Terence Corcoran: The United States of Envy
Terence Corcoran
Jan 24, 2012
Welcome to the United States of Envy, land of the free and home of the brave so long as nobody makes too much more money than the next guy
Republican candidate Mitt Romney could have released his income tax returns two days ago or two weeks from now. Instead, he dumped 500 pages of his returns into America’s raging class warfare zone on the same day President Barack Obama was set to deliver his State of the Union address — an election document that, among other things, contained numerous devices aimed at expanding the war.
Welcome to the United States of Envy, land of the free and home of the brave so long as nobody makes too much more money than the next guy. The President’s address was peppered with references to fairness, the middle class, inequality and other code words that pander to the anti-rich and anti-capitalist Democratic core.
In a direct provocation aimed at Mr. Romney and his Republican compatriots, Mr. Obama orchestrated the public relations trick of having the personal secretary of billionaire Democrat Warren Buffett sit beside Michelle Obama during the State of the Union address. Mr. Buffett famously declared that he paid a higher tax rate on his total income, about 15%, than did his secretary, Debbie Bosanek.
Mr. Buffett never released his personal tax returns, which would show that—like Mr. Romney—he earns the vast bulk of his annual income from investments. Investment income is taxed at a lower rate than earned income, mainly because taxes are already paid by the corporation that generates the investment income.
Having Mr. Buffett’s secretary sitting beside the First Lady reflected the priority Mr. Obama will give to class warfare over the next year. He supports the Buffett Rule, which allegedly aims to tax the rich on all their income at the same rate that everybody else is taxed. Details are sketchy, but the Buffett surtax on the rich would apparently apply to about 500,000 Americans who earn more than $1-million a year.
The essential message is: Let’s Tax Away Mitt Romney’s Rich Man’s Income. His $20-million taxable income per year is also seen as ill-gotten by some definition, either through inheritance or corporate takeovers or venture capital activities or via Wall Street manipulation. Never mind that Mr. Romney’s effective tax rates—13.9% in 2010 and $15.4% in 2011—reflect his high investment income that is already taxed at various corporate levels. Any attempt to extract more tax out of Mr. Romney or any of America’s rich would amount to abusive double taxation.
All this attention directed at the oppressive rich and down-trodden middle class marks a a depressing decline in the U.S. moral code, which is that people have a right to get rich and getting rich helps fuel the economy.
Preoccupation with the incomes of Mr. Romney and the U.S. rich represents class warfare that is also a war on America’s past. Ayn Rand famously also said: “The upper classes are merely a nation’s past; the middle class is its future.” From out of today’s middle class will come tomorrow’s rich. Mr. Obama’s attack on today’s rich is also an attack on tomorrow’s rich, aiming to foreclose on the future ability of American’s to get rich being capitalists.
The Occupy Wall Street movement, born in the United States of Envy, aligns 99% of the population against the 1%, the rich that are America’s past. While he is running to be president tomorrow, Mr. Romney—as a wealthy man—represents America’s past achievements.
Perhaps the Romney strategy was to directly engage the Democrats in a war Mr. Obama seems all to eager to wage. “You want to go after the rich? Well, I’m rich and I’m ready to defend my wealth and my family’s achievement and America’s achievement in allowing us to become rich. My job is to make sure all American’s have the same opportunity.”
If that’s his plan, it’s a good one.
