I have employed about 50 people during the last 20 years, and my family's taxable income is about $300,000. In order to avoid paying a higher percentage of taxes on all of my income, I will decrease output, lay off some staff and still end up keeping the same amount.I'm frankly surprised that the editorial mandarins at the Times let Ms. Santos' comments get through. We don't have enough common sense these days when it comes to the brutalizing policies of today's collectivist left, and God forbid the likes of Ms. Santos to spoil the zeitgeist.
I have no incentive to hire people or expand my business, because the more I make, the more President Obama will take to expand government. This discourages expansion of the private sector. It will backfire with disastrous consequences for all.
It is repulsive that Obama is being allowed to take this country backward by pickpocketing the very people who run the private sector through their energy, money and creativity.
Which brings me back to the infamous demonic ridicule machine, TBogg of Firedoglake, and his fever-swamp snark-offering du jour, "You're in the High Rent District." It turns out TBogg's done a little excavation at Michelle Malkin's comment threads, and he's comes up with what appear to be some beauties from the "high percentage of these high-earning go-getting producers" who habituate the place:
Approximately 2% of the American households make more than $250,000 a year and (you may find this hard to believe) a very high percentage of these high-earning go-getting producers spend their days commenting over at Michelle Malkin's place... when they're not busy flying their Lear jets up to Nova Scotia to see the total eclipse of the sun.TBogg's Darwinized (or "Galticized", be that as it may) a surviving selection of the best of the best of alleged "trailer-park" commentary at Makin's, so be sure to read the whole post.
What's interesting from my perspective - as an evil "BusHitler" battalion commander of the blogospheric right - are the comments from TBogg's own thread.
Here's this one, from "Moondancer":
The notion of the two-percenters as victims is gonna be a hard sell, but not as hard as the Fats Limbaugh trailer trash as patriots.And this one, from "Crosstimbers":
They should leave a map for their descendants, so that a thousand years from now, when the nation returns to 1980’s sanity, the offspring can find the hidden cache of Mary Kay products and pick up the life intended by the founders, as if nothing happended.How about one more, from "Thingwarbler":
If those are the “successful entrepreneurs” who need to be rewarded with mucho moolah for all their brilliant contributions to the capitalist society, then we are well and truly fucked. If, on the other hand, they’re really just the 22nd Gardening & Homeschooling Brigade of the 101st Keyboarders, then it all makes so much more sense.Well, that's a pretty good sample from the progressive muck, but who knew that some of these folks were previously pulling down "five-figures"?
Of course, over at the academic blog Crooked Timber, political scientist Henry Farrell, of the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, reflects a bit on the emerging revolt of the John Galt-ers:
I understand that “Dr. Helen” was at C-PAC, putting forward a strong case for ‘going Galt’ on a farm till the nasty Democrats go away. Wasn’t clear whether the world would be denied the intellectual fruits of the Instapundit as part of a package deal or not.I guess Henry's not a fan of Glenn Reynolds or Pajamas Media, so I guess that's going to scuttle my chances of being included in the esteemed directory of political science bloggers over at The Monkey Cage, where Henry's a co-blogger. I guess "Randian Warmongers!", or at least old-fashioned neocons, need not apply.
See also, "Going John Galt."
**********
UPDATE: Malkin-a-lanche!: "Letter of the day: Disgusted in Diamond Bar."
13 comments:
I just read this as I was reading Malkin....and I am not surprised...the libby's love that ''good old class warfare'' BS.
Well, I am one of those 2 percenters....and trust me I DONT HAVE A LEAR JET....but I did just hire in Novemember 2 six figure employees as I continue to grow my small business(tech -software firm)I spent over 13 years as a top earner and sales rep at a nationally known software firm and never dreamed when I dropped out out of college that I would ever earn 300k plus...if you told me that I would have laughed while I was stacking wood at a local lumber yard while in school. But like just about all the people in my shoes....I woke up, went back to school...struggled for many many years and then after all that rose to the top of a profession on my own. I found out I could do anything if I worked hard enough(my first year in software was 1995 I earned 25k and that was after working until sometimes 9 at night from 7am)You know what REALLY scared me??.....when I started getting 20k monthly checks on a w2jdks and seeing that out of that check the feds. state and god knows who else TOOK ALMOST HALF....thats right...while I slept 4 hours a night went to school, ate hormel chili in a can and never even saw my small children....I had a ''partner''...only that partner never attended ONE CLASS...one client meeting or rode home with me on a smelly subway or hot train car in July...I shall spare the rest of the story but after a decade of making my company millions upon millions...I thought...hmmmm..perhaps I could do this and actually earn more and also earn freedom from flying around the country for meetings, or endless company retreats...I could do it myself, hire my own people and in some way build my own business. Shame on me....I MUST BE ''EVIL''...I should work al those hours and still have no real security as i'd just still be part of a huge global firm where my real future was tied to many people whom I never saw nor knew...I liked the odds of driving MY OWN future...AGAIN...shame on ME!!!
