Taxing Credulity in Honesty

Debbie Bozaneck at 2012 State of the Union

During the 1992 Presidential campaign, both Warren Buffet and President Obama loved to point out that secretaries paid at a higher personal tax rate than the billionaires.  His secretary paid the higher 35.8% income tax rate whereas the Wizard of Omaha paid an effective 17.4% rate. In fact, Debbie Bozaneck, Buffet's personal secretary,  was invited to sit in the Presidential box during the 2012 State of the Union to highlight the inequity.

The truth be told, Warren Buffet derived most of his income from capital gains, not salaried income. Thus Buffet's long term capital gains were taxed at 15% and most of his earnings were not subject to the 4.2% Social Security and the 1.45% Medicare payroll taxes.  Nor does Buffet's low figure take into account double taxation coming from taxable income from long term capital gains, which would be  taxed at an effective rate of 49% (15% long term capital gain and 34% personal income).  Of course, none of these figures include state, local and sales taxes.

This flurry of tax inequity publicity ostensively was meant to sell the stillborn Buffet Rule which Mr. Obama parried during his re-election campaign. But instead of being the basic of tax reform, it served as a campaign cudgel of class warfare against upper income Americans (the top  2%) who already shoulder  the bulk of the tax burden. 

If Buffet really felt like he was fleecing the Feds, he can always gift the Treasury Department more money, surely Uncle Sam will spend his largess.   Maybe it will mitigate the effects of sequestration.  But Buffet's bravado reveals that his honesty taxes credibility and serves as a cheap trick in public policy discussions.

SOTU Reactions--Stay Thirsty My Friends

During Senator Marco Rubio's (R-FL) Republican response to the 2013 State of the Union speech, he experienced some cotton mouth and took a swig of water which was stored slightly out of frame. 

Perhaps he should have wet the whistle between giving his Spanish State of the Union rebuttal  and the English edition. 

Admittedly, the optics of this "Water-gate" were awkward.  Even the cameraman in the Speaker's ante-chamber blurted out "Uh oh". In follow up media appearances, Rubio used self-deprecating humor to minimize the muffed moment.  But it is sad to think that this slight media misstep dominates the coverage of the evening.  

Over the hour when President Obama gave his 6500 word State of the Union speech (the second shortest SOTU during his presidency), there were many incredible utterances which should make political watchers squirm.  Mr. Obama claimed to have reduced the deficit by $2 Trillion during his time in office.  The White House must have employed some creative accountants to conjure up that false factoid, as the deficit had grown by $6 trillion over four years.  Then there was the audacity of hope which Obama exclaimed that his 29 new programs won't cost taxpayers any more money.  If that is true, it must mean that there will be unfunded federal madates to the states to cover universal pre-school.  Another Federal mandate which gets dumped on cash strapped states. 

But instead of exploring the impact of the laundry list of new Obama initiatives, it was "smarter government" for the Obama stenographers posing as the elite Liberal Media to promote the "Zero Dark Thirsty" meme.   So instead of thirsting for the truth,  the Lamestream Media sates itself by spreading the snark which is an ad hominem attack on Obama's opponent. 

For those who care about the country, it is wise to stay thirsty for the truth, even if it is lampooned by the Liberal Media.