Taxing poor people

by | Sep 21, 2015 | Budget, Editor's Blog, Tax Reform | 12 comments

Well, now we know what’s holding back North Carolina’s economy. It’s those damn poor people hoarding all that money and demanding too many services. Thank goodness the Republicans in the General Assembly are there to make sure they pry it loose and get it back its rightful owners, those rich job creators.

The latest round of so-called tax reform lowers the rate but adds taxes to services like car repairs. To put that in real terms, that drop in the tax rates saves about $50 a year for people making $30,000 and almost $500 a year for people making $100,000. On the flip side, if those folks making $30,000 have more than $750 in auto repairs in a year, they just got hit with a tax increase.

So who do you think pays more money in car repairs each year? The guy driving the 1997 Ford Escort with 200,000 miles on it? Or the woman in the 2015 Mercedes Benz? I guess maybe he needs to learn to fix his own cars like they used to do. Of course I quit working on my own cars in the early 1990s when I crossed some wires and fried the computer in my 1984 Ford pickup truck. Cost me about $1500 at a time when I was making $9 an hour as a carpenter with a year old baby and a wife in graduate school.

Broadening the tax base by taxing services might sound good, but the services the GOP has chosen to tax disproportionally hurt working families. They’re not taxing things like financial services or accounting that are used more by wealthy people. To hear the GOP tell it, that wouldn’t be fair. They need to make sure that any distribution of wealth goes from the poor and middle class back to the wealthy.

And it’s not just taxes that will hurt those struggling to get by. It’s fees on vehicle registration and drivers licenses. They’ve increased the cost of tuition at community colleges, the place that so many unemployed and underemployed people go to get the skills they need to get back into the workforce. I’d like to know how many people making over $100,000 a year are enrolled at community colleges. They’re even raising the cost of having a baby. If you think the GOP is somehow on your side, you’re either making a bunch of money or you’re flat out wrong.

And to further offset the tax cut for the wealthy, the GOP is cutting or underfunding services. Per pupil spending is lower this year than last. Adjusted for inflation, education spending is 6.4% lower than 2007-08 even though we have 4% more students. They cut local mental health budgets by more than $100,000. Like there’s no link between mental health issues and poverty.

The GOP agenda is clear. As long as the wealthy are doing well, everything is doing fine. For the rest of us, we deserve what we get—especially if we vote for Republicans.

12 Comments

  1. Ben Howe

    I think HunterC’s point was that it is the reverse of socialism, from the poor to the rich.

  2. Joy Hewett

    Trying to understand Republican logic is like asking a bank robber to reconsider his actions. There is no ethical common ground on which to try to relate to greedy, selfish, immoral, unethical dunderheads. I keep trying, and it’s pointless to use reasoning with those with no brains or consciences, just unimpeded greed for motivation.

  3. Apply Liberally

    “Per pupil spending is lower this year than last. Adjusted for inflation, education spending is 6.4% lower than 2007-08 even though we have 4% more students.”

    Waiting for the neo-cons to weigh in on —and roil— this point. If they don’t just call it an outright liberal lie, they’ll ignore the effects of rising costs and the growing NC student population on the quality of the education a kid can receive, and they’ll blather “We are spending more money on public education than ever before.” They always seem to have problems with understanding the concept of inflation and per-pupil spending.

    • Norma

      Budget shenanigans from elected officials of all parties, age, size and gender are inevitable. Unfortunately, far too many regular folks are not really mathematically fluent and don’t grasp easily the game playing. Most of the press are little better, and either use only the press releases for their information or just cannot get the picture well enough to write clearly about the issues. Glad to see this article with facts, not platitudes.

    • Mooser

      They LOVE to say they are spending “more” by always using absolute numbers, and ignoring two very important things – the number of students, and inflation. A million dollars in 2008 isn’t the same as a million dollars today. The per-pupil spending is a much more accurate assessment of what they are spending. Ugh.

      • Progressive Wing

        Mooser: They, like Ebrun on other threads, are counting on the average voter not understanding (or bothering/wanting to understand) the notion of raw (absolute) figures versus relative (or proportional) figures. In doing so, they find can appeal to the inattentive and gullible voters much more easily, via sound-bites and bullet points.

  4. Arnie

    In a letter to James Madison written in 1785, Thomas Jefferson (the well known socialist – I say half jokingly), wrote “I am conscious that an equal division of property is impracticable. But the consequences of this enormous inequality producing so much misery to the bulk of mankind, legislators cannot invent too many devices for subdividing property. . . [a] means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to exempt all from taxation below a certain point, and to tax the higher portions of property in geometrical proportion as they rise”. But then what did our founding fathers know? Without resorting to political labels, we need to have an honest and profound discussion about issues of social and economic justice. [Citation taken from Wikiquote.]

