That, apparently, is what the Republican Party believes, including the most prominent conservatives in Vermont. Because in spite of their anti-tax rhetoric, they would really, really like to raise taxes on the poor and working class.
Sheesh. And they accuse liberals of engaging in class warfare.
I’ve reported the following comments before in this space, but I think they deserve to be spotlighted. Especially since they are part of a nationwide trend.
First, Bruce Lisman of the allegedly nonpartisan (but clearly conservative) Campaign for Vermont. This is from a 2010 speech in Burlington, previously documented here.
“The taxpaying base is quite thin. Because of the progressive nature of it, there’s a cutoff that excludes more than 50% of potential taxpayers from paying taxes. My view: I think everyone is either in the enterprise or they’re not. You’d want everyone to pay something in.”
That’s double mendacity, but we’ll come back to Cousin Brucie. Right now, we turn to presumptive Republican gubernatorial candidate Randy Brock, from the Issues page of his website:
Simplify the tax code and even the load by making sure everyone pays at least something.
That’s right: what Vermont needs is higher taxes for its poorest residents. And these aren’t just one-off, throw-away comments; they are part of a national pattern, as documented on Friday’s Rachel Maddow Show. Republicans nationwide, as well as in Vermont, are loudly and broadly putting forth the idea that Poor People Need To Pay More Taxes.
Republicans across the country, including Mitt Romney, are complaining about the fact that 47% — or maybe 50%, or 51%, or 53% — of all Americans are not paying income taxes. That statement is technically true but fundamentally misleading, and Republicans know that. Sometimes they get sloppy, like Bruce Lisman, and simplify it to “not paying taxes,” which is completely false.
After the jump: The truth about taxes.
On the federal level, low-income Americans don’t pay income taxes because of deductions and the Earned Income Tax Credit — which is designed to encourage people to work, by allowing them to keep more of their meager paychecks*. But they still have to pay payroll taxes, including Social Security and Medicare. Those taxes hit low-income people proportionately harder.
*And here I thought Republicans wanted poor people to get off their duffs and work.
On the state level, the poorest Vermonters don’t pay income taxes — but they still pay property and sales taxes. Sales taxes hit them proportionately hard, because more of their income goes into buying the necessities of life.
Want some facts? According to a 2009 report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Vermont’s tax system is one of the least regressive in the nation. Meaning we give poor and working people a fairer deal than almost every other state. ITEP used figures from 2007, the newest available figures at the time, and found that — yes indeed — the bottom 20% of Vermonters paid no income tax. They actually received money back. And the next 20% paid only a fraction of a percent in income tax.
But even so, the poorest 20% paid a total of just over 8% of their income in total state and local taxes. The next 20% paid almost exactly 8% of income. For them, sales taxes took the biggest bite. The top 5% of all Vermonters paid about 7.5% of their incomes in local and state taxes. According to ITEP, everybody in Vermont pays roughly the same percentage of their income in state and local taxes. (The middle 20% are actually the hardest it, at about 9.4%). And the poor, proportionately, pay more than the rich.
So Randy Brock, Bruce Lisman, and all those other Republicans are lying about poor people and taxes.
Let’s say that again, all caps: THEY ARE LYING.
Why are they doing this? It’s one of the most reprehensible of Republican tactics: trying to spark middle-class resentment against the poor. Yep, class warfare.
And, looking at the big picture for a moment, this is one more sign that Randy Brock is running a hard-right, tea party-style campaign. He has claimed that Peter Shumlin is the most liberal governor in Vermont history, which is balderdash. But the way he’s going, Randy Brock may be the most conservative gubernatorial candidate in state history.
is that the poor are already “taxed” to the max by things like sales tax, to which they tend to be far more vulnerable because of their inability to take advantage of the kind of economies of scale that are available to those of greater means.
