Our Selfless Leaders
From Here
by John Stossel
Our leaders in Washington take special pleasure in portraying themselves as “selfless.” Listening to them tell of sharing our pain caused by policies they’ve inflicted on us is, well, painful.
Victor Davis Hanson writes about the new taxes coming to the millions of “wannabe rich”:
President Obama has declared that those who make over $200,000 will pay higher income taxes. Caps on payroll taxes are supposed to come off as well for the upper class. Envisioned estate taxes will take 45 percent of individual inheritances valued over $3.5 million. Many states have also hiked their income taxes on the upper brackets.
But it’s a shared sacrifice, say our leaders.
Often those in government claim that their tax-increase proposals are simply targeting the affluent like themselves — proof of their own selflessness. President Obama, for example, has complained that the well-off like himself could afford to pay more.
But unlike politicians in Washington, most upscale Americans in private enterprise do not receive free government perks and lavish pensions. Nor are they guaranteed lucrative post-political lobbying and speaking careers.
Tax hikes on hard-working entrepreneurs are job killers. Why risk money to build a business, or expand one, if government will take an increasing stake in your profits?
We are on the road to serfdom.
