Why does GOP want to protect tax cheats?
Riddle me this, Batman:
If it’s pointed out that a family of four making $40,000 a year pays no federal income taxes, many conservatives tend to get upset that the family isn’t paying their fair share like the rest of us.
On the other hand, if it’s pointed out that a multi-millionaire or billionaire pays no federal income tax, the reaction is to applaud his or her accountant for successfully cheating the government.
If a corporation is reported to have avoided paying corporate taxes, the reaction is again applause, under the thesis that corporations shouldn’t have to pay taxes anyway.
But if that corporation in question is General Electric, its ability to pay little or no taxes is cited as an outrageous scandal that must be addressed and investigated. (By the way, the company just announced a 77 percent increase in first quarter profits.)
And of course, as part of its demands to end the budget standoff earlier this month, the GOP demanded and got $600 million in cuts from the IRS budget. As John Berry in the Fiscal Times noted in March:
IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman told a House subcommittee last week that such a budget cut over just six months likely would reduce federal revenues by $4 billion. The IRS “would need to make substantial cuts to its enforcement programs,” he said.
In other words, cut spending by $600 million, lose $4 billion in revenue and add $3.4 billion to the deficit
Of course, that’s $3.4 billion in revenue over six months that the government is already owed, under existing tax law. The GOP is in effect protecting criminals, pulling cops off the beat to ensure that those breaking the law are not caught. And remember, the money not paid by scofflaws must be paid by somebody else. Back in 2001, the most recent year for which estimates are available, almost $300 billion in taxes owed went uncollected.
But again, if the people owing those taxes are poor or middle class, that is presumably a scandal. If the people owing those taxes are affluent business people, they are heroic Americans.
At least, if I understand these things correctly …
– Jay Bookman
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417 comments Add your comment
Southern Comfort (aka The Man)
April 21st, 2011
7:37 pm
LOL @ Paul
Fred
April 21st, 2011
7:38 pm
Paul
April 21st, 2011
6:01 pm
Fred
Okay, stipulating to that…. what would your reaction be if it were to occur that GE did not pay any taxes at some future point?
That’s the issue – peoples’ reactions.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Paul. I don’t do what if’s I do TRUTH. If my aunt had balls she would be my uncle.
Del
April 21st, 2011
7:39 pm
All of the anti-corporation folks and self described experts on business economics don’t have the foggiest notion as to how globalization changed corporate America. If they did they would be pointing fingers at the politicians instead of vilifying American business as the problem.
Mary Elizabeth
April 21st, 2011
7:40 pm
md @ 7:13
“Lift them up with where they can go, don’t keep them down by telling them the odds are they can’t succeed………..”
“I spent 35 years of my life “lifting them up.” I have previously described – in great detail – how I did that, and how my students, their parents, and my administrators were pleased with my efforts in behalf of my students – as well as students throughout the school.
—————————————————————————
“Life isn’t fair….or easy…….but giving one an out through excuses isn’t very teacher like.”
I never gave my students an “out through excuses.” I simply tried to see into them with as much depth and insight as I could muster. I encouraged them to do better; I did not condemn them.
—————————————————————–
“If I thought like you write, I’d still be poorer than dirt………..” Actually, I gave my students the verbal skills needed to compete in this world, and was thanked many times for doing so.
My energies and life force were spent in “lifting” others, not in accruing wealth. But, then, that is exactly what I wanted with my life. I have enough money to enjoy my life – in my own way. I never sought wealth. We all die one day, and – in the end – we remember the love we left, not the money we accrued. The Judd’s sang, “Love Can Build a Bridge.” I was a builder because I first loved.
——————————————————————————————
You continue to misunderstand my thinking, md. I think you are looking at my thoughts through stereotypical lens – if I may say so – to try to help you see my actual vision.
“
Left wing management
April 21st, 2011
7:40 pm
AmVet: “The end game for the non-conservative Republicans is for BIG business to pay zero federal income tax.”
Yep.
And they can blow up the financial system. They can even blow up the Gulf of Mexico. And is the question ever even asked whether limits should be set on their appetites? What we see instead is a ferocious campaign to divert and suppress any possibility of asking questions like these (see birtherism, Kenyan Socialist, etc.).
