Republicans for Tax Hikes

Slate ^ | Aug. 22, 2011 | David Weigel

[feralcat]

It's not news when Jon Huntsman criticizes fellow Republicans. It's news when he agrees with them. On Sunday, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Huntsman found himself in a virtual love-in with Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann over, of all things, taxes. The paper asked Huntsman if "the half of American households no longer paying income tax—mainly working poor families and seniors—should be brought onto the income tax rolls."

He agreed, crediting the GOP's current front-runner for vice president, Sen. Marco Rubio, with the insight that "we don't have enough people paying taxes in this country."

The Journal called this position the "new GOP orthodoxy," which it is. When he announced his presidential bid two weeks ago, Perry told a room of conservative activists and bloggers that "we're dismayed at the injustice that nearly half of all Americans don't even pay any income tax." He was following on Bachmann, who'd just told the South Carolina Christian Chamber of Commerce the very same thing.

"Part of the problem is today, only 53 percent pay any federal income tax at all; 47 percent pay nothing," said Bachmann. "We need to broaden the base so that everybody pays something, even if it's a dollar. Everyone should pay something, because we all benefit."

Huntsman, Perry, Bachmann: All of them are taking a bold stand in favor of cognitive dissonance. The main reason Washington couldn't get a "grand bargain" on the budget and debt ceiling was that Republicans balked at increasing taxes on anyone. How did we get from there to the notion that it would be a good idea to raise taxes on the 60-odd million people who didn't end up owing the IRS any money last year?

[feralcat]

This author completely misses the point as to why conservatives think it is a problem that so many people pay nothing in federal income taxes. It's not about the money; it's about citizenship. Everyone needs to contribute to those things that the public at large benefits from: defense, highways, etc.

Letting large numbers of Americans benefit from government without paying federal income tax encourages them to think the federal government costs nothing. Recall the reporter who interviewed people in Detroit in line to get stimulous handouts:

ROGULSKI: Why are you here?
WOMAN #1: To get some money.
ROGULSKI: What kind of money?
WOMAN #1: Obama money.
ROGULSKI: Where's it coming from?
WOMAN #1: Obama.
ROGULSKI: And where did Obama get it?
WOMAN #1: I don't know, his stash. I don't know. (laughter) I don't know where he got it from, but he givin' it to us, to help us.
WOMAN #2: And we love him.
WOMAN #1: We love him. That's why we voted for him!
WOMEN: (chanting) Obama! Obama! Obama! (laughing)

That's the kind of mindset conservatives want to stop.

[Randy Larsen]

Dude walks like a lady!

[Hogblog]

Switch hitter..........

[Randy Larsen]

Does he ever get to pitch?

[FlingWingFlyer]

..."we don't have enough people paying taxes in this country."

Damn straight! 52% aren't paying income taxes and "sharing the sacrifice". It's time that everyone adds a little skin to the game and starts sharing the sacrifice. We need to stop relying on "the rich" to fund BIG government for us. If "americans" want BIG government, EVERYONE should be willing to help pay for it.

[jmax]

I think Huntsman has been part of the obama REELECTION TEAM from day one. They already had him on the line to enter the 2012 election, knowing he could not win, but could make waves by condemning the Republican frontrunners at future debates. He will probably run as an Independent and be secretly supported by obama reelection a$$holes to drain off Republican votes. Afterall, he spent many, many months as part of the obama administration.

[WhoisAlanGreenspan?]

Ron Paul's guy says "If half of the American people don't pay income taxes, then we are halfway to our goal of eliminating it for everyone."

Seems like the author thinks he's found a trap door for the gop, politically.

Free cell phones for the poor? Free tv for prisoners? Why are we paying for that?

I'll be interested in what Sarah has to say on this issue.

[Bigg Red]

Huntsman is a very girly man. I was watching a clip of him today, and I wanted to tell him, “Keep your head still, and stop flipping it around like a girl.” Even if he said things I agreed with, I just could not put my confidence in such an unmanly man.