Republicans are desperate to keep taxes at record lows for millionaires, billionaires and corporate criminals. They call them the job creators, although job outsourcers would be a more truthful term. However, rich people did not stop investing when the top marginal tax rate was over 90%. What patriotic millionaires say sheds more light on the subject.
Wrapping the wealthy in the term “job creator,” Republican lawmakers are hammering President Obama over the “Buffett rule,” a tax reform policy based on the simple and popular notion that millionaires should pay their fair share in taxes. To the GOP, this is a surefire way to ensure millionaires or “job creators” do not invest in the economy. “The reason we tax cigarettes in this country is to get people to stop smoking,” said House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI). “If you tax capital more, you get less capital. If you tax job creators more, you get fewer jobs.”
But a surprising group of people find that to be entirely untrue: the “job creators” themselves. As the billionaire behind the Buffett Rule, Warren Buffett, explained, “I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone — not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77 — shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain. People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off.”
Indeed, 200 millionaires created a group known as the Patriotic Millionaires to make this exact case… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Think Progress>
Ryan is lying. The reason government taxes cigarettes in this country is to take advantage of addicted people, most of whom are poor and middle class.
When Republicans tell you their “job creators” meme, you know how to answer.
15 Responses to “Taxes will not stop so called job creators”
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History needs to be better taught in schools– ; just go back 100 years , same blabbering from the “job creators’ then– AKA Captains of Industry !– Lies- lies and more lies!!
Amen, Phyllis!
Like rich people are going to stop trying to make money just because their taxes are higher.
Bingo!
Those with the power make the laws. The laws will always favor those in power. It’s up to us to take their power away. People need to understand all they have to do is stop voting these people into office.
To do that, people need to be involved at the grass roots level.
It finally got me to stop smoking after years of trying and paying humongous taxes in NY on my cigs – when they got to be over $12 a pack, and I went without food to buy them I quit – but ever since I’ve had a hot head and difficult personality! They kept me at an even keel! I’ve resented taxes and you’re absolutely right, they punish the poor the most – I think it would be a much better idea to provide “halfway” houses/clinics with multiple sources to quit – I was allergic to gum and patches – finally did it cold turkey years ago – I was almost in a murderous rage for the first 3 months without!!
Lee, I can appreciate that you literally went through HELL when you quit smoking. But I want you to know that I am VERY PROUD of YOU for doing it!
Congrats!
It’s about pure unadulterated greed, but also the lust for power. Both work hand in hand for those who think they have the pre-ordained right to own everything and everyone. They don’t want to create jobs, unless or until we’re all fighting over the “opportunity” to earn a dollar a day.
Power → money → power → money, etc.
The last time I owned a retail business, taxes were the least of my concerns. The only time I hired was when I had more paying customers coming through the doors. Anything I got back from taxes went to the craps table. I’m just say’n!
Same here. When I had more work than my employees could do, I hired.
I spent time looking at the Patriotic Millionaires’ site and was suitably impressed, enough that I want to share the highlights for me. First, the letter addressed to The President, Harry Reid (Minority House Leader) and John Boehner (Speaker). The actual letter is 6-7 pages long and very detailed, but this is a synopsis as it appears on the website.
We are writing to urge you to put our country ahead of politics.
For the fiscal health of our nation and the well-being of our fellow citizens, we ask that you increase taxes on incomes over $1,000,000.
We make this request as loyal citizens who now or in the past earned an income of $1,000,000 per year or more.
Our country faces a choice – we can pay our debts and build for the future, or we can shirk our financial responsibilities and cripple our nation’s potential.
Our country has been good to us. It provided a foundation through which we could succeed. Now, we want to do our part to keep that foundation strong so that others can succeed as we have.
Please do the right thing for our country. Raise our taxes.
Here is part of the reply from Senator Orrin Hatch, which in my mind is condescending, sanctimonious and dripping with venom.
On April 14th, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) commented that: “We hear this quite a bit from rich Democrats. ‘Please tax us more,’ they say. Well I know a lot who don’t say that I’ll tell you that. [of course not because many of them are Republicans and Teabaggers]. . . the president and all those rich, liberal democrats who are eager to pay higher taxes can do just that. They can write a check to the IRS and make an extra payment . . . .”
The Millionaires replied in the press as follows.
“A few of us voluntarily writing a check to the IRS will not fix the problem that Sen. Hatch and his colleagues created for our country with their fiscal irresponsibility. It will take the work of all Patriotic Americans to create a strong foundation for our continued prosperity. We are willing to do our part by paying higher taxes. It is clear Senator Hatch and many of his colleagues are not willing to do theirs. We challenge Senator Hatch and the other millionaire members of the Senate to put their country first and raise taxes on people like them – and us – who make more than a million dollars a year. In the meantime, if Senator Hatch would like to make a personal contribution to the IRS to help his country, we pledge to match his contribution.”
On 20 April, Senator wrote to the Millionaires detailing the reasoning behind his statement, to which the Millionaires replied:
. . . we, . . . have done very well, in no small measure because we benefited from public education, government services, a civil society, and world‐class infrastructure, all provided by the government. . . . our success has been supported by the general public, we feel an obligation to pay back.
. . . the early 1990’s we successfully addressed a similar crisis . . . in 2000 . . . rather how best to dispose of a budget surplus. . . . we reached this happy state of affairs through a bipartisan effort involving a Democratic president and a Republican Congress. . . .
Shades of Elizabeth Warren! And of course, many of the Republican obstructionists are millionaires themselves so they are pushing for their own greed using the country’s well being as their ’cause célèbre’. They don’t give a rat’s ass about the country, only their own fortunes.
I’m sorry to carry on but I found this fascinating reading all the back and forth, the Republican condescension.
The patriotic millionaires are the exception, not the rule, sadly.