Democrats: Say, Let’s Exempt Rich People in Blue States From Tax Hike!
Posted by Guest Contributor on Wednesday, August 4, 2010, 6:50 PM
-By Warner Todd Huston
If this doesn’t exemplify the left’s propensity to act in the mode of for-thee-but-not-me, nothing does. The Wall Street Journal (by way of the Wash. Examiner’s Mark Hemingway) reports that at least one Democrat has suddenly realized that when the Bush tax cuts fade away his state will be hit by a massive tax hike on the same rich people that donate to his election campaign.
The Journal notes that the “irony” of the tax increase coming on January 1 is that the bluest states will be hardest hit. New York, California, Connecticut, and New Jersey will be hit pretty hard and this poses a “problem” for those pro-tax Democrats that will suddenly find rich constituents who will be angry about the new hit on their income.
But, Representative Jerrold Nadler (D, NY) has come up with the perfect solution. Nadler wants to pass a law that exempts his rich constituents and those of other taxpayers in areas with a higher cost of living, i.e. other Democrats. The Journal reveals that Nadler’s new law would “require the IRS to adjust tax brackets proportionally in regions where the average cost of living is higher than the national average.”
In other words, the various tax brackets would apply to residents in certain regions at higher income levels versus other parts of the country. A family with an income of $50,000 or even $1 million in Manhattan would pay less federal income tax than a family with the same earnings in Omaha. The bill is called the Tax Equity Act, but a more accurate title would be the Blue State Tax Preference Act.
Imagine that, eh? A Democrat that wants the coming tax hike to affect only Republican states. Who wudda thunk it?
The Journal also reminds us of exactly why it is that these Democrat strongholds have such a higher cost of living: taxes.
A big reason the cost of living is so high in Boston, Manhattan and San Francisco is because of high state and local taxes, union work rules, and heavy business regulation that make it more expensive to produce, sell and buy things.
So, let’s review. Unions and high taxes from both the state and the city governments — not to mention the federal government — makes living in these Democrat strongholds more expensive, all things that Democrats are responsible for creating. Yet Democrat Nadler wants the very people that created the high taxes and their voters to get a break while the people smart enough not to vote in politicians that cause everyone’s cost of living to soar are supposed to pick up the bill.
Yep, that sounds like a Democrat, doesn’t it? Make rules to “help” people, but make sure other people pay the costs of this “helping.”
No wonder the scariest phrase in the English language is “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
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