Our good friend Derek Brigham (whom you should thank for the banner at the top of this blog) has designed some delightful banners for your use if you think the Mr. Creosote Democrats have been spending too much money.

Now the buffoons are off on a nine-day whine-a-thon about how we should pay more for their interest groups' grab bag. An example from the chair of the District 14 DFL:

The broad "middle-income" households ($47,000 to $105,000 a year) pay 12.3 percent of their income in state and local taxes.

Those tragically exploited higher-income folks (more than $355,000 a year) pay 9.6 percent. And by 2009, the gap widens even more: 12.5 percent for the "middle class" and 8.9 percent for that top 1 percent.

Let's suppose this is true. Recall again the argument for how this calculation is done. It's true because after you levy a higher tax on higher incomes than lower -- as is done now -- the wealthy avoid some of the tax and shift it onto others. So somehow increasing the tax further would lessen the amount shifted onto lower income classes by higher prices and fewer jobs? No, in fact there would be MORE shifting. It is the nature of the Laffer curve that higher tax rates lead to higher tax avoidance behavior.

So even if you decide that class warfare and the crushing of the business class is your idea of fairness ...

If you are earning $100,000 per year or less, do you agree with Sviggum and our governor that you should cover the gap in undertaxation that those earning more than $355,000 enjoy?

Is this the language of "class warfare," as our Republican friends often invoke? You bet. The war is against the middle class, and Paris Hilton is winning.

... the fact is you're going to pay it regardless. The only way to make sure the rich pay the tax is to enslave them, force them not to raise prices, not to lay off workers, and not to leave Minnesota. Stopping the shift is a giant step down the road to serfdom.

Labels: economics, legislature, Minnesota