In a tip of the hat to the social media so essential to his political media strategy ,President Obama held a town hall meeting at Facebook in my home town of Palo Alto, CA. He even told Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg that the 26 year old billionaire can afford to pay a little more in taxes.
The questions were mostly friendly and it was a good way to meet a generation that may not read and view the more traditional media.
The theme was the same...Republicans are radicals who want to change the social compact. The campaign is underway in earnest.
While I suspect Mr. Zuckerberg can afford more in taxes, so can General Electric which paid none last year. People at this level don't pay taxes in the sense we do, and this notion that we can solve budget problems by soaking the rich is just plain misleading.
But its obvious 2012 will be one of class warfare.
Obama, Facebook town hall: Obama tries to reconnect with youthful supporters at Facebook town hall - latimes.com
3 comments:
It is not obvious that 2012 will be one of class warfare. The issue will be shared sacrifice for reducing the deficit and addressing the other problems our country faces. This includes tax reform that asks the better off to pay progressively more for the benefits of our society. Phrases such as "soaking the rich" are not accurate or helpful because the logical antithesis would be "soaking the poor."
First of all, GE paid millions in taxes, if not hundreds of millions last year.
Second of all, if Zuckerberg or Obama want to pay more taxes or help take on the debt, they're more than welcome to mail a check to the Treasury Department any time they damn well please.
GE paid billions in taxes they just paid it to other countries and got credit for it here based on the tax rules that Charles Rangel's committee passed. They also got ro write off their losses last year like anyone else would.
It is true that billionaires can afford more. But Obama and his socialist left wing supporters throw Joe the plumber types that pay 35% in the same boat as the top 400 billionaires that pay 17%.
The Internal Revenue Service tracks the tax returns with the 400 highest adjusted gross incomes each year. The average income on those returns in 2007, the latest year for IRS data, was nearly $345 million. Their average federal income tax rate was 17 percent, down from 26 percent in 1992.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-ap-us-no-taxes,0,4397952.story
You ever notice that the rich that want higher taxes are the ones that came by their riches more by luck or scheme than by hard work? Gates ripped off all his software and Zuckerberg screwed over his college buds for his. Buffet buys companies and merges them into pseudo-monopolies. Mance made his money off from "owning" the airwaves.
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