Real Reason Libs Tax Wealthy

Why do so "many young liberal bloggers cheer on proposals to raise tax rates on high earners," wonders Michael Barone in an op-ed today. It isn't to increase government revenue, because it generally results in less revenue. And it isn't to ensure they pay 'their fair share', since as it is "the American tax system, including the payroll tax and state and local taxes, is more progressive — in the sense of extracting disproportionate shares of revenue from high earners — than most European tax regimes..."

I think the answer to the puzzle can be found in a remark Barack Obama made during the 2008 fall campaign — a remark that seemed to go mostly unnoticed.

ABC's Charlie Gibson asked candidate Obama if he would raise capital gains taxes even if, as in the past, that brought in less revenue to the federal government.

Yes, said Obama. "I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness."

Ponder that answer for a moment. A candidate for president — president now — said he wants to take more money from people who earned it even though doing so would produce less money for the government.

The philosophy that has to be behind that answer is also behind the Obama administration budgets that have proposed capping the charitable deduction for high earners. The clearly intended result would be a massive transfer of money from the voluntary sector of society into government.

Alexis de Tocqueville in the 1830s identified the voluntary sector as a unique feature of American democracy,one that gave it strength and character. He compared it positively with his own France, where centralized government stifled initiative and innovation.

[snip]

Higher tax rates on high earners, even if they produce less revenue, are an attempt to centralize power in government and to limit the autonomy and countervailing power of individuals in the voluntary sector.

Which is why the liberal bloggers cheer them on. And why they eagerly join the Obama White House in demonizing the Koch brothers, who donate large sums to conservative causes. (Disclosure: I have spoken at two Koch conferences and was reimbursed for travel expenses.)

The Obama Democrats don't want their funders like George Soros getting competition from the likes of Charles and David Koch.

In a contest "to make this country more like Toqueville's France" or "to keep it more like Toqueville's America," concludes Barone, "the liberal bloggers are rooting for France."