Taxes and Deficits
Tax cuts, deficits. Tax cuts, budget cuts. Tax cuts, service cuts. Could there be a connection?
Funny how there’s so much hand wringing about lack of money for public services yet so little talk about raising taxes. This is basic accounting — money in, money out — but powerful interests are intensely focused on the general populace NOT making the simple connection. That disconnect is a testament to the power that advertising and propaganda hold over the collective herd.
13 August 1981
The dynamics at play here have been well enumerated by Grover Norquist over the years: starve government by cutting taxes, then eliminate public services. We’re now well into the second, painful part of that plan. They like to call it “austerity,” like it’s good for us. But don’t be fooled, this medicine only works for sociopathic greedheads like the Kochs.
The pathetic part is that America had this figured out long ago. Under FDR the country made great strides toward an egalitarian state. After a couple decades of those New Deal policies, the United States boasted the largest middle class ever seen. But selfish greed, hiding behind the twisted mask of Ronald Reagan, crept back in, and since then money (and power) have been rushing back to the top (to the exclusion of everyone else).
A look at the top tax rates over the past century is interesting, particularly the volatility. In 1929, at the advent of the Great Depression, the top tax rate (on income over $100,000) was 24%. By 1945, the end of FDR’s run, it was up to 94% (over $200,000). The next two decades were extremely stable, such that in 1963 the rate was still at 91% (over $400,000). But once Reagan was finished, in 1988, the top percentage was back down to 28%, with the maximum amount set at a ridiculous $30,000! The dark cloud of Me-first now covered the land.
Fast forward to 2011, where Obama tells us we’re stuck with Bushy’s cushy top rate of 35% (over $370,000). Combine that with the decimation of the estate tax, throw in countless loopholes and exceptions favoring extreme wealth, and the current tax code is a regressive shambles. This is the Norquistian dream come true, and until a majority of Americans admit they were duped by a greedy few, and come together against that faction, the nightmare will continue.
Don’t be afraid to tax the rich! It’s Robin Hood time in America.
7 June 2001