“They should pay their share for the bounty they enjoy and because of the ongoing corporate destruction of capitalism, to a gargantuan amount, they do not.”
And yet the question has to be asked, following Marx and others, whether this destructive potential wasn’t already contained in the thing itself, in capitalism. An open question perhaps, but an interesting one!
TaxPayer
April 21st, 2011
7:40 pm
Someone will believe it…..
So true.
Paul
April 21st, 2011
7:40 pm
Fred
So if you ever have kids, and they ask you “Dad, what would you think if I….”
You’d say “I’ll let you know when you do it, Suzie, ’cause I don’t do what if’s I do TRUTH. If my aunt had balls she would be my uncle”
Jay
April 21st, 2011
7:43 pm
“I don’t know anyone who thinks a family of 4 making $40k should be taxed, except maybe Obama.”
Really, Mighty Righty? So who are all these people on this blog complaining repeatedly that 45 percent of American households don’t pay taxes? Since the median household income in this country is $50,000 — meaning half earn more and half earn less — those complaints are EXACTLY aimed at those making $40,000 or less.
So if you don’t anybody who fits that description, I know dozens who post right here on this blog.
Tommy Maddox
April 21st, 2011
7:43 pm
I didn’t know Charlie Rangle was a Republican.
Southern Comfort (aka The Man)
April 21st, 2011
7:44 pm
Del
I think they are both equally liable for the situation we’re in. Legislators only enacted laws that they were lobbied to enact. It wasn’t you or I who lobbied for these laws, it was those who had the money to pay for the influence.
Mighty Righty
April 21st, 2011
7:46 pm
Bragging about Jimmy Carter will make people think you are not bright. Poor Jimmy claimed to be a nucleur physicist and he couldn’t pronounce the word nucleur. It was really sad to watch. The main thing that Jimmy will be remembered for is he brought the Republican party back from the dead. After Nixon, the Republicans couldn’t elect a dog catcher. But after four years of old Jimmy the people had enough of the Democrats. If Obama doesn’t get his sh-t togeather soon, it will be another blood bath.
Doggone/GA
April 21st, 2011
7:48 pm
“he couldn’t pronounce the word nucleur”
From he who cannot spell nucleAr
AmVet
April 21st, 2011
7:52 pm
Righty, so your biggest specific complaint about Carter was his accent?
That’s the totality of your complaint?
Alriiiighty then…
…claimed to be a nucleur physicist…
Perhaps he could at least spell it correctly.
BTW, though you won’t like it, read anyway about his post-Naval Academy days in the early days of commanding US Navy nuclear submarines.
He was everything your beloved chickenhawks weren’t…
Mary Elizabeth
April 21st, 2011
7:52 pm
There is a documentary on public television this evening about Alexander Hamilton – speaking of money – at 9 p.m.
Paul
April 21st, 2011
7:52 pm
Dang, I go away to get some salami and cheese, come back and read Jay’s 7:43 and think Mighty’s gonna have a response ’cause it’s been ten minutes, but noooooo.
evenin’, Doggone/GA
Project still taxing your time?
Doggone/GA
April 21st, 2011
7:55 pm
Evenin’ Paul…Yep project keeping me busy. We’re trying to bring something like 400 applications into our organization to provision and maintain the user base to ensure people have the access they need, and those that don’t need it don’t have it. Going to be a long term project, no doubt! And it was VERY taxing today!
Paul
April 21st, 2011
7:57 pm
Doggone/GA
Well, I hope your superiors give you the support and backup you need. That can sometimes be the biggest problem.
Good little liberal
April 21st, 2011
7:59 pm
Pretty sad, Jay.
Which conservatives have been applauding tax cheats? Maybe I’ve just never seen it. I sure have seen you libs defending the insurance company profits and the actions of GE.
Sounds a tad desperate. And pal, you have almost two full years to go. How desperate will you be in 2012?
Mighty Righty
April 21st, 2011
8:02 pm
Jay, half of the people don’t pay taxes. The probltem I have is not that they don’t pay taxes, but that our government wants the other half to pay the freight for the whole damn country while much of the expense is non essential. I know we can argue about what is essential and we will disagree. Your side prefers to kill people rather than cut out NPR funding, my side prefers to do away with the Department of Education rather than take anymore of our money to subsidize failed programs. It’s less about who is being taxed than it is what the money goes for.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
April 21st, 2011
8:03 pm
Ensign resigns effect 5.3, not waiting til the end of his term
md
April 21st, 2011
8:04 pm
“I don’t know anyone who thinks a family of 4 making $40k should be taxed, except maybe Obama.”
