**   
      
    *Talking About Taxes*   
      
    By Fred Rotondaro, Chairman, Catholics in Alliance for the   
    Common Good   
      
    There are very silly things, and a few smart things, being said   
    about taxes these days.   
      
    Take Grover Norquist for instance. Mr Norquist has been chair of   
    Americans for Tax Reform since 1986 and has generally operated   
    in semi-obscurity. He's been all over the airwaves recently and   
    even penned an op-ed for the New York Times. Norquist's topic?   
    Taxes and why he's against them. He has a pledge signed by 276   
    of 289 Republicans members of Congress saying they will never   
    vote for a tax increase. Mr. Norquist interprets the pledge as   
    including the preservation of billions of dollars in tax   
    subsidies to corporations. Taking the subsidies away, he says,   
    counts as a tax increase and he won't let any Republican do   
    that. If they do, they may well find themselves facing a well   
    financed primary opponent.   
      
    Where does Norquist's power - and his funding - come from? He   
    won't say. Anybody want to take my bet that it comes from large   
    corporations who use Norquist as an enforcer to keep their taxes   
    low and their subsidies high? Al Capone take notice.   
      
    Now Republican spokesmen, whether it's John Boehner or the   
    twenty-something attractive blonde billed as a Republican   
    strategist, don't really want to get into the role played by   
    Norquist and his corporate sponsors. So they've developed other   
    language about taxes. "You can't tax the job creators during a   
    recession," they robotically repeat. They say this time and time   
    again despite the simple fact that after George Bush's three tax   
    cuts, there was no upsurge in employment, the country had the   
    greatest recession since 1929, and we still have 15 million   
    unemployed. And the Republicans in Congress never seem to   
    explain though why it's ok to take trillions away from the poor   
    and middle class during a recession.   
      
    Those job creators really better shape up. They have most of   
    the wealth in the country: the top 1 percent of America's   
    wealthiest citizens has more assets than the bottom 90 percent.   
    And a mere 400 Americans have more wealth than half of all   
    Americans. So, where are the jobs? In other countries, that's   
    where. But they're not here. In fact, the super job creator,   
    George W. Bush, created fewer jobs per years in office than any   
    other president since Herbert Hoover.   
      
    Think Progress, a unit of the liberal Center for American   
    Progress--disclosure, I am a senior fellow at CAP-- recently   
    had some things to say about taxes. They did some comparative   
    studies.  A few of their conclusions: The tax burden on the   
    American upper class is lower than most other countries. Ditto   
    for American corporations. The top tax rate is nominally 35   
    percent but the majority of billionaires don't pay anywhere near   
    that amount because much of their money is invested and they pay   
    only a capital gains rate of 15 percent.   
      
    Warren Buffet, a few years ago, in arguing for tax reform,   
    pointed out that he paid a lower tax rate than his secretary.   
    And if you're a hedge fund manager, all of your income is   
    classified as capital gains, even though you do not have to   
    invest any capital to make a bonus and the bonus is simply a   
    reward for work, that is, it is a wage. By the way, the top 25   
    hedge managers averaged $1 billion in income each in 2008.   
      
    Robert Shiller, the legendary Yale professor of economics, also   
    had some recent comments on taxes.  He believes we "need tax   
    increases matched by higher expenditures on public goods." The   
    government should act as "a type of banker," he says, using   
    public monies for projects for the public good.  Higher taxes   
    could provide monies for projects that make a stronger America.   
    What a novel idea. Don't you wish FDR had thought of it? Oops.   
    FDR did think of it, and got America out of the Great   
    Depression.   
      
    Shiller reminds me of my favorite commentator on taxes --   
    Thomas Paine. Writing in 1782 as the Revolutionary War was   
    coming to an end, Paine wrote about the necessity of taxes.   
    "When America resolved on independence, and determined to be   
    free, she naturally included within that resolution all the   
    means, whether of men or money, to affect it." Put simply, the   
    great Revolutionary was saying: All right men, you wanted   
    freedom. Now pay up.   
      
    To the Tea Party and to the Republican Leadership, I echo Paine.   
    Together, we share America. We want her to be, as always, the   
    greatest nation in world history. We cannot do that with your   
    foolish and shallow notions about taxation. We cannot do that if   
    you attempt to destroy the economic security guaranteed to all   
    Americans. We cannot do that if you compromise our future   
    because of your subservience to special interests instead of   
    loyalty to the nation. When America is in stress, Paine wrote,   
    "I shall treat taxation as a popular good. I hold taxation,   
    which is to be applied to her own defense and her own good, one   
    of the lightest of her difficulties, when considered with this   
    which were occasioned by the want of it."   
      
    Mr. Paine, may I introduce Mr. Boehner.   
      
    ----------------------------------------------------------------   
      
    Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good is a lay Catholic   
    organization that promotes public policies and effective   
    programs that enhance the inherent dignity of all, especially   
    the poor and most vulnerable. Our work is inspired by Gospel   
    values and the rich history of Catholic social teaching as they   
    inform pressing moral issues of our time. We accomplish these   
    goals through public policy analysis and advocacy, strategic   
    media outreach, and engaging citizens in the service of the   
    common good.   
      
    http://www.catholicsinalliance.org   
      
      
   BOB KLAHN bob.klahn@sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn   
      
   ... True Christianity-If anyone anywhere is hungry, it's your fault.   
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