Stephen King: Tax Me, for F@%&’s Sake!

patbb

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/30/stephen-king-tax-me-for-f-s-sake.html

Chris Christie may be fat, but he ain’t Santa Claus. In fact, he seems unable to decide if he is New Jersey’s governor or its caporegime, and it may be a comment on the coarsening of American discourse that his brash rudeness is often taken for charm. In February, while discussing New Jersey’s newly amended income-tax law, which allows the rich to pay less (proportionally) than the middle class, Christie was asked about Warren Buffett’s observation that he paid less federal income taxes than his personal secretary, and that wasn’t fair. “He should just write a check and shut up,” Christie responded, with his typical verve. “I’m tired of hearing about it. If he wants to give the government more money, he’s got the ability to write a check—go ahead and write it.”

Heard it all before. At a rally in Florida (to support collective bargaining and to express the socialist view that firing teachers with experience was sort of a bad idea), I pointed out that I was paying taxes of roughly 28 percent on my income. My question was, “How come I’m not paying 50?” The governor of New Jersey did not respond to this radical idea, possibly being too busy at the all-you-can-eat cheese buffet at Applebee’s in Jersey City, but plenty of other people of the Christie persuasion did.

Cut a check and shut up, they said.

If you want to pay more, pay more, they said.

Tired of hearing about it, they said.

Tough shit for you guys, because I’m not tired of talking about it. I’ve known rich people, and why not, since I’m one of them? The majority would rather douse their dicks with lighter fluid, strike a match, and dance around singing “Disco Inferno” than pay one more cent in taxes to Uncle Sugar. It’s true that some rich folks put at least some of their tax savings into charitable contributions. My wife and I give away roughly $4 million a year to libraries, local fire departments that need updated lifesaving equipment (Jaws of Life tools are always a popular request), schools, and a scattering of organizations that underwrite the arts. Warren Buffett does the same; so does Bill Gates; so does Steven Spielberg; so do the Koch brothers; so did the late Steve Jobs. All fine as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go far enough.

What charitable 1 percenters can’t do is assume responsibility—America’s national responsibilities: the care of its sick and its poor, the education of its young, the repair of its failing infrastructure, the repayment of its staggering war debts. Charity from the rich can’t fix global warming or lower the price of gasoline by one single red penny. That kind of salvation does not come from Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Ballmer saying, “OK, I’ll write a $2 million bonus check to the IRS.” That annoying responsibility stuff comes from three words that are anathema to the Tea Partiers: United American citizenry.

continued on the website
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/30/stephen-king-tax-me-for-f-s-sake.html

person

...I guess some of this mad right-wing love comes from the idea that in America, anyone can become a Rich Guy if he just works hard and saves his pennies. Mitt Romney has said, in effect, “I’m rich and I don’t apologize for it.” Nobody wants you to, Mitt. What some of us want—those who aren’t blinded by a lot of bullshit persiflage thrown up to mask the idea that rich folks want to keep their damn money—is for you to acknowledge that you couldn’t have made it in America without America. That you were fortunate enough to be born in a country where upward mobility is possible (a subject upon which Barack Obama can speak with the authority of experience), but where the channels making such upward mobility possible are being increasingly clogged...

This. ^^

There is this idea that if you get rich its solely by your own hard work and talent. There's no acknowledgement of the public sector, in terms of infrastructure, the people educated in public education, the security of public law enforcement and fire protection, among other things.

Whats great about America is that anyone can make a better life for themselves. This isn't some quality baked into the soil of the country, it has a cause and that cause is a society that helps its people succeed.

The right wing has turned opposition of the social safety net into opposition to the social infrastructure that allows people to get ahead.

Also there needs to be a short witty comeback for the "If he wants higher taxes, then he should cut a check" phrase. It totally lacks the notion of cooperative effort but if the meme is to be rebuffed there needs to be a simple soundbite that does it.

Mountains

When did paying taxes, which is a duty and a requirement of citizenship in a civilized (purportedly) society, become a dirty word? Honestly, the way things are going, the right seems bent on eliminating taxes. I've taken pains to point out to more than one teabagger that the Boston Tea Party was not about abolishing taxes (much less the government), it was about taxation without representation. Well, we now have representative government (more or less), but that's not good enough for them. They're so effing greedy and selfish that they want to eliminate all taxes, and with them more or less the entire federal government. They're quick to glorify all things military, and to tell you that serving is honorable and the right thing to do. Wonder who's going to pay for those uniforms, ships, tanks, airplanes, and high tech missiles when you've eliminated the federal government? Your militia?

I just don't get it. I don't particularly like to pay taxes any more than anyone else. But I understand that paying one's fair share is simply the cost of living in a civilized country that has things like public education, roads, airports, garbage collection, etc, etc, etc.

Telly03

Im with the right in that taxes shouldn't be raised at a time when we should be encouraging new businesses to create much needed jobs... But with the left in that we all need to pay our share. I bet it would be mind boggling how much money would be generated if the loopholes afforded only to the rich were closed.

AMH

I love Stephen King. Really. He says things so well. It is not about all of us wanting to be rich (just like we all did NOT want to be in the popular group in school), but is about everyone paying a fair share.

I wouldn't do the jobs the super rich do, I love what I do, but then again I want to be a little comfortable. And many of the people I work with (part of our program is federal grant money) need assistance in housing or food or child care. So full time working in programs that mean there are hundreds of kids with a safe place to go after school and we cannot be off assistance ourselves. So what makes sense about that?

Okay that is my personal soap box