I was arguing with my right-wing neighbor (God knows why I bother) about the topic of taxes. Like any Rush-listening moron, he believes that the rich pay an "unfairly large" share of taxes in the U.S. I pointed out to him that Warren Buffett, the third-richest person on earth, has noted that he pays less taxes, as a percentage of income, than does his secretary. I think this pretty much went over the head of my right-wing neighbor. "Then, why doesn't he just pay his secretary more?" he asked me. I tried to explain that multi-billionaires should at least pay as big a percentage of their income into taxes as working-class people, but I eventually gave up. It's interesting, though. A few years back, Buffett was the darling of the Right and was regularly praised by the likes of Limbaugh. Now, the wingnuts have just quietly tip-toed away from him (just like they did their former hero, Alan Greenspan, after he wrote in his book that the Iraq War really was all about the oil).
I was arguing with my right-wing neighbor (God knows why I bother) about the topic of taxes. Like any Rush-listening moron, he believes that the rich pay an "unfairly large" share of taxes in the U.S.
ReplyDeleteI pointed out to him that Warren Buffett, the third-richest person on earth, has noted that he pays less taxes, as a percentage of income, than does his secretary.
I think this pretty much went over the head of my right-wing neighbor. "Then, why doesn't he just pay his secretary more?" he asked me.
I tried to explain that multi-billionaires should at least pay as big a percentage of their income into taxes as working-class people, but I eventually gave up.
It's interesting, though. A few years back, Buffett was the darling of the Right and was regularly praised by the likes of Limbaugh. Now, the wingnuts have just quietly tip-toed away from him (just like they did their former hero, Alan Greenspan, after he wrote in his book that the Iraq War really was all about the oil).