts for people like me,” though, would probably be a less compelling argument for the average newspaper reader.
You missed another glaring error in his column. His hypothetical example of “common folk”.
A cop earning $114,000 & his high school principal wife earning $148,000 a year. If you total the two
AND DEDUCT only the standard deduction & personal exemptions they would NOT be affected by an increase in taxes over the $250,000 figure.
“It’s too bad the Post feels the need to print this kind of drivel.” Amen!
George Will gives glib voice to the uniformed opinions of deep-pocket think-tank supporters indifferent to the needs of mankind. His WaPo and Newsweek pieces on global warming last year, for example, denied that there is any such thing, denied irrefutable facts about rising global sea ice levels, said among other put-downs that the â┚¬Ã…“loopinessâ┚¬Ã‚ about mankind’s contribution to global warming ranges from â┚¬Ã…“idioticâ┚¬Ã‚ to â┚¬Ã…“comic,â┚¬Ã‚ and referred to those concerned about its implications as “zealots” who publish “titillating climate porn.”
Why indeed anyone on earth would want to print George Will beats me. As for the broadcast media, the recent 2-part Ken Burns documentary “Baseball, The Tenth Inning” on public television was ruined for me by his appearance, this time in his dubious pose as baseball insider. I nearly broke the remote getting that hairy little toad out of my home.
Actually this is b.s. on many levels. First of all, a “millionaire” is someone who is WORTH a million dollars, not someone who is EARNING a million dollars a year. Someone earning $250,000/year, unless they are quite young, is quite likely to be a millionaire.
Second of all, Will’s scoffing at the idea that the principal and the police officer aren’t rich is laughable. Are they part of the “super-rich”? Of course not. But they are certainly at a level where only a small percentage of Americans make more. They are rich.
Finally, the defense of Obama and the Democrats on the grounds that they are still giving almost the same tax cut to this hypothetical family just highlights how lame the Democrats are. If we end up giving tax cuts to families this wealthy, as is pretty certain (personally I think the Dems will cave on tax cuts even for the super-rich, but that remains to be seen), we’re never going to solve the immense problems this country faces with shrinking social services on all levels – federal, state, county, and city – as well as the deficit which IS a problem because it means more and more money funneled to the banks (i.e., the rich) as interest.
Out here in Missouri Roy Blunt — former House GOP Majority Leader (read: “sycophant”) and father of former MO Governor Mel Blunt (read: “gee…I’m won’t be spending your money on it”) — is bombarding the airwaves night and day with his US Senate campaign ads.
Apparently, his Donkeycrat opponent — Robin Carnahan — somehow managed to raise all of about $9.80 for her campaign ads. That might explain why aren’t any. But maybe the lady is smarter than the buffoon she’s portrayed as in the Blunt ads.
Blunt runs on the “keep the tax cuts for the wealthy” premise because small businesses will create most of the new jobs as the Great Recession recedes. Right. Just like the current tax cuts for the wealthy are creating jobs now.
They create lots of jobs for lobbyists like Roy Blunt. The PAC known as CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) — a neo-liberal org. — found it kind of funny that not only was Roy making money off lobbying for Kraft Foods, but so was his girl friend (now wife) Abigail Perlman. Meanwhile, Roy was also making life really pleasant for Jack Abramoff so Jack could take lobbying to a new level of arrogance. And an even higher tax bracket.
Just imagine how much investment the old tax laws could have created if Congress wasn’t such a suck-up to champions of smaller government like Blunt and Blunt and Blunt.
Blunt’s job math is as about as accurate as George Will’s math. Small businesses will create more jobs just as soon as Wal-Mart leaves town. Or Kraft Foods stops making the family farm an endangered species. True, small businesses do create jobs by selling investments in second homes, bigger yachts, and the latest Maserati to the the upper tax brackets.
Certainly they create more jobs than Robin Carnahan’s brother’s wind farm. His tax break on wind farming apparently is about to bankrupt the Federal government. Worse, it’ll also probably force BP out of business at some point. So why should the average taxpayer pay for politician windfalls?
That’s the George Will I know.
Oh…I almost forgot (although it almost goes without saying):
Blunt isn’t campaigning against Robin’s brother’s wind farm as much as he is against renewable energy “short of farming.”
Let’s see…what does Missouri grow a lot of? Corn! Now Congress wants to raise the amount of allowable ethanol in gasoline from 10 to 15%. Meanwhile, the price of corn has shot through the roof. I guess America doesn’t grow enough sugar cane to actually make the jump in ethanol profitable but who cares?
Still, it’s truly amazing what “smaller government” can save the American consumer when lobbyists hold down a second job in Congress.
the median income in the us is $50K…either of the incomes will is talking about puts them well above that…in most parts of the country, a joint income of $250+ is pretty good money
@lee – almost everyone misses this, Lee. All that will actually be taxed is net income after all deductions and only the portion above 250k.
