Sticking it to those Evil Rich

[GarMan]

It seems that The O'Bama's plans are doing exactly what he wants... STIFFLING PRODUCTIVITY. 

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/story?id=6975547&page=1

Upper-Income Taxpayers Look for Ways to Sidestep Obama Tax-Hike Plan
President Would Slap More Taxes on Those Who Make Over $250K to Fund Health Care
By EMILY FRIEDMAN
March 2, 2009

President Barack Obama's tax proposal – which promises to increase taxes for those families with incomes of $250,000 or more -- has some Americans brainstorming ways to decrease their pay, even if it's just by a dollar.

A 63-year-old attorney based in Lafayette, La., who asked not to be named, told ABCNews.com that she plans to cut back on her business to get her annual income under the quarter million mark should the Obama tax plan be passed by Congress and become law.

So far, Obama's tax plan is being looked at skeptically by both Democrats and Republicans and therefore may not pass at all.

"We are going to try to figure out how to make our income $249,999.00," she said.

"We have to find a way out where we can make just what we need to just under the line so we can benefit from Obama's tax plan," she added. "Why kill yourself working if you're going to give it all away to people who aren't working as hard?"

The attorney says that in order to decrease her income she'll have to let go of clients, some of whom she's been counseling for more than a decade.

"This means I'll have to tell some of my clients we can't help them and being more selective in general about who we help," she said. "I hate to do it."

Obama's budget proposal calls for $989 billion in new taxes over the next 10 years, most of which will be earned from increased taxes on individuals who make more than $200,000 and from families who make more than $250,000.

The expiration of the Bush administration's tax cuts at the end of 2010 would garner an estimated $338 billion, $179 billion would come from the elimination of some itemized deductions for higher-income taxpayers and $118 billion would be brought in from a hike in the capital gains tax. The remaining $353 billion would come from taxes on businesses.

Dr. Sharon Poczatek, who runs her own dental practice in Boulder, Colo., said that she too is trying to figure out ways to get out of paying the taxes proposed in Obama's plan.

"I've put thought into how to get under $250,000," said Poczatek. "It would mean working fewer days which means having fewer employees, seeing fewer patients and taking time off."

"Generally it means being less productive," she said.

"The motivation for a lot of people like me – dentists, entrepreneurs, lawyers – is that the more you work the more money you make," said Poczatek. "But if I'm going to be working just to give it back to the government -- it's de-motivating and demoralizing."
...

[Tarheel]

It seems that The O'Bama's plans are doing exactly what he wants... STIFFLING PRODUCTIVITY. 

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/story?id=6975547&page=1

Great article.

Of course, the easiest thing for these folk to do is to become Democrats socialists and not pay their taxes at all.  That seems to be modus operandi of that political party.

[Tarheel]

While you're on this subject, GarMan, I thought that this article by Dick Morris and his wife was appropriate to this thread.  I was going to post a new topic but it really fits well here.

I've been saying all along that this new president is trying his damn sure best to destroy wealth in this country.  Dick Morris (who I don't always agree with) has done a decent job explaining that same concept.

This if from the evil New York Post, as usual all emphasis is my own:

WAGING WAR ON PROSPERITY
By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN

March 3, 2009 --

PRESIDENT Lyndon John son's administration was known for his War on Poverty. President Obama's will become notable for his War on Prosperity.

We're speaking, of course, of Obama's plans to hike income taxes on the most wealthy 2 or 3 percent of the nation. He's not just raising the top rate to 39.6 percent; he's also disallowing about one-third of top earner's deductions, whether for state and local taxes, charitable contributions or mortgage interest. This is an effective hike in their taxes by an average of about 20 percent.

And soon the next shoe will drop - he'll announce that he's keeping yet another of his campaign promises: to apply the full payroll tax to all income over $250,000 a year. (Right now, the 15.3 percent Social Security tax only applies to the first $106,800 of income - you neither pay the tax on income above that, nor accumulate added benefit.) For many taxpayers in this bracket, this hike will raise their total taxes by about half.

Finally, he's declaring war on investors by raising the capital-gains-tax rate to 20 percent.
These increases are politically insignificant: The top 2 percent of the nation casts only about 4 percent of the votes, barely enough to attract the notice of even the most meticulous pollsters.

But they have enormous economic significance. Those who earn more than $200,000 pay almost 60 percent of America's income taxes and account for a third of its total disposable income. If these spenders and investors are hunkering down, waiting for the revenuers to beat down their doors, their confidence will be anything but robust. Their spending will drop; they'll be unlikely to invest (except in new tax shelters).

Franklin Roosevelt's presidency was marked by an emphasis on recovery in his first term and class warfare (which he called "reform") in his second. Campaigning for re-election in 1936, FDR famously declared, "I should like to have it said of my first administration that in it the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match. I would like to have it said of my second administration that in it these forces met their master."

Obama seems to have skipped the first-term FDR program and jumped right into the class divisions and warfare of the second.

But the president would do well to remember that Roosevelt's assault on the rich led directly to the recession of 1937-39 - when unemployment soared back up to 19 percent. (It was brought down only by World War II.)

Obama must realize that his tax hikes will dampen investment and consumer spending and prolong and deepen the economy's woes - this is presumably why he's postponing most tax hikes until 2011. But taxpayers, particularly wealthy taxpayers, are not dumb: They'll know what's coming, and look to secure the hatches in advance by sitting on their money.

But then, Obama must also realize that his stimulus package, with its massive growth of government, is going to kindle huge inflation in coming years. And he surely realizes that he can't expand government health insurance as massively as he intends introducing rationing of medical services.

He must know, but not care.

Here is a president who would rather redistribute income than create wealth. He thinks it more important to grow government than to fight inflation. He believes that it is crucial to expand health care to the young and middle aged, even if it means cutting it back for the elderly. He's more committed to effecting "broad change" in his first term than he is to winning a second one.

We have a president, in short, who will stand on his principles. Unfortunately, they're bad ones.

The link:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03032009/postopinion/opedcolumnists/waging_war_on_prosperity_157758.htm

[RWS]

I swear, I don't even want to watch the news anymore. I was watching Fox News this morning getting ready for work and I just couldn't believe some of this shit. I make between $32k-$35k a year. It really doesn't bother me if some fucker out there is making $50 hojillion dollars a year. Sure, I think he should have to pay more in taxes than I do, simply because he makes more. But, I still think it should be fair how he is taxed. I don't think its fair to target the wealthy specifically, especially when they are the least likely to use government programs or assistance. I also don't think the people using these programs should be taxed out the ass for using the programs either. Obviously, they can't afford it because they are being assisted in one way or another.

So, how do we fix this? Lets get a little better control of the programs the government manages, and lets not piss away money. There is no telling how many people get food stamps who are truly undeserving. I can't imagine how much money you could save out of that program alone, just by a better applicant screening process. Hell, look at the public housing program. In Mobile alone, this morning the police went and knocked on the doors of 25 different people in two separate public housing complexes to serve outstanding warrants. How about we tell people if they can't follow the law, or if they decide to get in trouble and not show up to court, then fuck off and find your own housing. We can't rely on one tax bracket to carry the country. Its not fair, and imho, goes against everything America was built on.