  5. cosmicjanitor

    It is past time that we begin referring to the right-wing extremist running the NC.GA as what they really are – ‘corporatist zealots’, because conservatives they are not. As long as our votes continue to be tallied on corporately owned electronic voting machines these zealots will remain in office because the powers that be rig everything in their favor. For those who would throw Obama in my face as a glaring example of my accusation being wrong, I would like to point out to you that, aside from the bloviator rhetoric over the airwaves, Obama has caved to almost every republikan demand, he has continued and furthered the Bush/Cheney doctrine of preemption and military aggression against sovereign nations, he has stocked his administration and executive appointments with neo-cons and has gone against the wishes of the people in almost every situation – the Obamacare controversy is an intentional public distraction, it has provided a significant subsidized windfall for the insurance industry. Obama was placed in office to appease the people with false hope, he is a DINO who was selected and groomed for this purpose – nothing in US. politics ever happens by accident.

  6. Alex Jones

    Allow me to add water-skiing lessons to the things they refuse to tax. It’s completely ludicrous.

  7. HunterC

    Socialism!

    Just from the poor to the rich

    Don’t be afraid to use the word.

    • theodore Ziolkowski

      HUNTER C. WHEN YOU LEARN WHAT A TRUE SOCIALIST IS AND WHAT THEY STAND FOR THEN USE THE WORD.

      JESUS CHRIST WAS A SOCIALIST.

      Socialism is a social and economic system characterized by social ownership and/or social control of the means of production and co-operative management of the economy, as well as a political theory and movement that aims at the establishment of such a system. “Social ownership” may refer to cooperative enterprises, common ownership, state ownership (achieved by nationalization), citizen ownership of equity, or any combination of these. There are many varieties of socialism and there is no single definition encapsulating all of them.

      A socialist economy is based on the principle of production for use, to directly satisfy economic demand and human needs, and objects are valued by their use-value, as opposed to the principle of production for profit and accumulation of capital. In the traditional conception of a socialist economy, coordination, accounting and valuation are performed in kind (using physical quantities), by a common physical magnitude, or by a direct measure of labor-time in place of financial calculation. For distributing output, two alternative principles have been proposed: to each according to his contribution and from each according to his ability, to each according to his need. The advisability, feasibility and exact way of allocating and valuing resources are the subjects of the socialist calculation debate.

      The socialist political movement includes a diverse array of political philosophies. Core dichotomies include reformism versus revolutionary socialism, and state socialism versus libertarian socialism. While all tendencies of socialism consider themselves democratic, the term “democratic socialism” is often used to highlight its advocates’ high value for democratic processes and political systems and usually to draw contrast to other socialist tendencies they may perceive to be undemocratic. The varieties of socialism differ in the type of social ownership they advocate, the degree to which they rely on markets or planning, how management is to be organized within productive institutions, and the role of the state in constructing socialism. Today, some socialists have adopted the causes of other social movements, such as environmentalism, feminism and liberalism.

      Modern socialism originated from an 18th-century intellectual and working-class political movement that criticized the effects of industrialization and private property on society. The revival of republicanism in the American Revolution of 1776 and the revival of egalitarianism in the French Revolution of 1789 converged into the rise of socialism as a distinct political movement by the turn of the century. Initially, “socialism” referred to general concern for the social problems of capitalism regardless of the solutions to those problems. However, by the late 19th century, after waves of revolutionary movements, “socialism” had come to signify opposition to capitalism and advocacy for a post-capitalist system based on some form of social ownership. During this time, German philosopher Karl Marx and his collaborator Friedrich Engels published works criticizing the utopian aspects of contemporary socialist trends, and applied a materialist understanding of socialism as a phase of development which will come about through social revolution instigated by escalating and conflicting class relationships within capitalism. Within this surge of opposition to capitalism appeared other more or less complementary tendencies such as anarchism, communism, and social democracy and later, the confluence of socialism with anti-imperialist and anti-racist struggles around the world.

      Socialism became the most influential worldwide movement and political-economic world view of the 20th century. Many anarchist, socialist and Marxist tendencies argue that the Soviet Union did not establish socialism, but rather established state capitalism.[18][19][20] Socialist parties and ideas remain a political force with varying degrees of power and influence in all continents, leading national governments in many countries.

      “SOCIALISM” = a GOVERNMENTAL SYSTEM OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE, AND FOR THE PEOPLE. DOES THAT SOUND FAMILIAR?????

      • John Emerson

        Please, no need to cut and paste passages from Wikipedia here. We all know how to find your reference.

        Almost every successful capitalist society in the world today incorporates aspects of socialism, as capitalism does not otherwise work well for all members of a society.

        The current sorry state of our society has resulted from a persistent creep to the right which has been worsening since the Reagan administration. Clinton made successful corrections which were undone by Bush 43.

        More regulation by an empowered government will be needed to return vitality and prosperity to our people – meaning everybody who is NOT in the upper class.

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