One of my favorite tax analysis resources is The Tax Foundation. They prepare magnificent reports that let you compare the effective tax rate of living in certain states or locations versus others and much, much more. I spend a lot of time every year going through their data.
What I find fascinating on a purely sociological level is that more than 95 out of 100 households in the United States pay lower taxes than at any time since Ronald Reagan under the Obama administration and yet they continue to call him a socialist. I mean, anyone with even a cursory knowledge of taxation history in this country would realize things are better for most of you under him than they have been in (literally) almost all of my lifetime.
Seriously, this isn’t about politics; it’s about human nature. Lord knows I have my own qualms with the administration and I am the equivalent of a super-fiscal conservative and social moderate or liberal (depending upon the area of the country). But on that specific issue, I feel like some statesman standing in the corner whispering to the other statesmen, “Do these people realize they are better off and now we are picking up the tab and even then, we’re still paying less than at any time in the past 100 or so years?”
It’s just a really bizarre thing to watch. I really don’t think many of them understand that for them on financial issues, he’s about the best thing that ever happened.
Is it because he is also a social liberal and they associate him with things like immigration reform or ENDA, which would mean that private companies couldn’t fire transgendered people? I mean, the deficits were structural … no matter who won the election, we would still be in the dangerous balance sheet position we find ourselves now, which is why I was so angry about it five or six years ago. Do they not realize this?
It just seems like of all the things for which the administration can be criticized, socialism is not one of them when you consider that income tax rates were over 90% in the 1940’s for families making in excess of $1 million.
Someone, please explain it to me.
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