Now three years plus in my own firm after 2 years we won a global award for top service and top people....I exppanded my business, did profit sharing for employees and made sure I treated them far better than I ever was...why??..because now I make the rules...and I started the entire business on a credit card with Bank of America. Took a huge risk too.....I BET MY LIFE AND MY FAMILIES LIFE on my risk...fooish huh??....Not when you work 7 days a week and fly to other countries and states to earn a living. I now have an office in Toronto and was building our this firm on its way to a 20 million a year business....and ALL with most employees earning six figures with company paid FULL BENEFITS. mY EMPLOYEES DO NOT PAY ONE DIME for benefits....I swear...Now, I will pair down this firm and my ''quest'' to kil myself tro try to leave something for my family and employees is literally over. I am so sick hearing daily which lay about we will and people like me will carry??....charity feels far better then picking my pocket for dirtbags who game every system,every state program and now WE'RE BUYING f*ing houses for people????....This is one business starter and business owner who is not only going to put the brakes on my earnings...I swearou in 2 years I will be sitting in a small place in town selling used books, and antiques...AND LOVING IT. tHE HELL WITH killin myself to earn millions WHILE I GET ABUSED??...EVIL RICHY, cold hearted Republican...and on and on....GUESS WHAT??....tHIS American is totally sick of living ON ''SHAKEDOWN STREET''....yOU KNOW WHAT??.....when the people like me are all gone....GOOD LUCK FINDING THOSE SUCKERS TO TAKE HALF OR MORE FROM THEM ALL WHILE YOU ABUSE THEM...
Good luck building your ''workers paradise''...???
Randian Warmonger - I like it! Where do I sign up?
You guys are too funny. Santos' letter was totally wrong when she wrote that she'll be "paying a higher percentage of taxes on all of my income." Because as we all know, she'll only pay a higher percentage on the amount over $250k. So it's only the last $50k that will be taxed at the higher rate; not ALL her income, as she erroneously suggested.
And as usual, she's either lying or stupid for suggesting that laying off staff is the only way to fix this. As I suggested at my blog, hiring more employees or buying better equipment would also decrease her profits; if that's what she wants. Again, by cutting her profits, she'll lose far more money than if she just pays the extra taxes; but if smaller profits are her goal, then increasing expenses would achieve that goal.
As my unofficial CPA advice to all these people: If you want to decrease your profits without hurting your business, invest it all back into the business. That way, if this draconian period ever ends and a Republican Congress removes Obama's burdensome 3% tax increase, your business will be better positioned for expanding. Every dollar you spend on your company will decrease your profits. Honestly, it's quite sad that savvy business owners can't figure this out on their own. Really makes me wonder how they ever stayed in business to begin with.
"Anonymous" had a pretty good rant going there. I completely understand about spending the hours and being exhausted from hearing, again, that there is someone out there that you need to support. So...you are going to cut back? Please. One thing a friend of mine told me was, "There is NO problem that more sales can't solve!". The problem is the skaters take. We need to be able to track that. If they insist on redistributing income then they need to cop some IRS 1099 for every government benefit they take. Beggging for income gets treated the same as working for it...FINALLY! 1099 for All www.SenatorMark4.org
The 2% comment came from FactCheck.org... T-whatever could have put 1%, 50%, 30%, or whatever, and it would have been about as accurate.
FactCheck.org is anything BUT accurate. Or factual. Or checking anything.
As for the "hire more people" instead of cutting back, you are assuming you could afford more. Any business that could do that, likely has done that. Otherwise, your are watching opportunity costs of not expanding your business walk out the door.
If you are at a point however, where adding an additional person will not add enough additional revenue, why bother? All the headaches of payroll, taxes, managing them, their personal issues, unemployment, on and on... It's *easier* to fire someone, and keep the profits (let some dead weight or high maintenance clients go, too).