I’ll raise my hand……….I think we should all pay tax…..we all live here.
Good little liberal
April 21st, 2011
8:04 pm
Mighty Righty
be careful about using the term Blood Bath. Some lib might read it and start putting on camo and loading up like the guy did in Arizona.
Stay with terms that scare liberals like: it will be another dodge ball game or it will be another wiffle ball game.
TaxPayer
April 21st, 2011
8:05 pm
I say take NPR’s guns away because I’m not in favor of them killing folks.
Tundra Dude
April 21st, 2011
8:11 pm
JB wrote, in part:
Back in 2001, the most recent year for which estimates are available, almost $300 billion in taxes owed went uncollected.
I beg to differ. See article from Huff below. I checked the GAO website. The $330 million figure came from IRS.
article summary:
Federal Tax Collection GAO-11-272 March 10, 2011
——————————————
from: huffingtonpost 04-11-2011
IRS Funding Cut Days Before Report Shows $330 Billion In Uncollected Taxes
WASHINGTON — As part of the budget deal hashed out on Friday evening, lawmakers agreed that no additional federal funds would be used to hire new IRS agents.
Then on Monday, the Government Accountability Office publicly released a study showing that, as of the end of fiscal year 2010, roughly $330 billion in federal taxes had never been paid — an amount that, if collected, would represent nearly nine times the amount of savings as the budget itself.
The dual developments aren’t shocking. Despite evidence that a single dollar spent on enforcing the tax code could result in up to ten dollars in revenue, politicians, naturally, are reluctant to align themselves with tax collectors.
Good little liberal
April 21st, 2011
8:12 pm
TaxPayer
That’s some funny stuff. Abortion jokes. Hard to beat. And it’s not like we are killing people like Stalin. He killed 3 million a year. We are only doing about a third of that. You should do stand up.
maude
April 21st, 2011
8:13 pm
The problem with todays conservatives is that there is nothing conservative about them.
They have become extremists.
And extremism is unhealthy.
Good little liberal
April 21st, 2011
8:14 pm
maude
So what’s extreme about conservatives?
@@
April 21st, 2011
8:15 pm
Paul:
You misunderstood. No sexual innuendo. It’s a double entendre. You, being who you are, missed the ace, flubbed the serve, got caught in my turf.
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
April 21st, 2011
8:15 pm
Well, I can truthfully say I paid my fair share of income taxes. It’s just that it turned out my fair share was zero, zippo, nada, zip, thanks to the best tax accountant in GA, my buddy Jim Earl. We were scrambling for awhile, and then Jim Earl asked, “How much does it cost to feed that dog?” “Ace?” I said. “Well, I guess it’s a pretty fair amount, what with all the Milk Bones and table scraps and treats he gobbles down. Then there’s the trips to the vet when he gets the mange.”
Well, in no time at all I had another exemption and a zero tax bill. Hey, this Geithner’s got nothing on me. I paid my fair share.
TaxPayer
April 21st, 2011
8:16 pm
Good little liberal,
NPR does abortions too! I’m just shocked. This is hardly a laughing matter. Well, in that case, I’m in favor of stopping them from selling birth control pills too. That sort of stuff should be left to the individual and her doctor.
Good little liberal
April 21st, 2011
8:18 pm
TaxPayer
LOL!!! You’re killing me.
I love abortion humor.
TaxPayer
April 21st, 2011
8:19 pm
So what’s extreme about conservatives?
For starters, one of them masquerading as a good little liberal. How extreme is that? Do you also do specials at rallies in Wisconsin in your camo teacher’s outfit. I’ll bet you’re a real riot act.
stands for decibels
April 21st, 2011
8:19 pm
To answer Jay’s headline question: Because GOP voters generally aspire to be big-shot tax cheats themselves.
TaxPayer
April 21st, 2011
8:20 pm
I love abortion humor.
I bet you do.
