Caution, Taxing ‘The Rich’ Robs the Dream

“By means of shrewd lies, unremittingly repeated, it is possible to make people believe that heaven is hell — and hell heaven. The greater the lie, the more readily it will be believed.”
—Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf
“The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.” “The best way to destroy the capitalist system is to debauch the currency.”
—Vladimir Lenin
Ever mindful that those who did not learn from it will relive history, I read those chilling quotations and try to place it into perspective today.
When Hitler came to power, few ever imagined what horrors awaited the world, as his dreams, which relied upon repeated lies, became reality. We ought to be very suspicious that the news we see and hear is true.
I see a troubling trend forming: Wealth and “the rich” are being demonized. It is as if all of a sudden, there is a need to create a monster in the eyes of the public, and those who have been successful in life are to be scorned and penalized for having achieved the American dream.
New Jersey, among other states, is in a pinch for pennies. I will use pennies, because poor people can understand them rather than dollars, which only “the rich” possess, or so we are being led to believe.
Democrats put forth in the state Legislature S-10, which would increase the gross income tax rate on income exceeding $1 million for taxable year 2010.
There are about 16,000 Garden State residents who fall within that bracket, this writer not being one of them. However, I do not hold that income fact against them for having more money than me. Whether they were lucky at the craps tables, inherited their money or, how old fashioned, earned it is not for me to fret about, nor is it up to the state to help itself because of their fortune.
Gov. Chris Christie vetoed the bill, and Republicans vowed not to cast one vote in favor of it to allow a Democrat-push to override the veto.
The tax would be $72,657.50 plus 10.75 percent of the excess over $1 million. For married individuals filing separately, unmarried individuals other then those filing as head of household or as surviving spouse for federal income tax purposes and estates and trusts, the tax would be $74,573.75 plus 10.75 percent of the excess over $1 million.
The bill provides a “temporary adjustment” to the rate of gross income tax between Jan. 1, 2010 and Jan. 1, 2011.
It was intended that the money generated be used to “restore critical programs that would otherwise be cut or reduced in the annual appropriations act.”
As proposed in the Governor’s budget, homestead property tax rebates for over 500,000 senior citizens and residents with disabilities would be eliminated.
Add the cuts in municipal and school aid because the Garden State is broke into the mix, and there is no reason not to love a millionaire’s tax, right?
What’s a tiny income tax hike to those “fat cats?” Yeah, yeah, I can hear the masses screaming “Off with their heads! Sell their houses. Let us live in those mansions. Give us the money in their bank accounts. They oppress us because of their wealth. Banish them to the wilds of Alaska forever.”
Since 11 workers were tragically killed on the oil drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico, and oil has fouled the sea and land as we have never before seen, BP and other oil firms have been under the microscope of every official including the registrar of vital statistics.
We are shown graph after graph of “obscene” profits by major oil companies. We are being force fed to view those publicly held companies as public enemies because they turn huge profits.
I hate to rain on anyone’s parade, but is not the American capitalist society built upon profit? Were it not for those profits, where would government taxes be found? Why should the successful, who are shrewd money managers, be castigated for being astute with their finances?
Any person with enough money to buy a share or two or 200 of those companies is entitled to part of those “obscene” profits as dividends. Were it not for those investors, both large and small, companies would not have those large sums to invest, to drill and experiment, to research and refine products.
To hear elected officials belittle successful firms and those who attain millionaire status as if they committed a crime is outrageous. It is what Hitler and Lenin had in mind in the quotations are the top of this column.
Who creates jobs in America? It certainly is not government, which can only “create” jobs when it takes money from those successful enough to have earned it, in large and small quantities. Jobs are created by companies, the larger the more jobs they can create and retain, unlike the temporary jobs, such as the census jobs, that bloated the jobs picture for a fleeting moment, then disappear.
The American dream is still attainable. Ask successful owners of donut shops or gas stations or cleaning businesses. Those willing to work hard can still, regardless of what the majority may think, accumulate wealth. It is possible for those who believe and will not quit.
Since that is true, why should those who succeed be penalized? Are we not taking away the incentive that made America great by sucking off the bank accounts of those who have what we wish we had? Wasn’t that the idea Hitler and Lenin had to twist the truth and create a society that ultimately failed miserably?