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| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| If you're in favor of higher taxes, why not pay them yourself? |
| 2010-04-07 |
| Howie Carr, Boston Herald h/t TaxProf Blog ...You're always lecturing the rest of us how taxes are an investment in the future, the price we pay for civilization, etc., etc. But when given the option of personally paying your fair share, hey, come back here, you pony-tailed trust-fund recipient you. Put your hands up and step away from the Prius - slowly. What about the children? As the deadline for filing 2009 state income taxes nears, once again the Beautiful People of Massachusetts are proving that while they enjoy talking the talk, walking the walk is another thing altogether. We have a two-tier income tax in this state, you know. You have the option of paying either at the standard rate of 5.3 percent, or at the old, higher 5.85 percent rate. As of Wednesday, here are this years numbers, according to the state DOR: Of 1,840,000 state tax filers, exactly 931 have opted to pay taxes at the higher rate. That works out to one-twentieth of one percent. Think of it this way: In 2000, only 60 percent of the Massachusetts electorate voted to cut the income tax, but a decade later 99.95 percent of the population has decided to take advantage of the tax cut a lot of them claimed they didn't want or need.... ...I forgot to ask Gov. Deval Patrick Thursday if he's volunteering to pay more taxes this year, so I e-mailed the question to his office Friday. No response, which I guess means he stands with that 99.95 percent of his constituents. Yes, he con. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #4 that 931 probably made a mistake in selecting the higher percent. |
| Posted by: DK70 the Scantily Clad7177 2010-04-07 15:03 |
| #3 The whole "tax the rich" approach is anti-democratic. You are encouraging a majority to vote in favor of harming a minority. Of course, since money is involved nobody seems to mind. Free government goodies and the election of more Democrats are seen as greater goods. Who cares if some minority groups are mistreated in the process. |
| Posted by: Iblis 2010-04-07 11:49 |
| #2 Yes, it is as I've said all along: if you hate a tax cut, by all means leave a tip for the difference. |
| Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats 2010-04-07 09:58 |
| #1 It is probably time to rejig your withholding, since the government is in effect saying that they can help themselves to it if you don't do what they say. |
| Posted by: Free Radical 2010-04-07 09:57 |