Good little liberal
April 21st, 2011
8:20 pm
TaxPayer
I don’t think anyone thinks I’m a good little liberal anymore than they think that you are a taxpayer.
Left wing management
April 21st, 2011
8:25 pm
GLL: “So what’s extreme about conservatives?”
Well, let’s see, they suggest throwing the family credit card out the window of the moving car, supposedly to force a confrontation over runaway spending, knowing full well that this very act will create a monster that will eat up the credit card, the family car, and the family members riding in it. They propose destroying the family to save it, in other words.
Sounds pretty extreme to me.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
April 21st, 2011
8:25 pm
How funny. We all know that Taxpayer pays taxes…sales tax, gas taxes and of course since he buys things from corporation he’s paying the income taxes that the corporations pass thru. I am confident he pays a lot of other taxes. It is very likely he also pays income tax and property taxes.
But then some posters love to make claims they can’t back. Silly. When you have nothing to say, accuse another poster of something you have no factual basis to make to really appear inane.
Good little liberal
April 21st, 2011
8:26 pm
stands for decibels
Actually we aspire to be welfare recipients, but it’s just that our taste are too expensive. As soon as Obama pushes for a Ferrari in every garage, I’m applying.
TaxPayer
April 21st, 2011
8:29 pm
I don’t think anyone thinks I’m a good little liberal anymore than they think that you are a taxpayer.
And to think that you started that sentence so well — subject, predicate.
Good little liberal
April 21st, 2011
8:30 pm
Left wing management
That sounds really extreme and as soon as i figure out what you are talking about, I might agree.
My family doesn’t depend on the government and we have a credit card for emergencies. I bought a set of tires on it last year. Credit cards are bad, you know. Throwing a credit card out a window after cutting it up is the best thing you can do. So again, and please in non-political mantra terms, what is extreme about conservatives?
Del
April 21st, 2011
8:31 pm
SoCo, the difference between corporations and government is that corporations our driven by profits. They can’t tax anyone to provide them with more money. They’re in business to survive and earn profits and they will do so anyway they can within the boundaries of government regulations and trade agreements. How do you think Corporate America is not only surviving but prospering, while we continue in a weak economy and high unemployment condition? Before you answer that question keep in mind that business leaders aren’t hired to be altruistic, benevolent nice guy’s. Certainly politicians aren’t either, unless one lives in a fairy tale world.
Good little liberal
April 21st, 2011
8:31 pm
TaxPayer
LOL!! A career in stand up is a-waitin’.
maude
April 21st, 2011
8:34 pm
Repubs argue that the Country is going broke and the only fix is to stop paying taxes.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
April 21st, 2011
8:34 pm
they will do so anyway they can within the boundaries of government regulations and trade agreements
And some will strive to do so outside the boundaries of laws, government regulations and trade agreements.
TaxPayer
April 21st, 2011
8:36 pm
My family doesn’t depend on the government and we have a credit card for emergencies.
So now it’s talk of “family” and “we” once money is involved. In other words, you’re a dependent when it comes to finances. You’re one of those social conservatives.
buck@gon
April 21st, 2011
8:36 pm
Jay, …. in order….
1) “If it’s pointed out that a family of four making $40,000 a year pays no federal income taxes, many conservatives tend to get upset that the family isn’t paying their fair share like the rest of us.”
You’re just wrong–no conservatives I know–and we all know you aren’t acquainted with any not filtered through Rachael Maddow.
2) “On the other hand, if it’s pointed out that a multi-millionaire or billionaire pays no federal income tax, the reaction is to applaud his or her accountant for successfully cheating the government.”
Never mind that a person can both be of great wealth and no income–witness the Kennedys. Besides, who’s applauding GE and Tim Geithner?
OK, yet another absurd post begun under false premises slain where it lies. I’m really for your next shot Jay. Take it. Hope it’s a little more ahhh,…. inspired.
Good little liberal
April 21st, 2011
8:38 pm
Libs
I don’t understand tonight’s bitterness? After almost two years of hope and Change, the economy is still in the pits, we can’t drill off our own coast but Obama is financing other country’s drilling in the same water, Only 45% of the public is saying that they would never vote for Obama and 45% is certainly not a majority and those evil corporations that you all hate so much are leaving the country in droves.
