Sometimes I just don’t understand why there is always a financially struggling college kid, a low wage worker, or a middle class citizen that feel as though they have to go out of their way to defend tax breaks for the rich. At least once a month I find one person that wants to argue against their own interests and it continues to baffle me.
Their argument is always that government can’t tax or has to cut taxes for large corporations or millionaires so that they can invest in the economy and create jobs. My first question for them is “Have you ever heard of General Electric?” Here is a corporation that paid zero dollars ($0.00) in corporate taxes, and received a tax benefit of 3.2 billion dollars. In addition, they are still shipping American jobs overseas. General Electric has over 300 tax lawyers that help them evade paying taxes and find every corporate loophole known to man. They do not need another lobbyist that is paycheck “free.” The people who need to be heard or need lobbyists are the middle class that had to almost give up their right arm for a tax break, the federal workers who are receiving a two-year freeze in pay, and the state workers that have been taking furlough days for the last four years. Those are the people who need to be represented and have their voices heard.
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Just take my state, the state of Maryland. We just came out of the ninety (90) day session where everyone was on the chopping block except for millionaires and corporations. Young Workers received tier systems for pensions, retirees have to pay more for prescriptions, the EZ-Pass tolls for drivers are going up, the cost of alcohol taxes were raised, and many social programs were cut. However the corporate loophole called combined reporting, was never addressed. This is where large corporations that do business with multiple states pay taxes on the profits they made in the state with the lowest tax margin. This helps them to evade paying corporate taxes in Maryland. This is a great disadvantage for Maryland small businesses that are being squeezed and can’t enjoy those lucrative tax loopholes. Most of all, when children, retirees, new workers, state employees, and others are sharing in the sacrifice the millionaires in Maryland get a tax break. The Millionaires tax rate went from 6.25% to 5.5% starting on January 1, 2011. So I say once again they do not need another lobbyist that is paycheck “free.”
How could anyone think that trickle down economics could ever work? Banks and Insurance companies proved this when they received all types of bailouts during the recession and refused to lend money to the working class or small businesses. Instead they just let the money sit in their vaults, closed lines of credits (LOC’s), and let the American economy go on life support. The way to go will always be bottom-up. Give the tax breaks to the working class or small businesses because they will always spend the money to put their kids through college, purchase a home, go on vacation, buy food at the local grocer, and maybe even purchase a car. America’s economy has always been strong when the middle class is thriving because the dollars are being recycled and people are spending money.
Once again if you are poor, in the middle class, or a small business owner I ask you not to be ignorant to the issues. Many millionaires and large corporations are doing things for their sole benefit to make sure their voices are heard. It is our job to make sure that the other 99% of Americans have their voices heard to represent the interest of all Americans.
4 comments for “Why Do the Poor Continue to Defend Tax Breaks for the Rich?”
Willy Picket
November 17, 2011 at 12:58 am
I believe it has a lot to do with being intentionally misinformed. The people who get those tax cuts own most of the media outlets. They constantly push misinformation. It is very difficult to learn the truth especially about economics. If you are earning less than sixty thousand a year and only have a high school education chances are you work too many hours to get on the internet and do real research. You probably get most of your information from the major TV networks which like I mentioned already are all owned by the far right.
In this environment of course most people are out of touch with reality. The people they are depending on for information are lying to them. Not only are they lying but they are telling them the truth is a liberal conspiracy to fool them.
“We of the sinking middle class may sink without further struggles into the working class where we belong, and probably when we get there it will not be so dreadful as we feared, for, after all, we have nothing to lose.” ~ George Orwell
The middle class more closely identifies with the upper class than they do with the disenfranchised. As such, they envision themselves potentially becoming that rich guy and they certainly wouldn’t want to pay more taxes if they were in his shoes. However, most do not understand that the dream of [significant] upward mobility is rarely realized. To wit, look at the outlandish things that people will do to gain a few moments of fame and a chance to get rich: any number of reality TV shows.
I suppose the simplest (and probably incorrect) answer is that it is a combination of entrenched ignorance and class/group identification together with a desire actually to become one of the uncaring rich. And we are in deep shit.
Sometimes I just don’t understand why there is always a financially struggling college kid, a low wage worker, or a middle class citizen that feel as though they have to go out of their way to defend tax breaks for the rich. At least once a month I find one person that wants to argue against their own interests and it continues to baffle me.
I believe it has a lot to do with being intentionally misinformed. The people who get those tax cuts own most of the media outlets. They constantly push misinformation. It is very difficult to learn the truth especially about economics. If you are earning less than sixty thousand a year and only have a high school education chances are you work too many hours to get on the internet and do real research. You probably get most of your information from the major TV networks which like I mentioned already are all owned by the far right.
In this environment of course most people are out of touch with reality. The people they are depending on for information are lying to them. Not only are they lying but they are telling them the truth is a liberal conspiracy to fool them.
“We of the sinking middle class may sink without further struggles into the working class where we belong, and probably when we get there it will not be so dreadful as we feared, for, after all, we have nothing to lose.” ~ George Orwell
The middle class more closely identifies with the upper class than they do with the disenfranchised. As such, they envision themselves potentially becoming that rich guy and they certainly wouldn’t want to pay more taxes if they were in his shoes. However, most do not understand that the dream of [significant] upward mobility is rarely realized. To wit, look at the outlandish things that people will do to gain a few moments of fame and a chance to get rich: any number of reality TV shows.
I suppose the simplest (and probably incorrect) answer is that it is a combination of entrenched ignorance and class/group identification together with a desire actually to become one of the uncaring rich. And we are in deep shit.