Liberals want you to pay your “fair share”, but not them.
My greatest annoyance with liberals is the purebred hypocrisy of them. How many flies’ a private jet or always first class, but lecture middle/lower class people about using gas- or diesel-powered cars to work or vacation. Or complain about “the rich” not paying their fair share, when they are worth millions and use every dodge the tax code allows to shield their income.
Classic example, John Forbes Kerry, the haughty French looking Massachusetts Democrat, who by the way serviced in Vietnam (JFKTHFLMDWBTYSIV) is far too important to take commercial air to one climate change conference after another. Now you flying Southwest to visit family or for a vacation is a threat to the existence of humanity, but him taking the “family” jet (actually his wife’s, like a good liberal he didn’t earn wealth, he married it) is required because it’s the only option for a man as important as him. Just what he said:
“If you offset your carbon, it’s the only choice for somebody like me who is traveling the world to win this battle,” Kerry said in an interview with local outlet RUV, unearthed by Fox News on Wednesday.
As a good liberal, Kerry is very rich, again thanks to marrying well. A few years back his rich wife gave him a $7 million-dollar yacht. So what does this good liberal do to pay his “fair share?” Docks it in another state to dodge Massachusetts taxes:
Sen. Kerry docks yacht in R.I., saves on taxes
Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry is docking his family’s new $7 million yacht in neighboring Rhode Island, saving roughly $500,000 in Bay State taxes.
Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry is docking his family’s new $7 million yacht in neighboring Rhode Island, allowing him to avoid paying roughly $500,000 in taxes to his cash-strapped home state…
…Kerry spokesman David Wade said Friday the boat is being kept at Newport Shipyard not to evade taxes, but “for long-term maintenance, upkeep and charter purposes.”
In the immortal words of Dr. Evil, Riiight.
On to other hypocrisy. Like millions last Monday I did not watch the Academy Awards. Last time I can recall watching it was in 1993 when Unforgiven won. The nominees get gift bags with items worth tens of thousands in them. Well, guess who is interested in those now? The IRS.
Oscars Nominees to Be Hit with Up to $63,000 Tax Bill for What Was in ‘Free’ Gift Bags
Gift bags handed out to Oscars nominees come with a tax liability that can top 50 percent of the value of the bags.
Who gets to pay when you get a gift? All of those Hollywood A-listers who accepted gift bags at the Oscars or any other awards show.
Holy cow, $63K in taxes on a “gift?” Now this shows something, taxes do make people change their behavior. That is heresy to good libs that infect Hollywood. But isn’t this an example of taxes affecting behavior?
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences no longer hands out bags due to the tax issue.
Over at Forbes, contributor Robert Wood looked at the cost of the freebies and estimated that the gift bags handed out this year totaled $126,000 in value each. For the record, that’s down from the $137,000 per bag estimated last year by CNBC.
The Internal Revenue Service has long decided these gifts were not really like presents from grandpa and grandma under the Christmas tree…
…The IRS alerted the entertainment industry in 2006 to the practice of taxing so-called gifts years ago, writing, “In general, the person has received taxable income equal to the fair market value of the bag and its contents and must report that amount on his or her federal income tax return.”
Wood did the math. Ouch.
“At the 37 percent IRS tax rate, that’s $46,620. California-based stars will have to pay California’s up to 13.3 percent tax too, another $16k or so. That’s up to $63,378 in state and federal taxes,” he wrote.
Oscar nominees in the acting and directing categories received more than 60 gifts.
This year’s choices included a three-night stay at The Lifestyle in Canada worth $40,000, a $12,000 arm liposuction procedure, a private hair restoration consultation valued at $7,000 and $10,000 worth of cosmetic procedures.
“It seemed a little inappropriate to offer a gesture of thanks that then carried with it a [tax] obligation,” Leslie Unger, a representative for the Academy, told CNN in 2006, when the deal with the IRS was struck to tax all gift bags from that point forward.
So if you tax an item or activity too highly, it reduces that activity. I’m shocked, shocked I tell you to hear this from the Left Coast.
I recall a former actor, governor of California, and president words on taxation:
Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
Ronald Reagan
Years ago the late Rush Limbaugh put out a report from the Congressional Budget Office showing how taxes affect revenue. The CBO was asked by a republican senator to estimate the revenue collected by a 100% tax on all income above $250,000 (mid 90s, going by a 30-year-old memory may be a little off). The CBO estimated first year revenue of $300 billion, followed by revenue of 325 billion the following year. Nothing could be more insane. If everything above 250K were taken, no one would every be paid above 250K. What is the point, seeing you would not see a dime above 250K (and little below 250K)?
The point of this? People react to tax rates and laws. So to all those good liberals in Hollyweird who are annoyed at being told to “pay your fair share,” those of us in Flyover Country can only say, “We feel your pain.”
Michael A. Thiac is a retired Army intelligence officer, with over 23 years experience, including serving in the Republic of Korea, Japan, and the Middle East. He is also a retired police patrol sergeant, with over 22 years’ service, and over ten year’s experience in field training of newly assigned officers. He has been published at The American Thinker, PoliceOne.com, and on his personal blog, A Cop’s Watch.
Opinions expressed are his alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of current or former employers.
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Standard lib BS, taxes (rules) for thee, not for me. Who’s surprised?