Isn’t this what you wanted?
maude
April 21st, 2011
8:39 pm
senator ensign’s affair. why would you need to have a affair when half of your state has legalized prostitution.
GOP=
Ge.nit.als
Outside
Pants
Adam
April 21st, 2011
8:40 pm
Dave R: Can you provide some sort of statistical analysis to back up your claim that the number of people in poverty has not increased? Also, how is poverty defined? Are we saying that the middle class is everyone who isn’t impoverished or super rich?
Keep Up the Good Fight!
April 21st, 2011
8:42 pm
buck@gon
April 21st, 2011
8:36 pm
Jay, …. in order….
1) “If it’s pointed out that a family of four making $40,000 a year pays no federal income taxes, many conservatives tend to get upset that the family isn’t paying their fair share like the rest of us.”
You’re just wrong–no conservatives I know–and we all know you aren’t acquainted with any not filtered through Rachael Maddow
____________________________
Buck meet md at 8:04 PM Jay can probably make a few more introductions for you.
Adam
April 21st, 2011
8:42 pm
buck: You’re just wrong–no conservatives I know–and we all know you aren’t acquainted with any not filtered through Rachael Maddow.
You’re the one who’s wrong. Many of the cons who frequent this blog keep spouting how upset they are that anyone in the world has no tax liability, and keep trotting out the 47% number in order to help corporate and wealthy interests that they do not, and will never, approach as an individual or a corporation.
Good little liberal
April 21st, 2011
8:42 pm
TaxPayer
I understand you are polishing your stand up routine, but just for fun, you might notice that Left Wing Management brought up “family” in their post at 8:25 PM. I was responding to what they said. It was a conversation thing.
A swing!!! Steeeeeeee-rik!!!!!
You are trying too hard, Pal.
Del
April 21st, 2011
8:43 pm
“And some will strive to do so outside the boundaries of laws, government regulations and trade agreements.”
“Some”, that requires quantification. It’s like saying that some politicians are more concerned with their political careers than they are about the good of the country. Who knows how many in each category? We only know that both exist.
Good little liberal
April 21st, 2011
8:44 pm
maude
So do you think about Republican’s Ge.nit.als a lot?
RB from Gwinnett
April 21st, 2011
8:44 pm
Jay, you’re confusing people illegally not paying taxes with higher tax rates. Those are 2 different issues entirely. If the billionaire is not paying any taxes and is following the tax code, it’s not his fault. He’d be stupid to pay what he doesn’t owe and stupid people are rarely in that position.
Once again, the problem is that the $40K earner wants more and more and more services from the govt, has an equal vote to get it, and has no skin in the game. If you can’t see there is a problem with that, there is something seriously wrong with your thinking.
Stocking Stuffer
April 21st, 2011
8:44 pm
I keep all my dollars stuffed in my mattress so I don’t have any income. All I have is wealth. So I should not have to pay taxes. People should pay me since I don’t pay taxes and it saves them the cost associated with people that do pay taxes. And if they don’t like it then I say trickle down on them. Then they cannot help but like it because that is what they like.
TaxPayer
April 21st, 2011
8:47 pm
good little liberal,
There’s no effort on my part in replying to your posts. Of course, if you wish to think otherwise, by all means, knock yourself out.
md
April 21st, 2011
8:47 pm
“Buck meet md at 8:04 PM Jay can probably make a few more introductions for you.”
Another out of context post……sigh…….
Upset??
Says it all if one doesn’t agree that we all live here and all should pay tax to sustain it……..
Good little liberal
April 21st, 2011
8:50 pm
TaxPayer
“There’s no effort on my part in replying to your posts”
Maybe that’s the problem.
You are just too easy. I have to go home. Have fun. LOL!!
Keep Up the Good Fight!
April 21st, 2011
8:50 pm
oh do please provide the “context”
Left wing management
April 21st, 2011
8:53 pm
GLL : “That sounds really extreme and as soon as i figure out what you are talking about, I might agree.”
