Thursday, August 26, 2004

The Bush Illogical Tax Policy

I am pretty sure that President Bush will say anything to get re-elected, even if it makes no logical sense. Bush keeps reiterating the below logic in his stump speeches all across the Midwest:

St Paul, Mn, August 18th, 2004 "We have a difference in opinion on this campaign about taxes. My opponent said that he's going to -- he promised about over $2 trillion of new programs. And so we said, well, how are you going to pay for it? He said, well, I'll pay for it by taxing the rich. You've heard that before, haven't you? You've heard that line. That's why people hire accountants and lawyers, so you won't be able to tax them. You can't raise enough money to pay for all his spending by so-called taxing the rich. He's going to try to stick you with the tax bill."

I am not sure why there has not been more discussion regarding Bush's recent rational as why not to raise taxes on the rich - Because rich people cheat their way out of paying their fair share of taxes. While this may be a true statement... the rich do use tax loopholes to get out of paying their taxes. This is something that only Ed Gillespie and Rush Limbaugh will argue otherwise. But, how can this be used as a reason to keep a tax cuts for the wealthiest 1% of the population during a war and a record budget deficit. I have several questions I would like answered:

1) If the rich were using accountants and lawyers to get out of paying taxes before, why did Bush need to give them a tax cut? Weren't they already NOT paying their taxes since taxes were (in his opinion) high?

2) Is Bush claiming that, at current tax rates, rich people do not use accountants/lawyers to get out of paying their taxes? (we know that is not true)

3) Is Bush claiming that he is not strong enough a leader to get congress to close the tax loopholes used by the rich to not pay their taxes?

4) Has Bush ever used accountants/lawyers to get out of paying his fair share of taxes? (my guess is - yes)

5) Is Bush saying that we should play a dirty trick on the rich and not tax them at all so they can't use loopholes (absurd extrapolation, I know, but not something I would put entirely past his train of thought).

Here is my suggestion... instead of increasing our national debt exponentially by allowing the rich to use tax loopholes, CLOSE THE LOOPHOLES!!!. If you are middle or lower class and you are voting for Bush, it is only because you have not really thought it through.