In the case of the “small businesses” the Republicans rail about, we are only talking about net profit after all deductions – and in the case of many of these multimillion dollar “small businesses”, with the financial slight-of-hand our tax structure allows them, that amounts to zero.
Who the hell listens to what George Will says anyway?
I want to come to the defense of George Will who is extremely
knowledgable about baseball. He has written many informative
articles about it, and I would unhesitatingly accept his numbers,
figures, and statistics about baseball.
George Will should stick to basball.. He knows a lot about it.
On subjects such as politics,economics, business and finance–
not so much.
What was amusing about the whole statement was the size of each income for the couple in this example. Police and educators are notoriously underpaid. In my state, Missouri, police officers are not paid $100,000; in fact they would be well paid at $50,000. As for high school principals, they may be paid almost $150,000 in California or New York where living expenses are very high, but in Missouri they would be lucky to earn $150,000 between them. George Will is really out of touch with reality. My daughter and her husband are both professional people who barely make more than $100,000. I would say if someone is overpaid, it is that snob, George Will.
Trying as hard as you can, it is really hard to justify lower taxes on the wealthy, when such a large portion of the growth in the economy in the last 30 years have accrued to the higher income bracket filers. By personalizing the taxpayer as a middle class person, it makes a wee bit easier-but still if the income is that high and the taxpayer is that fortunate, they should bear that extra burden at a time when so many others have been downsized and had severely reduced incomes
Progressivity in income taxation is one of the few ways a market driven economy can try to more fairly distribute its public expenditures.
Good comments all; Will has always been out of touch with reality. His “job,” such as it is, is to stroke the super-rich and the politically super-powerful. Will is the ultimate toady–he produces nothing, makes nothing, knows nothing, and is paid very well as a result.
WE are at a crossroads of sorts.Do we have a president who is using his pulpit and power to say “I will make this the most hospitable place in the world to start…own…and reach for the stars in whatever business you may want to “create”.”I will recreate wealth in the best way I know…..By removing government hinderances to a free market.”Do we have a president who believes in the eruption of a capitalist free market creating the ultimate potential for the greatest number of Americans?Or do we have a man who believes in bleeding the rich till it hurts(or not)- to sustain all the rest?The word bridled comes to mind.Should you bridle the fastest race horse at all?Should you just a little bit?Or a lot….and hobble him?
Near 50% pay no taxes now.To me that is a disengagement we no longer can afford.The top taxpayers pay more than 80%.My question is how high should that number go…..And can we stop believing that at some point(some magic tax level /percentage it will still be worth putting in those 14 hour days for those ugly rich.That is a bottom line productivity question.I have friends now who play games with how much they make to keep in certain tax brackets.You never want that to be a factor.You see the reverse at low level earning.If you are on unemployment or government assistance it is often not worth it to go back to work.Ride it out.
And in the end this is all speculation ignoring the real elephant rumbling down the road.Health care is wildly more expensive as we see, than proposed…..DAH!Who didn’t see that coming?Taxes are going up for everyone in one way or another however it plays out.That is a given.The squeeze will get tighter. Government is adverse to cutting off its own credit card.As its power and scope grows the largess deepens.It does not see a simple economic fact that government does not create even one job.Government jobs(the only exploding part of the job market)is simply a re-shuffling of tax payer money.In a real sense the huge inflow of Chinese money is paying and subsidizing those paychecks….Obamas included! Maddness.And instead of getting ready to sprint past/through/ over this mess with an explosion of entreperneurialism exceptionalism…this president want to wrestle in the mud by taxing those who produce, to subsidize those who do not.He wants to use class warfare to ignite this economy?How does that economic reality produce?….Or is it his campaign he wants to ignite?
Look Our safety nets are absolutely one of the best things about us but…..it is so far out of wack now that it is obvious this man has not a clue how to manage the concept.
Maybe the up coming elections are not so complicated.”We” hire our president to keep the wolves at bay.To manage our productivity,in an honest way that adds to our life’s experience.He road in on a wave of euphoria that has simply dissipated.He was obviously under qualified, but more importantly his vision for where we should be going is simply outside what the average American is thinking.SEt aside he thought he had the keys to our car and bank accounts……….. both of which he emptied!!!!In the real world he would simply be fired .He has never lived in the real private sector world where you simply get canned at the bosses discretion.He soon will feel a bit of that.
Watching Michael e struggle with basic economics and tax policy is like watching a starfish working with a can opener.
Sadly Jacques- watching President Obama struggle with basic economics is like watching a starfish working with a can opener.And You see I have an opinion.Nothing more.And that effects no one outside of my own family(and I suppose the countless families I support in the form of taxes.).Obama is effecting everyone now, and in the future with his “jackass”handling of this nations economy.
Hmm. . . Let’s see. . . We shouldn’t tax the wealthy so much, even though taxing the wealthy is how Geo Will’s teacher and police officer ultimately get to keep their jobs.
Ari
.Taxation is not the first resort to raise revenue.It is the last.Libs are one trick ponies.Tax tax tax the rich till there are no rich to tax.