Not to mention the fact that all those wealthy Americans who are benefitting most from the U.S. economy are deriving much of that benefit from an indentured class of captive consumers who will never have the multiple opportunities to negotiate themselves a better deal on the cost of living that are available only to the wealthy.
from up around the corner at me when I hear Lisman say this:
What’s next-Voting is for income taxpayers only? Not enough “skin” in the game no vote.
let’s leave aside the absurd attack on the working poor and think for just a moment about the elderly
are Lisman and friends actually suggesting that retirees on tiny fixed incomes should have some “skin” in the game? I guess Mr. Lisman has forgotten that the elderly raised us and worked and paid taxes all their lives; does that qualify as “skin”?
and on this day in particular, let’s not forget that quite a few of them served in the military and others are widowed having lost their spouses in combat; is Mr. Lisman suggesting that low-income Americans like this have no “skin” in the game?!
it almost makes me physically ill to read this stuff
these rich folks need to look at what their income tax buys them. A (relatively) stable currency, laws that allow them to enforce payment of bills and invoices, public safety – including police to protect them from thievery and kidnapping – (ask the rich folk in Mexico how important that is) – just for starters.
Folks like Lisman that take a “rake” off of financial transactions are especially dependent on government rules and regulations – their businesses wouldn’t exist without the rules and laws that protect, regulate, and – due to financial industry lobbying – manipulate the movement of capital. There has been no imagination or innovation in the financial industry since the ATM – other than ‘repacking’ old scams and Ponzi-type schemes. Let’s face it – folks like Lisman add NOTHING to the public weal. In fact, supporting their parasitism is strangling our economy.
Be careful, rich folk. Louis XVI might have kept his head if not for his stinginess. Social Darwinism can bite back, and bite back hard.
A simultaneous attack. Turn what little is left of the middle class against the poor by attacking the poor, while continuing the decades-long plan to crush the middle class into the ranks of the poor.
That is the Republican Way.
Which is why I will never, ever be a Republican.
wants everyone to have some skin in the game. Great.
So lets have mandatory military, peace corp, or stateside civilian conservation core type service programs*. This is for after high school and before you start college. Skin in the game, real skin, the kind that can get abraded from hard work or shredded from shrapnel.
Completion of the program makes you eligible for tuition reimbursements at any state college of your choice, and if the grades are there – you can apply that to any private school as well. When you aren’t building bridges, shooting people, or setting up water purification equipment – you’ll have a military grade satellite connection to tutors and materials for college prep – video chat, sample entrance tests, coaching on your essays, etc. This will give an aspiring high school grad some time to focus their priorities, experiment with various ‘jobs’, and give them some real world focus.
For those not interested in college, you can elect to stay in the military, or take on technical skills training in areas that you may have found interesting or enjoyable – solar energy technology, computer tech, construction, etc.
*Note that in time of war (not ‘declared war’, since we don’t do that anymore), only the military service will be an option. There will be no option to ‘opt out’, no philosophical or religious exemptions. If you are opposed for any reason, you still serve – but you’ll be doing a support role (medical or mental health, chaplain, etc., or on the crew that unloads and drapes flags on dead bodies at Dover.)
Luck of the draw will determine what lot you get in (life) and in this program. No silver spoons, or favors from daddy’s friend who was a general or mommy’s ex boyfriend who is a politician. Sorry Mr. Cheney – you can hone you shooting skills at the range and in combat. Feel free to take off to Singapore with your billions if you want. Good riddance.
Assuming that this would ever go into effect, it would be a quick turnaround on our perpetual war economy. As soon as rich and middle class white kids come home in any significant number – things will change. All of the sudden we’d have some serious cash to spend on education, skills training, health care, etc. etc. And perhaps devote the better part of our brainpower and resources on improving the lives of our fellow earth dwellers, using our vast resources and knowledge to develop steady state systems for producing energy, moving to sustainable agricultural models, cleaning up our air and water, and generally making the good ole US of A (and the planet in general), the tidiest, pretties, coolest place to live, hang out, raise a family, and spend one’s limited lifetime.