You’re right. I went into my ‘fictional scenario’ without setting you up for it. So, let’s try that again:
The extreme measures being contemplated by the Republicans (as referred to in Jay’s post earlier today) consists of the very fact of raising the possibility that they would really be willing to go through with forcing a shutting off of the spigot of borrowing on the nation (by refusing an increase in the debt ceiling) under the pretense of forcing the nation to get serious about spending, with full knowledge that this very act would create a black hole of spending and instability with very uncertain results, but which would most likely send that very same spending spiraling out of sight. It would blow a hole in the very mechanism by which we understand our current financial position, namely our relationship with bond holders, a hole that would be irreparable (because once that Rubicon is crossed, there ain’t no going back). And it would set off a cascading of skyrocketing interest rates that would ripple through the economy, causing it to seize up (loans at all levels would overnight become prohibitively expensive), throwing the whole economy back into a paralyzing recession, or worse.
And all this to force its budgetary vision on the nation.
Message from Matti
April 21st, 2011
8:53 pm
The GOP protects tax cheats because they are their biggest supporters. (This message brough to you today by the letter “Duh.”)
Going deeper than the Duh, the tax burden on the middle class is only one of many ways in which they continue to suck the life out of us. They want the middle class American Dream to disappear. Union busting and the exportation of jobs are just two of the ways they’re implementing a broad strategy of wage suppression. In a few years, most of us will work for any little scraps we can get, and the things we’ve tried to save for (like being able to see a doctor during retirement years, or.. actually retiring) will be distant fantasies, forgotten amid the daily struggle to survive. They are working to build a more perfect world, where there are TWO socioeconomic classes, not three. Guess where you fit into the picture?
Chris Matthews
April 21st, 2011
8:53 pm
Obama is one of those evil millionares!
md
April 21st, 2011
8:55 pm
“oh do please provide the “context””
Might start by checking the post you respond to with the one you link………not the same quotes…..
Big difference between getting upset about folks not paying and believing all should share in an obligation………
ensign da' rapper
April 21st, 2011
8:55 pm
Shiver me timber girl
Walk me plank
Hear me Yarrrr
All the way to the Bank
I’m a Repub – I’m a moralist!
Sing Yankee Doodle
Then stretch me Noodle
I’m a Repub – I love Jayzus!
TaxPayer
April 21st, 2011
8:56 pm
I’m just glad they caught that Geithner guy. I mean, the thousands of dollars in payroll taxes that he probably almost got away with not paying on that 1099 income. I mean to tell you. If only he had set up an account through UBS like those other thousands of American tax cheats did. Then again, some of those people are now paying taxes and fines and begging for mercy. The IRS is collecting billions off of those folks. They should have applied for a job at the White House so they would have gone undetected like Geithner. Oops, he did get caught by the folks at the White House though.
Lil' Barry Bailout
April 21st, 2011
8:59 pm
Nation’s Mood at Lowest Level in Two Years, Poll Shows
By JIM RUTENBERG and MEGAN THEE-BRENAN
Americans are more pessimistic about the nation’s economic outlook and overall direction than they have been at any time since President Obama’s first two months in office, when the country was still officially ensnared in the Great Recession, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.
—————————-
Yeah, that Idiot Messiah is doing one fine job!
Fail.
godless heathen
April 21st, 2011
9:00 pm
I support vigorous enforcement of the laws, whether it’s wading the Rio Grande or cheating the IRS. On the other hand taking advantage of existing laws to reduce one’s tax liability is something else. Do you all take deductions when you do your taxes?
Fix the damn tax code!
Keep Up the Good Fight!
April 21st, 2011
9:00 pm
Distinction without a difference in context but nice try.
Steve
April 21st, 2011
9:01 pm
If the contract is for big bonuses to executives, then it must be honored, says the Republican party, but if it is a contract with a government worker, or union worker, you can and must get those set aside.
Billings
April 21st, 2011
9:03 pm
Does Obama want a debt crisis?
His supporters do.
The Left’s Economic Terrorism Playbook: Coalition too Destroy US Capitalism and Redistribute Wealth
Mary Elizabeth
April 21st, 2011
9:06 pm
Keep speaking, Matti. You see part of the “game” being played on the national stage.
The Republicans – who are working class – and who are voting against their own best interests have, unfortunately, accepted the simplistic view – fed to them – of “winners and losers” – not realizing what a complex soup we are all part of.