And it's 4.6%, not 3%.
And, if any of you can just miss 3%, feel free to send 3% of your earnings to me.
As for the "hire more people" instead of cutting back, you are assuming you could afford more.
Anonymous - You realize we're talking about people who make more than $250k in profits, right? OF COURSE they can afford to hire more employees, otherwise, they wouldn't be making such large profits. And these are people who say they want SMALLER profits, so hiring more people or buying more equipment just makes sense. Again, that way, they'd be ready to expand business once the horrifying 3% punishment goes away. And that's the thing: The people who insist this means they'll have to shed employees are outright lying to you. There is absolutely zero logic to lowering expenses if you're trying to reduce profits.
As for your 3% remark, again, it's not 3% or 4.6% of total earnings. The extra tax only applies to the amount of income over #250k. I can't believe you guys got suckered so badly by Obama. You're absolutely HYSTERICAL over a tiny tax increase. It only makes us look more rational by comparison. You really should have kept your powder dry until he did something truly outrageous...like attempt to give healthcare to "lazy" people who work fulltime for employers who won't buy them insurance.
Dr. Biobrain: you are absolutely correct. I also have to wonder about the personal virtues of someone who claims to be a "small business owner," yet will lay off her employees rather than pay the same percentage of taxes she paid under the Clinton administration.
Amazing, but that's the GOP Confederacy for you.
Doctor Biobrain, you are right on.
Surfed here from a MM hyperlink.
Plenty of stupid to go around here.
First, Dr. Birdbrain, I'm more inclined to believe you're a fraud. CPA? Right. Perhaps Bernie Made-off is one of your clients?
Second, for the ignorant 0bamaniacs posting tripe; you're drinking the kool-aid. Help your kids and grandkids drink it too.
Too much debt is the root of the crisis. 0bama's solution? More debt. Obviously your Clown-in-Chief occupying the Oval Office couldn't even run a lemonaide stand.
Employeers ought to be flooded with W4's from employees who are now declaring 200 million dependents.
Goat Whisperer, if that IS your real name, why would I make up being a CPA? That's lame. If I was faking, I'd go with lawyer or doctor or something. Or maybe I could have pretended to be a job-producing entrepreneur, like almost every conservative on the internet. And if you want, you can go to my blog and see I've been claiming to be a CPA for years now. In fact, I just did a search and found that I mentioned being a CPA in one of my very first posts and even offered to answer tax questions; which was back in July 2004. Why would I have faked such a stupid thing for so long?
Oddly, no one ever took me up on my offer and I'm kind of glad too, as I prefer to not answer specific tax questions for people who aren't clients. I can't imagine what I was thinking.
As for your theory that government debt is what caused the crisis, I'd like to see that one explained in detail. And I've never understood why anyone puts false info on a W4. Not only is it illegal, but you'll just end up owing at tax time. But of course, I always get a few employees who insist on playing these games, and then bitch at Uncle Sam when tax time comes around and they end up owing. You try to help them out but they're always too clever to bother listening to reason. I suspect they get their "knowledge" from the same source you do.
ripe al lyou want whether you believe people's motives or the numbers. The fact is, many ae fed up and are willing to do less rather than pay Uncle Sam the ridiculous tax Barry has added.
He was never going to take in any figure even close to what he estimated but now he will haveto lower the threshold of 250,000.
Many people are fedup and each group will weed out and do with less with each lowering of the bar. If you people are not smart enough to see the economy killer these policies are, your going to find out very shortly and there isn't a damn thing your bitching will do about it. Nope, the big earners and job makers will not work themselves to death and not enjoy a responable maount of fruits of their labor. You libby's can't make them and Zero can't either.
So Dr. Bio, if Obama icreases FICA to 250k, which has been tossed around, wouldn't that be a 9.3% increase on the next 140k above 110k? To the other anon, this would be considerably more than the rates during Clinton. I do find the condescension from Bio to be...typical of most leftists and something I only see on the web, never in person.
He was never going to take in any figure even close to what he estimated but now he will haveto lower the threshold of 250,000.
Once again, there IS no $250k threshold to get under. Every penny you make under $250k is taxed at the same rate whether or not your total income goes over that amount. The 39.6% rate only applies to the amount OVER that threshold. And if you think people are going to limit their income below that amount merely to avoid paying an extra 4.6%, you're crazy. That's the same top rate we had during the 90's, and I don't recall anyone going Galt over it.
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