Rich Wage Class War on Poor and Middle Class
- Michael Kinsley: Bush and
the new tyranny of the rich. The recently enacted tax bill is such a
shocking and brazen gift for the wealthy that it is hard to describe in
anything short of these cartoon-Marxist terms. After two Bush tax cuts,
consider how we now burden people at the bottom and at the top of the
economic ladder.
Income from a paycheck gets taxed now at a much higher rate, in many cases, than income from dividends and capital gains -- income that is grossly skewed in the top wealth classes. And if you're lucky enough to be born into a wealthy family, the income you receive by inheritance will soon be entirely tax-free.
One of these years the people -- the real people who work for their paychecks but can't afford to bribe members of Congress -- will realize what's been done to them. They will be very, very unhappy, and they'll respond accordingly.
Even mentioning this will attract the usual mindless jibes from right-wingers who believe rich kids' inheritances are more valuable to society than the sweat off their nannies' brows. All they'll be doing is restating their contempt for fairness in our society -- but that's nothing new, is it?
" posted by Dan Gillmor 07:02 AM
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