The redoubtable Bruce Bartlett has an excellent column on the subject of taxes. We’re all used to hearing leftist gripes about how “the rich” don’t pay their “fair share” of taxes. Bartlett cites new IRS data showing that the wealthiest 1 percent of taxpayers (based on adjusted gross income) paid 34.4% of federal income taxes in 2003. For the wealthiest 10 percent, the figure was 65.8%. Numbers like that won’t cause Howard Dean to say, “Gosh, we don’t need to make the tax code more progressive after all,” but reasonable people ought to take notice.
Moreover, Bartlett shows, cutting tax rates has always led to economic growth and more revenue, most of which is paid by the despised “rich.” Thus, he observes, “At some point, those on the left must decide what really matters to them — the appearance of soaking the rich by imposing high statutory tax rates….or lower rates that may bring in more revenue that can pay for government programs to aid the poor. Sadly, the left nearly always votes for appearances over reality….”
That seems to suggest that for leftist politicians, the poor are merely props that help them get into office and stay there.
