Friday, November 4, 2011

Harry Reid's Teeny, Tiny Tax On The Rich

Just a couple of days ago, Harry Reid took to the after hours podium of the Senate floor to drum up support for what he calls a "teeny, tiny tax" on the rich. But, once again, Reid's words don't match his actions.

Under the Senate Democrat's version of the Obama jobs bill, a 5.6% surtax would be levied on all incomes above one million dollars. Certainly, most Americans would see this as a reasonable increase on high end wage earners to solve our debt problem and to theoretically create jobs. But, you see, Harry's assault on the rich doesn't stop there. Harry fully expects the Bush tax cuts for the rich to expire in 2013; meaning that millionaires will see their current tax rate of 35% rise to 39.6%. So, when you add in the new surtax rate, millionaires will actually see their income tax rate rise from 35% to 44.6%; a jump of 26%. Not hardly a teeny, tiny bump in their tax rates.

Then, too, the expiration of the Bush tax cuts would increase the capital gains tax from 15% to 20%. This is another 33% rise that will not only hit the rich but anyone else who sells stocks or bonds at a profit. But, the tax rate won't simply stop at the 20% level. When ObamaCare was passed, another 3.8% tax was applied to capital gains activity; meaning that the true capital gains tax will rise to 23.8%. Overall, that's a whopping 58.8% increase in the tax on any capital investment income.

I'm still not done. There's one more teeny, tiny tax increase on the rich. Under ObamaCare, another 0.9% tax would be applied to them as a surcharge to pay for that health care law; bringing their total non-investment income tax rate to 45.5%.

So, Harry's supposed teeny, tiny increase appears to be a 30% jump in income taxes and a near 60% increase on investment income. Combine that with state income taxes, sales taxes, and real estate taxes and most millionaires with be paying more than half their income to taxation while nearly half of this country's wage earners pay nothing. Of course, in the eyes of a socialist Democrat like Harry, it's only fair.

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