Next stop...Galt's Gulch

Millionaires Go Missing - an OpEd piece posted on the Wall Street Journal.

I read this headline and almost peed myself in excitement. Could it be that Atlas has begun shrugging?

As the State of Maryland has discovered, raising taxes on the "super-rich" to fund bloated government budgets doesn't necessarily equate into more tax revenue for the state. From the article:

Maryland couldn't balance its budget last year, so the state tried to close the shortfall by fleecing the wealthy. Politicians in Annapolis created a millionaire tax bracket, raising the top marginal income-tax rate to 6.25%. And because cities such as Baltimore and Bethesda also impose income taxes, the state-local tax rate can go as high as 9.45%. Governor Martin O'Malley, a dedicated class warrior, declared that these richest 0.3% of filers were "willing and able to pay their fair share." The Baltimore Sun predicted the rich would "grin and bear it."

One year later, nobody's grinning. One-third of the millionaires have disappeared from Maryland tax rolls. In 2008 roughly 3,000 million-dollar income tax returns were filed by the end of April. This year there were 2,000, which the state comptroller's office concedes is a "substantial decline." On those missing returns, the government collects 6.25% of nothing. Instead of the state coffers gaining the extra $106 million the politicians predicted, millionaires paid $100 million less in taxes than they did last year -- even at higher rates.

Sure, the recession and the Bear market has likely taken a toll on the number of millionaire tax returns this year. And while it's not too likely Galt's Gulch has opened for business, it is very likely many of them have simply moved to more tax-friendly states. Raise the tax rates high enough and the "super rich" simply vanish, proving that Trickle Up Poverty really does work.

Community Organizers LOVE loopholes

Pay attention people. Pay close attention. Senator Obama promises that he, once elected, will not raise taxes on anyone making over $250,000, $200,000, $150,000 a year. Perhaps someone should ask the Boy Wonder how he defines the term "tax increase". In it's simplest forms, Senator Obama's tax plan will let the Bush Tax Cuts expire in 2010, returning everybody's tax rate back to what it was in 2000. Senator Obama doesn't consider this a tax increase. He considers this as "just letting a tax cut lapse."

He promises not to raise taxes on 95% of working Americans. And he won't. Once he allows the Bush tax cuts to lapse, he will have raised the taxes not on 5%, but 100% of working Americans. We will ALL pay more. And this is BEFORE his actual promised tax increase for some of us.

Ned Barnett from American Thinker explains this (as well as the other 3 lies loopholes in Senator Obama's tax plan) very well...

Check this for yourself. Go to http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/ and pull up the 1040 instructions for 2000 and 2007 and go to the tax tables. Based on your 2007 income, check your taxes rates for 2000 and 2007, and apply them to your taxable income for 2007. In 2000 -- Senator Obama's benchmark year -- you would have paid significantly more taxes for the income you earned in 2007. The Bush Tax Cuts, which Senator Obama has said he will allow to lapse, saved you money, and without those cuts, your taxes will go back up to the 2000 level. Senator Obama doesn't call it a "tax increase," but your taxes under "President" Obama will increase -- significantly.

According to the tax tables in Ned's article, a married family, filing jointly and earning $75,000 a year, will pay $3,074 more in taxes after the Bush tax cuts lapse. A family making just $50,000 will see an increase of $1,512. Remember, Obama doesn't even consider this a tax increase.

Another loophole, pointed out by Ned, is in the Social Security tax.

Currently, there is an inflation-adjusted cap, and according to the non-profit Tax Foundation, in 2006 -- the most recent year for which tax data is available -- only the first $94,700 of an unmarried individual's earnings were subject to the 12.4 percent payroll tax. However, Senator Obama has proposed lifting that cap, adding an additional 12.4 percent tax on every dollar earned above that cap -- and in spite of his promise, impacting all those who earn between $94,700 and $249,999.

I don't know about you, but I'd rather keep the money I make, rather than send it into President Obama for him to redistribute.

Trick or Treat

Obama-nomics in a nutshell

Obama-nonics

Confused about whether or not Obama's tax plan will benefit you or not? Well, you're not alone. His own running mate must be as well. In a campaign speech in Pennsylvania yesterday, Joe Biden made the statement that their promised tax break to the middle class will benefit those who make less than $150,000 a year.

"What we're saying is, that $87 billion tax break doesn't need to go to people making an average of $1.4 million," Biden said. "It should go to middle-class people, people who make $150,000 a year."

Obama originally claimed his tax cuts will benefit those under $250,000, and then he changed it to those under $200,000. Seems the line between rich and poor keeps creeping downward. At this rate, those who make over $50,000 may be considered "rich" and may have all their "wealth" redistributed to those less fortunate.

Sure, his proposed tax plan does have to get passed by Congress first. But with the Dems having control of Congress, it might just be a rubber-stamp away from fruition.

Unfortunately, the McCain campaign is so dysfunctional right now and can't seem to get out of their own way. I have no confidence they will be able to capitalize on this new definition of "rich" enough to make a difference next Tuesday.

Be scared America...be very scared.