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January 06, 2004
Clark Drops a Bomb
Wesley Clark has just made himself the man to watch with his new tax plan, and marks himself as the first Democrat to deliver a stiff uppercut to the upper class and a perfect soundbiteable plan for the rest of us. If he does it with a panache, he has a chance to win back the Reagan Democrats. It sure as hell got my attention.
Alas, I'm outclassed and have nothing to gain under the Clark plan. I'll have to settle for what Bush has done thus far, since I'm in the bucket above his cutoff. That doesn't change the fact that he makes it sound like a flat tax, especially if you make less than 50k.
Drum is correct that federal tax, especially if Clark gets his way, will reveal itself to be not worth the rhetoric spent on it. It will start to look less and less fearful for the Limbaugh section of the abatement addicts. Suddenly x million loudmouths will have nothing to talk about because they no longer will pay Federal taxes.
I'm wary of this. When you stick it to the millionaires, they bring out the long knives and lobbyists. You can bet H&R Block and the folks at Intuit won't be into it. The balance of tax reform efforts would now be directed at the upper classes and so who will mind the trough from the prole perspective?
Furthermore, this seems to be a point from which there is no retreat. Families who pay nothing under the Clark plan will never support anyone who proposes to reach into their pockets. If the feds deficit themselves into oblivion and taxes have to come up, where will it come from? The rich could switch the tax burden via lobbying to things like a federal sales tax, that would kill consumers the most.
Still, you cannot beat the appeal of getting rid of income tax. If Clark doesn't rally voters with this, something's radically wrong.
Things are getting interesting.
Posted by mbowen at January 6, 2004 11:29 PM
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� Clark Tax Plan: Followup from lingosphere daily
After this week's announcement by Wes Clark about his proposal of taxation changes for the USA, a lot of comments have floated around the 'net. But two bloggers have put together some great feedback on this, and it's definitely worth... [Read More]
Tracked on January 7, 2004 09:48 AM
Comments
Nearly all the families that Clark is targeting pay little or no Federal income tax at the present. The bottom 50% of taxpayers pay 4% of the total income tax. LINK The next 25% pay 14.9% of income taxes, with taxpayers heavily shaded to those who have no deductions, single, non-homeowners, which would not be affected by the proposal in any event.
Look at the chart that I linked and see who pays income tax. The top 5% of wage earners pay 53.3% of income tax already while only earning 32% of the total income available for taxing.
Jane Galt has an analysis of the Clark proposal, here. It's a bogus concept, from the start.
Posted by: Chuck at January 7, 2004 08:56 AM
But in no way, shape, or form, are the "bottom taxpayers" the only ones under $50k with two kids. My mom was a single parent, making less than $40k, supporting both my sister and I for years, and paying taxes at the same ~$40k level that the average person was, sans deductions for having two dependents. That is, in no way, shape, or form "little or no" - it was a decent chunk of change. And considering the divorce rate in this country, there are a significant number of one income households, probably making less than $50k, with multiple children - where alimony, et al, don't put them over any of those levels. I'm sure of it.
So it's not completely "farcical" or anything like that. It's not perfect, but it's better than what we're doing now, IMHO.
Posted by: djspicerack at January 7, 2004 12:18 PM
I say have one small tax rate for everyone with absolutely no deductions. The fat cats would really go to war on such a plan, bringing truth to their canard of paying the most taxes. Where are the rates charts for who gets the most back in write-offs/deductions?
Posted by: ronn at January 7, 2004 08:33 PM