Rick Perry Wants To Widen the Income Gap

Rick Perry's proposed flat tax plan would, not surprisingly, provide large tax breaks for those in the highest income brackets. This is clear in an analysis provided by the New York Times Economix Blog. Here is the chart summarizing the effects on taxes paid by different income groups:

The last column on the right is the taxes paid or refund under the current system. The next column to the left is for Perry's 20 percent flat tax plan. The blue shaded figures are the most advantageous plan for each income group. For every household type, the highest income group fares best with the Perry plan.

What is most disturbing is Perry's answer when asked about the increase in income inequality that his tax plan would create: "I don't care about that." In other words, he isn't even going to go through the motions of pretending to care about poor and working-class families.

Class Warfare

It was amusing to hear the Republicans start screaming about "class warfare" when President Obama released the details of his jobs plan recently. The plan, of course, includes the so-called "Buffett Rule" which would require the obscenely extremely wealthy to pay a minimum tax rate on all of their income, to ensure that they pay at least the same rate as those of more modest means.

This morning Buffett gave an interview that many on the right have misinterpreted as indicated that he disagrees with the Obama jobs plan. What he actually did was decline to make a comment on the jobs package as a whole, which he hasn't studied in depth. But he clearly stood by the idea, which he has endorsed before, that huge amounts of investment income should be taxed at a higher rate, to ensure that wealthy investors pay at least the same tax rate as their secretaries.

In that same interview this morning, Buffett made a statement that has been conveniently ignored by conservatives: "Actually, there’s been class warfare going on for the last 20 years, and my class has won. We’re the ones that have gotten our tax rates reduced dramatically." He goes on to point out that since 1992, the average income of the 400 wealthiest Americans has more than quintupled, while the percentage of income that those same 400 pay in taxes has dropped from 29  to 21 percent.

Buffett has, of course, been ostracized as a traitor by many of his peers among the super-rich. Yesterday Rick Perry criticized him for being out of touch, saying that Buffett doesn't "have an understanding about what's going on out there in the real world."  I prefer to see Mr. Buffett as a courageous, patriotic American who has placed the interests of his country as a whole before his own purely financial interests.

Class warfare is real. It has been going on for years now as a campaign waged by the super-rich and their lackeys in government, against the workers, the unemployed, the elderly, the immigrants, the disadvantaged of America. So far, the super-rich have won. Hopefully, the war is not over.

Who are the most credible advocates for raising taxes on the super-rich?

The super-rich, of course.

Warren Buffett, one of the most ethical human beings in America, argues in the New York Times for a tax increase on himself and his peers. It's a shame that most of those at the top of the income bracket don't share Buffett's sense of philanthropy and social responsibility.

Best line from the article:

These and other blessings are showered upon us by legislators in Washington who feel compelled to protect us, much as if we were spotted owls or some other endangered species. It’s nice to have friends in high places.