TaxPayer
April 21st, 2011
9:06 pm
Obama plans to destroy Capitalism! Oh NOES! That evil man! And he’s doing it by making my stocks go UP. How cunning is that man.
deegee
April 21st, 2011
9:08 pm
I started listening to Neal Boortz in the 1980s. I listened to him off and on for about 15 years. I stopped listening to him all together about 5 years ago. Last month I was in traffic in the morning and tuned the dial to Boortz. I couldn’t believe it. It was as if I had a flashback to 1989. He was saying the exact same things in the exact same way. He even told the exact same story about his friend that owns a business and was going to throw in the towel because government regulation and taxes are just too much to bear. What a gasbag.
Don't Tread
April 21st, 2011
9:08 pm
I suppose we should just assume anyone making over the median income (”rich”) is cheating on their taxes, and throw them in jail. Tax avoidance = tax evasion, after all.
Of course, the simple solution is a simple tax code. But we’re not really interested in solutions in liberalville, are we?
Unless the “solution” is “punishing the enemy”.
Good little liberal
April 21st, 2011
9:10 pm
Left wing management
Sorry. But you are buying a full wagonload of do-do. This latest pending doom disaster may be working on you and most liberals, but if you go out beyond the talking points of the DNC, you will discover that there is no deadline for increasing the debt ceiling.
We are facing a downgrading of our credit, something we have never had to face because of these unending crisis d’jour. it’s everyday there’s a new crisis that unless the give the Democrats their way, we will fall into a deep economic pit, but strangely enough, we keep falling into the economic pit and the response we keep getting is “it would have been much worse”
How many times are you going to buy this? We had to pass ObamaCare or children will die. We had to pass the stimulus or unemployment will top 8%. I wish my Dad had been a liberal: “Dad I know I wrecked the last four cars but if I don’t get a new car, my leg will fall off”.
Don’t get me wrong. I think the Republicans are running a can, too. this latest “Spending Cut” amounted to about a day’s worth of spending. It was nothing.
England just had to make real changes in order to save their credit rating. People were rioting in the streets, but they are beginning to see the light. But here, somehow, you good people that have great hearts keep buying into the obvious lie that in order to save our credit, we need to raise the limit on the amount of money we can spend.
The original point of this conversation was “What is radical about conservatives”. I see the radicals in the poor gullible liberals that seem to have no limit to the amount of do-do that they will buy into.
Del
April 21st, 2011
9:17 pm
The left has been destroying this country from within for a long time. Most on the left have been sucked in unwittingly but some by calculated ideological objective. The former are sheep and the latter their hard corps socialist leaders. Hopefully, America is awakening to this internal threat that’s even far greater than Islamic jihadists that’s bringing our country down for our children and grandchildren.
@@
April 21st, 2011
9:21 pm
‘Scuse the interruption.
If Joe Mama is here posting under another name, I left you a response downstairs.
godless heathen
April 21st, 2011
9:22 pm
Matti,
You forgot burning babies and kicking puppies. That’s what we do in our spare time.
maude
April 21st, 2011
9:23 pm
Here’s a new idea. It’s called revolution. We take the bankers, their enablers in the government, the tax cheating, earth raping industrialists, the milquetoast sell out Democrats and the fascist Republicans and throw them where they all belong: in jail. Then we proceed to re-establish a government of the people, by the people and for the people, not corporations and the parasites who run them.
Yes, its messy and its risky and there will be unpleasantness. But in America today, is there really any other choice?
Good little liberal
April 21st, 2011
9:23 pm
Del
I think America is waking up. But never ever underestimate the most powerful political machine the world has ever known fully backed by the most powerful media the world has ever known.
What gives me hope is when I talk to people that have stopped believing the daily crisis I mean how many times can the Democrats go back to that well?
I say we call their bluff. Defeat increasing the debt limit. What’s the worse that could happen? 10% employment? Prices on some food items tripling in 6 months? $4/gal gas?
getalife
April 21st, 2011
9:23 pm
Of course, ryan’s death budget is radical and the President nailed him.
Even cons in his district booed him.
A ray of hope from our radical right.
AmVet
April 21st, 2011
9:24 pm
The tax code is perverse, pernicious and a tragic joke on the working man and woman.
It is written by the wealthy for the wealthy.
Human labor is heavily taxed, while “unearned income” is barely touched.
Billionaires have a smaller effective tax rate than someone making a fraction of that.
