Why do people care so much about how the rich are making more? What do you want, to take their money and give it to you?
Actually, if the wealthy get a big tax cut, then they'd have
more money to give to me. Back in the day, I got a scholarship from a wealthy person to go to a private university over a "public option," and years later a "bursary" from presumably wealthy people in the UK so I could go to the Britten-Pears School....
...and in the 90s (despite those bad old Clinton taxes), I nearly had an offer to have my career financed by a generous opera donor who loved the La Traviata production I performed along with the soprano and tenor...... the three of us sang at his penthouse on Lake Shore Drive just down the street from the Drake Hotel, but only one of us would get the payola.... and that's why I hate tenors to this day....
How much is that doggie in the window? (woof, woof, woof)
The one with the waggly tail
How much is that opera singer in the window? (woof, woof, woof)
I do hope that singer's for saleSo, please feel free to send your generous tax-deductible donations of $1500 apiece to the
Opera Jeff Foundation and be designated a
Premium Silver Benefactor including free admission to my
Summer Wine & Cheese Tulstravaganza at my 1928 Owen Park bungalow, offering stunning views of the BOk Center and the downtown skyline.... and an official from the NASL will also be there to hit you up for investment interest (and it don't come cheap) in
USRufnex LLC so we can bring high level pro soccer back to Tulsa....
But, seriously, there was indeed a time in the 80s when I believed labor unions were too strong, taxes on the well-to-do were too high (with too many loopholes), the government had too many regulations on business, the EPA was heavy handed, and federally funded "abortion on demand" was reprehensible. I stereotyped all liberal anti-war types (including my aunt) as shrill Jane Fonda wannabe's, and I trusted the "supply-side" Reagan Administration to handle the federal deficit over tax-and-spend "Fritz-n-tits." I believed that Republicans were more likely to "know right from wrong" than the Dems, who seemed perpetually wishy washy in comparison when they weren't busy trying to convince us Reagan was going to start a nuclear war with the USSR... I was told by the college young Republicans to support the privatization of social security because "it'd never be there for us when we get old, anyway".......
Then, I took inventory of all the sacrifices I had to make in the name of austerity.... my Pell Grants were cut year after year, my wages to try to make up the difference while a full time college student for work at retail stores or restaurants flatlined throughout the 80s.... my student tax exemption was gone and my payroll taxes were raised substantially.... if that weren't enough, a National Direct Student Loan I qualified for one fall semester was no longer available in the spring (thank you, Gramm-Rudman), forcing me to work graveyard shifts at Village Inn to make up the difference...
But thank God that Reagan lowered taxes to a 28% rate for those most able to pay combined with the Gramm-Rudman budget cuts that fixed the federal deficit once and for all... /snark.
Somehow, I don't think a small increase percentage-wise in federal income tax is going to force wealthy taxpayers to start working graveyard shifts at a waffle house... we're talking about the difference between the income tax rates for the wealthiest under Clinton (39.6%) versus the rates under Bush II (35%) which are still much lower than the 50% top marginal rate during Reagan's first term and the 70% top rate in place the previous decade....
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxtopics/2010_budget_high-income.cfmOh, back on topic. I think
The Donald has finally jumped the shark.
