Dear Barack,
I'm rich in income by your tax standards, although at your age of 45 working in government and community organizing you appear to have a greater net worth than I do. What did I do wrong? Maybe it's because I have the wrong sort of pals, and maybe it's because my wife didn't get a $350,000/year job because I'm in politics.
What is "rich" is, of course, relative. It takes a lot more money to be rich in NYC or CT than it does in Montana or Louisiana.
Anyway, here's my plan to adjust, if you get elected and your tax plan goes through:
1. I am going to cut back on my billable hours, and put my wife on our payroll as an expense. She'd be glad to do that to minimize our tax burden.
2. I am going to fire the lawn guys, and do it all myself. Harming them. And I will mow the fields myself, eliminating money from the economy.
3. I will, of necessity, donate less to church and charities.
4. I will patronize restaurants less, harming their incomes and employees.
5. I will buy less stuff I want, harming retail and manufacturing.
6. I will do what I can to put my assets in tax-advantaged investments which do little or nothing to invest in economic growth.
7. I will call the handyman less often, harming his kids. I will do the jobs myself instead of reading by the fire.
8. I will skip a hunting trip, harming travel, guides, hotels, and etc.
9. I will keep our cars longer, harming our automotive industry.
10. I'll take a pass on my plan to replace the upstairs windows in the barn, thus harming Anderson Windows and their employees.
Fact is, there are two kinds of redistribution of money. One is the type that we all do voluntarily to obtain things we want and need, and to invest in business growth, and the other is the kind governments do at gunpoint to buy votes.
Taxes come out of my disposable income because I live within my means, on a budget - but at some point they start hitting bone. When it hits comforts, conveniences, and luxuries, I just get mightily annoyed, but if it hits bone (as Clinton's tax hikes did while I was paying tuitions), I get mad.
And remember, the USA already has the highest corporate taxes in the world. That is not something for us to feel especially proud about either, because businesses taxes are simply indirect and invisible taxes on consumers and savers.
With warmest personal regards,
The Barrister