Hundreds, likely thousands, of corporations that used to pay their fair share in taxes, no longer do.
And the cons all parrot the talking-head line we don’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem.
We have both.
And you fools are still waiting to be trickled on…
TruthBe
April 21st, 2011
9:24 pm
Since when does the GOP defend the Democrat Tax Cheats.
@@
April 21st, 2011
9:24 pm
Soups on?
If we’re the soup, government’s the spoon.
Good little liberal
April 21st, 2011
9:25 pm
maude
Sure. Let’s all riot against evil corporations. I think there may be a few that you libs haven’t already ran off.
TaxPayer
April 21st, 2011
9:27 pm
I pity those Republicans trying to sell the Ryan yellow brick road map to their constituency. It cannot be easy for them to answer the really tough questions that they’re getting like,
Do I have an L stamped on my head? I didn’t vote for you so you could con me into going along with cutting my benefits, raising my taxes, giving the wealthiest another tax cut and STILL, after all that, increasing the national debt!
Yet, they’ll still have some good little cons following them around like little lost puppies, sniffing their do do because they just know it doesn’t smell like anything other than the sweetest combination of mom’s apple pie and dad’s freshly oiled gun.
Good little liberal
April 21st, 2011
9:27 pm
AmVet
The good news is that the answer is a fair tax.
The bad news is that it is the Democrats that are the ones that are fighting the hardest against it.
Del
April 21st, 2011
9:27 pm
GLB@9:23, Amen, we’re going to be at that inflationary level anyway, so lets begin reversing it now and suffer the shorter term pain.
AmVet
April 21st, 2011
9:28 pm
For the umpteenth time, the word evil is just childish spin for a lack of accurate adjectives…
Try again and use something adult this time.
Good little liberal
April 21st, 2011
9:29 pm
TaxPayer
Ryan’s bill only alters the benefits of SS for people under 45 years old. They have 20 years to get ready.
Get your facts straight before you start ranting.
getalife
April 21st, 2011
9:29 pm
I think the gop house vote to end Medicare and the assault on the American workers from gop guvs have Americans wide awake.
The gop conspiracy to borrow like kids with a new credit card, collapse the economy and then try to steal Medicare and SS is very obvious to sane Americans.
Not going to happen cons, shame on you for trying again.
Good little liberal
April 21st, 2011
9:31 pm
AmVet
What a word means to you just may not be the universally accepted definition.
Soothsayer
April 21st, 2011
9:31 pm
UH OH! Looks like the fockees are startin’ to “wise up.” Have a Koch on me! You gotta love this! Trouble in paradise!
Good little liberal
April 21st, 2011
9:33 pm
getalife
The vote to end medicare?
Wow. Sometimes it’s like One Flew Over The Cuckcoo’s Nest in here.
Peter
April 21st, 2011
9:33 pm
What the GPO Rich does not want is a consumption tax period.
Then they will actually pay their fair share, as we know ……. Tiffany and Company is doing just fine.
Thus the Republican’s will never ever, and I mean NEVER ever think that way !
Confusion-ism is good…..take the Iraq War as the example.
New York City is attacked…..thus we invade another country, and “cost plus contracts” make sense…to some !
That is how Confusion-ism works ! Same with taxes.
Or say Republican Judges who buy cocaine for their stripper girlfriend….. You get to retire first on taxpayers money, then charged with the crime !
Who’s confused now ?
TaxPayer
April 21st, 2011
9:34 pm
Get your facts straight before you start ranting
Indeed you should, good little liar.
Joe Mama
April 21st, 2011
9:34 pm
@@ — “‘Scuse the interruption. If Joe Mama is here posting under another name, I left you a response downstairs.”
He’s not. I don’t do sock puppetry.
BTW, kindly come back to this thread and explain your charge of bigotry from earlier this week:
http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/2011/04/19/ga-may-forfeit-health-insurance-authority/?cp=18
AmVet
April 21st, 2011
9:34 pm
Good little liberal, your writing “style” looks very familiar.
What names have you used here before?
Just curious…
TaxPayer
April 21st, 2011
9:35 pm
Sometimes it’s like One Flew Over The Cuckcoo’s Nest in here.
We do try to be accomodating of the little dependents, the good little con dependents.