Friday, November 7, 2008

Taxes and Patriotism--An Interesting Proposal

Received the following in the morning email traffic. What do you think?

"One of my liberal friends pointed out the need for tax increases to pay the costs of the Bush "family crusade". Funny, they just don't realize that it's Obama's idea to raise our taxes not to fight a war, but to "spread the wealth around" that many oppose.

But I would like to propose an idea that would allow Obama supporters to start contributing their share this year, before he raises taxes or allows the Bush tax cuts to expire.

Most of your liberal friends, especially those with household incomes over $90,000/year (top 20% of earners, also known as "the rich") probably itemize their deductions when they do their taxes each year rather than taking the standard deduction. Writing off their $30k mortgage interest and the $12k property taxes on the McMansion makes a lot more sense economically than taking the standard deduction of $10,900. Bottom line, by itemizing they are avoiding paying taxes on a huge chunk of money.

So in order to be "patriotic", President-elect Obama should call on his supporters to figure out their taxes this year both ways; itemizing and using the standard deduction. The choice that provides the government with the most money is the one they should select."


3 comments:

Goldwater's Ghost said...

Why leave room for error? Why not eliminate itemized deductions altogether?

Anonymous said...

I am forwarding that idea to everyone on my distribution list.

The heading will be: "Don't Itemize... Patriotize"

Anonymous said...

Oprah should lead this initiative and publish how much her and her empire are able to contribute. Then they can watch as their liberal congresspeople squander their charity.

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