Michigan Sen. Carl Levin (right), a Democrat and the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is arguing that wealthy taxpayers should perhaps shoulder
the cost of sending additional troops in Afghanistan.
In an interview for Bloomberg Television's "Political Capital With Al Hunt," the senator suggests funding additional troops with an "additional income tax to the upper brackets, folks earning more than $200,000 or $250,000."
The problem, of course, is that President Obama already wants to let the Bush tax cuts expire on the wealthiest. That would put them at 39.6%. Then, Harry Reid wants to add a sur tax on the really wealthy to pay for health care reform. President Obama wants to remove tax credits for the rich only. Now, the Democrats want to pay for the war by taxing the rich.
The rich aren't stupid and their pockets aren't endless. You can't continue to tax them for every spending program you come up with. The problem here is that the Democrats have a lot of spending programs they want to implement. Those cost money. They don't want to tax anyone but the rich. You can go to that well once, maybe twice, but after that the well is dry.
In the real world, the so called rich have options. They usually figure out a way to avoid paying taxes. That's especially true when the taxes are punishing. After the Democrats are done, the so called rich will have 60% of their income taken away in some states, like Cali and New York where the income tax approaches 10%. No one will pay that willingly. They will avoid it at all costs.
This latest scheme will wind up being as effective as all tax the rich schemes, not very. In fact, it isn't really all that effective politically either. People aren't stupid. They can see that when politicians get addicted to spending, it's their own taxes that are next. Democrats can't hide from what they are, tax and spend. They're coming for your taxes soon.
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