Taxes as Patriotism: Not a Goofy Idea!

[babylonsister]

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/09/18/taxes-as-patriotism-not-a-goofy-idea.aspx

Taxes as Patriotism: Not a Goofy Idea!


So, as Joe Klein and then I were saying, the McCain campaign has been lashing out at Joe Biden for suggesting it's the patriotic duty of wealthy Americans to pay higher taxes at this time of domestic and foreign crisis. Here's what Sarah Palin had to say about it today, while appearing in Iowa:

To them, raising taxes--and Joe Biden said it again today--raising taxes is about patriotism. To the rest of America, that's not patriotism; raising taxes is about killing jobs and hurting small businesses and making things worse.

Actually, the idea that paying more taxes during war is an act of patriotism has quite a long and distinguished history in this country. During the Civil War, Representative Thaddeus Stevens--then chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee--said that "the annihilation of this government is the alternative" to increased taxation. To finance World War II, FDR actually proposed a tax that would have effectively capped incomes at $25,000 (or about $300,000 in today's dollars). And during the Vietnam War, Senator Russell Long made this appeal to citizens' sense of duty:

A "tax increase of ten times the size recommended by the president would still not begin to equate the sacrifice of our courageous young men fighting and dying in the swamps and jungles of Vietnam with Americans who are enjoying income and prosperity greater than they have ever known.”

I got this quote from an Urban Institute book called War and Taxes, written by Joseph J. Thorndike, Steven A. Bank, and Kirk J. Stark. Surveying the history of taxes during wartime, they conclude that while taxes have never been popular--even in wartime--leaders have frequently appealed to a sense of patriotism as a way to justify them. And when mere speeches didn't do the trick, politicians sought out allies--like, for example,

Donald Duck video-"Taxes to beat the Axis! ... Taxes will keep democracy on the march!"
:shrug:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5CKHLlwA7U&eurl=http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/09/18/taxes-as-patriotism-not-a-goofy-idea.aspx

OK, so the film is over the top. But the point stands. If McCain, Palin, and their allies think equating higher taxes with patriotism is wrong, they disagree with a long line of distinguished American politicians, not to mention one famously tongue-tied duck.

Update: Joe Biden isn't backing down. Good for him.
--Jonathan Cohn

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http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/09/bidens_sick_and_tired_of_this.php

Biden's "Sick And Tired Of This Phoniness"

18 Sep 2008 07:01 pm

From an interview today with CBS's Katie Couric:

Katie: "Your vice presidential rival, Governor Palin, said "To the rest of America, that's not patriotism. Raising taxes is about killing jobs and hurting small businesses and making things worse."

Biden: "How many small businessmen are making one million, four hundred thousand--average in the top 1 percent. Give me a break. I remind my friend, John McCain, what he said--when Bush called for war and tax cuts--he said, it was immoral, immoral, to take a nation to war and not have anybody pay for it. I am so sick and tired of this phoniness. The truth of the matter is that we are in trouble. And the people who do not need a new tax cut should be willing, as patriotic Americans, to understand the way to get this economy back up on their feet is to give middle class taxpayers a break. We take the tax cut they're getting and we give it to the middle class."

[Clio the Leo]

1. It's a non-issue .... the Republicans are reaching here. NT

[babylonsister]

2. But that's what they do, try to distract. Information is power, and I

don't want them to get away with it.

[H2O Man]

3. It's curious

how the republicans find this concept so uncomfortable.

[babylonsister]

4. It's also sad the rethugs seem to never consider history or learn

from it. I still would like to know how McCain plans to pay for anything. I don't recall him ever saying.

[terrya]

5. I think it's brilliant

Hey, the Republicans have never been shy about defining what is and what isn't patriotic.

We should do it for a change.

And, with the economy being what it is now, and working class Americans being concerned, to put it mildly, about their financial status, it needs to be said that the wealthy SHOULD pay higher taxes. They certainly aren't doing so now, thanks to their benefactor in the White House.

Good for Joe Biden. :thumbsup:

[rucky]

6. The working class has been making all the sacrifices for this war.

Meanwhile, Papa Bush & Cheney's buddies are rich beyond belief, and the big money movers are being propped up by our tax dollars. A bigger chunk of our income goes to living expenses. People earning 10 times more than average don't have 10 times more healthcare, and don't consume 10 times more gas & food. Their mortgage payments and taxes are rarely 10 times more. That means they have a larger percentage of their income that goes to non-essentials. They're in a better position to make the sacrifices needed to have a war and prop-up an economy. But the only reason these assholes in power are making the decisions they're making is because they've put us in a position where we're carrying the lion's share of the burden. The suffering and sacrifice get less as you go up the ladder - and it should be the other way around, with the wealthy being the first to sacrifice - not the last.

[patrice]

7. It's called Responsibility, something that used to be a Family Value.