The McCain campaign is now arguing that Obama is a socialist and would redistribute wealth. My favorite example of this charge is Biden's interview with the local Florida TV Station in which the reporter, an obvious right winger married to a GOP strategist, asks him if Obama is a Marxist. His reactions are really funny and appropriately dismissive.
The argument is ridiculous for a lot of reasons not the least of which is that the government is, by its very nature, a wealth redistribution mechanism. You'll recall that the American Revolution came about because of "taxation without representation". Implicit in that slogan is the acceptance that taxes are a permissible role of government, so long as it is part of a representative democracy. Taxation, and thereby Government, are inherently a redistribution of wealth and for centuries have been considered good and necessary.
The debate should not be whether wealth redistribution is good. That question has been answered in the affirmative by hundreds of years of social advancement. The question is how much wealth should be redistributed and to what end should it be redirected. That is the choice in this election.
Both candidates support the concept of taxation, which is redistributive. McCain proposes to continue the current wealth redistribution system, which has concentrated wealth at the top.
Obama is also proposing to redistribute wealth, by no means much more than McCain, to a broader middle and lower class. The top tax bracket over the course of this century has ranged from a high of 95% to somewhere around 30%. Even up until the 1970s the top tax rate was 70%.
The current top rate is now 36% and Obama is proposing to raise that to 39%, affecting a small percentage of people making over 200K, and still at the low end of historical top tax brackets. Whereas McCain is proposing to keep the top tax rate somewhere in the mid 30s% as well. Regardless of who wins the top tax rate is still half of what it was historically and it will surely be redistributing wealth.
The election does not present a choice of wealth redistribution or not, it is a question of having a top tax rate of 36% or 39%.
The argument is ridiculous for a lot of reasons not the least of which is that the government is, by its very nature, a wealth redistribution mechanism. You'll recall that the American Revolution came about because of "taxation without representation". Implicit in that slogan is the acceptance that taxes are a permissible role of government, so long as it is part of a representative democracy. Taxation, and thereby Government, are inherently a redistribution of wealth and for centuries have been considered good and necessary.
The debate should not be whether wealth redistribution is good. That question has been answered in the affirmative by hundreds of years of social advancement. The question is how much wealth should be redistributed and to what end should it be redirected. That is the choice in this election.
Both candidates support the concept of taxation, which is redistributive. McCain proposes to continue the current wealth redistribution system, which has concentrated wealth at the top.
Obama is also proposing to redistribute wealth, by no means much more than McCain, to a broader middle and lower class. The top tax bracket over the course of this century has ranged from a high of 95% to somewhere around 30%. Even up until the 1970s the top tax rate was 70%.
The current top rate is now 36% and Obama is proposing to raise that to 39%, affecting a small percentage of people making over 200K, and still at the low end of historical top tax brackets. Whereas McCain is proposing to keep the top tax rate somewhere in the mid 30s% as well. Regardless of who wins the top tax rate is still half of what it was historically and it will surely be redistributing wealth.
The election does not present a choice of wealth redistribution or not, it is a question of having a top tax rate of 36% or 39%.
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1 comments:
Side note to your post here: A student of mine was talking about the mock elections at school and said, "I like Obama, he seems nice, but my mother told me that if he wins my allowance will go down 10%, so I am voting for McCain."
There is much work to be done with the youth!
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