September 22, 2008
Joe Biden on God, Patriotism, & Taxes
Happy Monday infidels. A great read on Biden and his new theological doctrine that God favors tax increases in today's WSJ:
Joe Biden isn't backing down from his startling claim last week that raising taxes on the rich is the "patriotic" thing to do. On Thursday he upped the ante, thundering that he also has Jesus in his corner. "Catholic social doctrine as I was taught it is, you take care of people who need the help the most," Mr. Biden preached to a group of union supporters on Thursday.Heavens! The political left likes to score Republicans for claiming that God is on their side, but here we have Mr. Biden claiming support from both God and Caesar. If Sarah Palin tried this, she'd send the boys at the Daily Kos into cardiac arrest. We won't get into a theological debate with Mr. Biden, except to say that Biblical tax rates tended to run around 10%, not the 39.6%-plus that Barack Obama's tax plan calls for.
As for patriotism, maybe the young Joe Biden missed school the day the Boston Tea Party was being taught. There's also the point that if you want to finance a war, you need a strong enough economy to throw off the tax revenues to pay for it. As we learned in the 1980s under Reagan, lower taxes that help an economy grow can finance a defense buildup that helps win the Cold War. By that standard, cuts in marginal income tax rates deserve to be called patriotic.
Regarding taxes and social justice, the issue is whether the high taxes that Mr. Biden favors promote economic growth and prosperity, not least for America's poorest citizens. There he doesn't have evidence on his side. Studies from around the world, including the annual Wall Street Journal-Heritage Foundation Index of Economic Freedom, conclusively indicate that countries that keep taxes low tend to have the least amount of poverty.
As for fairness, we'd note that today the top 1% of taxpayers pay twice as large a share of income taxes (39%) at a 35% rate than they did in 1980, when they were taxed at a rate of 70% yet paid only 19% of income taxes. In that sense, the tax code is more "progressive" now.
By the way, Mr. Biden and his wife recently released their tax returns, and they reported an average of $380, or 0.2% of their income, in annual charitable contributions over a 10-year period. The national average was about 2% of income.
And don't forget to set your Tivo tonight infidels to tape the Reagan bio on PBS' The American Experience. Check it out here.
Posted by Cigar Mike at September 22, 2008 09:11 AM
Comments
There they go again, imposing their religious virtues on us again...
Posted by: el polaco ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.babalublog.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at September 22, 2008 10:49 AM
"... you take care of people who need the help the most..."
Er, is "you" the government? or is it the Catholic flock? and if it's the flock (with its contributions), why the double dipping? Pious fraud; ever hear of the 8th commandment, "You shall NOT steal"? (Ex. 20:15). It presupposes private property, doesn't it? Where does it say in your Bible that the govt is the solution (financial or otherwise) for people in need? Huh? Doesn't it say the exact OPPOSITE?
Hey, dufus, aren't you mixing together CHURCH and STATE by citing Catholic teaching to support state taxation? Idiota. This from a man who (according to his own tax returns) gave less than 1% of income to charity with earnings of close to $2.5 million over the last 10 years.
Posted by: Gigi at September 22, 2008 11:58 AM
my reading of the scripture per my interpretation is that government is pretty much loathed and that it is up to the individual to make his or her due voluntarily; not because they are forced to do so.
Posted by: Cigar Mike Pancier at September 22, 2008 12:01 PM
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