Mark Zuckerberg, Ted Turner, Warren Buffett, and plenty more folks who presumably wear gold-plated underwear and travel only by hovercraft,* say they are quite willing to pay more in taxes. A very laudable sentiment. But this wait-and-see attitude isn’t what got them a billion dollars in the first place, right?
Luckily, they can get started paying more taxes today! How? Well, they could donate directly to the U.S. Treasury, just like IHT does. But we have an even better idea. We at IHT do not discriminate, we sell our shirts to billionaires and $19.99-aires alike. All our proceeds go the U.S. Treasury. No need to wait for Congress and the President to raise tax rates— you can pay your fair share today, and pick up some snazzy merchandise in the process. Here’s an artist’s rendering of the happy, patriotic result:
Thank you, Mr. Gates, Mr. Buffett, and Mr. Zuckerberg, for your tax patriotism, and we look forward to your bulk orders!
* A quick poll of IHT offices brought these answers to the question, “How could you spend a billion dollars?”
We hope not, since he has much more important things to do. But these remarks from the President today are worth a read.
You’ll hear a lot of folks, by the way, say that government is broken. Well, government and politics are two different things. Government is our troops who are fighting on our behalf in Afghanistan and Iraq. That’s government. (Applause.) Government are also those FEMA folks when there’s a flood or a drought or some emergency who come out and are helping people out. That’s government. Government is Social Security. Government are teachers in the classroom. (Applause.) Government are our firefighters and our police officers, and the folks who keep our water clean and our air clean to breathe, and our agricultural workers. And when you go to a national park, and those folks in the hats — that’s government.
[…]
[D]on’t buy into this whole notion that somehow government doesn’t do us any good; government is what protects us. The government is what built the Interstate Highway System. Government is what sent a man to the Moon. It’s what invested in the research and development that created innovations all across this country.
In today’s New York Times, Warren Buffett argues for higher tax rates for the wealthy. An immensely successful investor, Warren Buffett’s as qualified as anyone to say what effect higher taxes would have on business. What does he think?
I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone — not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77 — shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain. People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off.
Mr. Buffett says he’s not the only tax patriot among America’s richest families.
I know well many of the mega-rich and, by and large, they are very decent people. They love America and appreciate the opportunity this country has given them. Many have joined the Giving Pledge, promising to give most of their wealth to philanthropy. Most wouldn’t mind being told to pay more in taxes as well, particularly when so many of their fellow citizens are truly suffering.
It’s heartening to see people who have benefitted so much from America being ready to give back. Let’s hope Washington is listening.
This funny guy has some serious tax pride:
Recently my accountant said, “You need to do this to pay less in taxes.” My response was that I have been waiting my whole life to pay taxes. This is how it’s supposed to work. This is how we are able to fund the things that make this country work—like roads and schools.
Amen to that! (And thanks to IHT reader Chloe for the link!)
From across the nation, Americans are calling on tax dollars to save the day:
If corporations and households taking in $1 million or more in income each year were now paying taxes at the same annual rates as they did back in 1961, the IPS researchers found, the federal treasury would be collecting an additional $716 billion a year.
In other words, if the federal government started taxing the wealthy and their corporations at the same rates in effect a half-century ago, the federal debt to investors would almost totally vanish over the next decade.
(And in other pro-tax news, the New York Times points out that the expiration of airfare taxes haven’t lowered prices.)
Can tax dollars get healthy food to kids, rebuild our cities, and smash our deficit to smithereens? Stay tuned — same tax-time, same tax-channel!
Great article by Sally Kohn in the Christian Science Monitor this week:
Imagine if, when Henry Ford wanted to start the Ford Motor Company, he had to not only drill for oil himself but also oversee the laying of pipelines and production infrastructure across government-owned land so his cars could have gas to make them go.[…]
Businesses in the United States don’t succeed in spite of our government, in many ways, they succeed because of our government. Through our taxes, we fund the legal and economic infrastructure of private sector success. By definition, those businesses that get the most out of that infrastructure are those that should give the most back.
Kohn talks mostly about the value businesses get from taxes when they produce their products. Good point. But taxes are also the reason they have so many customers. If this were your commute, a lot fewer people would buy cars. And then there’s the incalculable value of have educated, healthy employees and consumers.
Kinda makes you wonder how any business could not heart taxes!
Tax patriot Conor Williams has written a lovely blog post about IHT! But he’s certainly not new to tax pride. Check out his awesome posts here and here. Seriously, you don’t want to miss out on the Beatles-themed pro-tax patriotism:
Woke up (to clean air, thanks to the EPA/Clean Air Act), fell out of bed (whose mattress and pillows didn’t catch fire, thanks to the USCPSC), Dragged a (lead-free, thanks to the USCPSC) comb across my head (not a hair on it harmed, thanks to the Department of Defense, local police, and other assorted agencies)
Awesome.
