New York’s Millionaires Call for Higher Taxes for the Wealthy to Target Poverty
21st March 2016
A group of around 40 millionaires wrote to Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo and senior legislators, calling on them to consider raising taxes on the state’s wealthiest residents to help address poverty and other problems.
This is not about providing more money for addressing ‘problems’, which these people could easily do merely by donating large amounts of their own money to the State for such purposed. No, this is about forcing other people to spend money on this crowd’s priorities, whether they like it or not. The ‘problem’ is merely the excuse; it’s the coercion they like.
“As a businessman and philanthropist and as a citizen of New York State, I believe we need to invest in our people and our infrastructure,” said Mr Hindery, the managing partner of InterMedia Partners, a media industry private equity fund.
This is, of course, horseshit. Government spending is not ‘investment’, because investments bring returns; government spending is by definition ‘consumption’, as any Real Economist will tell you. This guy knows that — he’s just betting that Low Information Voters will not.
The Associated Press said the so-called one-percent plan would create new, higher tax rates for those making $665,000 or more.
And that reveals the Secret Agenda. It’s not about ‘soaking the rich’, but about ‘soaking the almost-rich so that they won’t actually get rich’. Similarly, large companies favor extensive government regulations because they know that their revenues are enough to cover the costs, but that smaller firms that might prove a threat will be forced to the wall by the expense.
There is no more loathsome a snake than the rich man who calls for higher taxes.