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May 03, 2012

"Tax Me, for F@%&’s Sake!"

Stephen King argues the wealthy should pay more in taxes. With few exceptions - he takes care to exclude himself - the rich are insufficiently charitable to address his concerns (global warming, paying America's "staggering" war debt, and so forth).

And hey, why don’t we get real about this? Most rich folks paying 28 percent taxes do not give out another 28 percent of their income to charity. Most rich folks like to keep their dough. They don’t strip their bank accounts and investment portfolios. They keep them and then pass them on to their children, their children’s children. And what they do give away is—like the monies my wife and I donate—totally at their own discretion. That’s the rich-guy philosophy in a nutshell: don’t tell us how to use our money; we’ll tell you.

King's alternative: Using state power to force other wealthy people to spend their money the way he demands. Because Leviathan, that's why.

My favourite part of the argument concerns King's two radio stations in Bangor, Maine.

If I hit the movie jackpot—as I have, from time to time—and own a piece of a film that grosses $200 million, what am I going to do with it? Buy another radio station? I don’t think so, since I’m losing my shirt on the ones I own already.

King argues the government would do a better job spending your money than you do. Generalizing from his own experience, he would seem to have a point.

From the comments: A bumper sticker idea.

"I Work.
I Pay Taxes.
I Do Not Receive A Government Check.
I Am The 49%"

Posted by Ghost of a flea at May 3, 2012 08:47 AM