Reply With Quote
Wonder if he's gonna wear this jacket when he goes through San Francisco, tbh...
Quelle Surprise! New York Times Takes Up Empty Threats by Rich Over Taxes
The New York Times comes in on the side of the whining rich in a piece led, “Two-Tax Rise Tests Wealthy in California.” It starts by depicting how hard pressed the wealthy are in California because they pay higher income taxes than in any other state in the US, and are also being hit by Federal “tax-the-rich” levies. Funny how there’s no mention of increased taxes on middle class folk, namely the increase in regressive payroll taxes and coming benefits cuts in Medicare and Social Security. Nor do we see a word of how many of the top rich are private equity or venture capital fund managers, and already organize their lives to have virtually all of their labor income subject to capital gains treatment. If the Times could be bothered to talk about effective income tax rates, as opposed to marginal tax rates, it would puncture the pretense that the rich are being abused.
It isn’t until paragraph 12 that we are finally told the thesis of the article is likely all wet:
Some of those earners seem at least resigned to the tax burden as a cost of being able to live in California rather than, say, Texas.
“I am happy to pay my taxes, whatever they are: no problem with me,” said David Geffen, the entertainment mogul, who owns estates on the oceanfront in Malibu and on the hedge-lined streets of Beverly Hills. He said he thought it could hurt the business climate, but added, “I don’t think anybody of means is really going to move because of it.”
Notice how the lead in misrepresents the quote? Geffen isn’t “resigned” which implies resentful; he is HAPPY to pay taxes, meaning he accepts them as the price of civilization and recognizes that he is rich enough that they don’t make a dent
in his lifestyle. And he says even the resentful aren’t going anywhere.
The next bit confirms that the most the rich are likely to do is grouse:
Cristobal Young, an assistant professor of sociology with the Center on Poverty and Inequality at Stanford, conducted a study last fall that concluded that tax rates had little effect on where millionaires choose to live.
Mr. Young said he suspected that few, if any, millionaires would leave or stay away because of the tax increase. More likely, he said, they would find ways of reducing their tax burden, with loopholes or income avoidance, or simply reduce their work.
Reader DK provided a good shred:
What’s with journalists named ‘Adam’ … here’s a truly ridiculous NYTimes article by Adam Nagourney:
It’s a sort of People magazine piece: ZOMG! What are they doing to the wealthy now!! Isn’t it fun to watch how desperate tax grabs from the top 1% trigger musical chairs of moving out of high tax states, tax evasion, reducing work load and so forth. And, we can even quote economists about this!!
Oh, yes, we’ll make sure to have ‘balance’ in our story. “Some” people say that actually moving out of California is too severe an overreaction. But, they’ll never be able to prove it isn’t happening because, Adam tells us, these things are devilishly hard to track! (Good thing for Adam: never let any empiricism get in the way of a juicy story grounded in rumors!).
The entire article is of, by and for the wealthy. Not a word about whether/how raising taxes at the top affects the economy, affects investment, helps fund stabilizers such as government programs, jobs and safety net measures. No, none of that when you have a brilliant, proven Governor such as Rick Perry begging California millionaires to experience the liberty of Texas (and the “Adam-envying” sycophants at CNN trolling for first hand accounts of wealthy Americans put out and pissed off about these infringements on their ‘liberty’).
Really, one wonders just why Adam Nagourney is so happy being a court jester? Do he and Adam Davidson have matching costumes? Because clearly they are dancing to the same music and choreography.
Brace yourselves. We are only going to hear more kvetching from the rich for being asked to take a wee dose of the austerity medicine they are all too happy to force on the middle class and poor.
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/...wcEL0vDd2cF.99
Wonder if he's gonna wear this jacket when he goes through San Francisco, tbh...
We can only hope. lolWonder if he's gonna wear this jacket when he goes through San Francisco, tbh...
I would think so. Destined to be popular with the locals, plus he needs something with enough pockets to hold all those checks from the Texas Enterprise Fund he'll be offering up.Wonder if he's gonna wear this jacket when he goes through San Francisco, tbh...
Hopefully someone asks how Texas' Medical Marijuana plan is working.
Michigan Medical Marijuana Program Nets $6.3M To State
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/02/08/1561551/michigan-medical-marijuana-program-nets-63m-to-state/
Even extreme fringe Repug VA is closer than TX will ever be
GOP Virginia Attorney General Open To Pot Legalization
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/201...-legalization/
About the only way TX goes mj is if RickyBobby give a mj TX monopoly to one of his rich buddies, like he did with cancer research.
Rick Perry bringing gay businesses to Texas would be awesome for so many reasons.Wonder if he's gonna wear this jacket when he goes through San Francisco, tbh...
This reminds me of US policy from the 19th century. Refuse to invest outside of elites domestically and take other people's elsewhere. Except today we cannot go and control and con places like Singapore, China and Cuba or just straight up steal from Spain and Mexico so we feed at the expense of our own family. If I were from California I would have to look at Perry not as only a moron but also as a first rate head.
I think one thing that IS a valid comparison is that California managed to balance its budget.
The two states might be hard to fully compare, but either you can balance things or not.
Contrary To GOP Rhetoric, Low-Tax States Have Worse Economic Growth
In reality, states that levy personal income taxes, including the states with the highest top rates, have seen more economic growth per capita and less decline in their median income level over the last ten years than the nine states that do not tax income. Unemployment rates have been nearly identical across states with and without income taxes.
– Four of the nine states without income taxes are actually doing worse than the average state in regards to economic growth per capita: Texas, Tennessee, Florida, and Nevada.
– Five of the nine states without income taxes are doing worse than average in terms of median income growth: New Hampshire, Florida, Tennessee, Alaska, and Nevada.
– Six of the nine states without income taxes had higher than average annual unemployment rates over the last decade: Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Washington, Alaska, and Nevada.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/201...tes-no-growth/
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
