Multibillionaire Warren Buffet does not feel he is paying enough federal income tax.
He suggests the government tax him more. ... what does he mean by "more?" Is he suggesting taxing billionaires out of existence?
Would you be in favor of abolishing billionaires? Millionaires? What about corporations with net incomes in excess of $1 million? If so, why? To eliminate the deficit?
Remember, if taxes on individuals with annual incomes in excess of $1 million were doubled, it would only cut our $1.5 trillion deficit by roughly 17 percent. So if making the "super-rich" pay their "fair share" is your solution to eliminating the deficit, you might wish to consider "nationalizing" their wealth, instead.
And if you favor "nationalizing their wealth," how do you define "billionaire?" "millionaire?" (Bs and Ms.)
Do we define Bs and Ms based on how much property they own? Or is a B someone with an annual adjusted gross income of a $1 billion or more?
If you classify people based on their annual income, then abolishing Bs and Ms is as easy as raising the taxes they pay. You might, for example, pass a law which says "all persons with adjusted gross incomes in excess of $1 million shall pay a tax sufficient to reduce their after-tax income to $999,999.99." Or perhaps to $100,000!
But if you define Bs and Ms based on the net value of their estates, then you will probably need to pass an excise tax, taxing the privilege of being rich or owning property in a sum sufficient to reduce the net worth of each to $999,999.99, or less. After all, that is the theory of the Obamacare's individual mandate. If not having health insurance "affects interstate commerce," surely sitting on a mountain of money which the government could better use to stimulate the economy also adversely "affects interstate commerce."
Of course, abolishing Bs, Ms and corporations has been tried before. In 1918 the USSR enacted a Constitution that abolished capital and created a Republic of Soviet workers. And for 70 years, people lived dismal, bleak incentiveless lives, until the whole system collapsed in 1990.
Here are a few excerpts from the "enlightened" 1918 Soviet Constitution:
"Article 3. Its fundamental aims being abolition of all exploitation of man by man, complete elimination of the division of society into classes, merciless suppression of the exploiters, ... and victory of socialism in all countries, the ... Congress of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies further resolves:
"a. Private land ownership is hereby abolished, and all land is proclaimed the property of the entire people ... on the principles of egalitarian land tenure.
"b. All forests, mineral wealth, waters of national importance ... and agricultural enterprises are proclaimed the property of the nation.
"c. The Soviet laws ... are ... confirmed ... to guarantee the power of the working people over the exploiters, as a first step towards the complete conversion of factories, mines, railways and other means of production and transportation into the property of the Soviet Workers' and Peasants' Republic.
"d. The Congress of Soviets regards as a first blow at international banking and financial capital, the Soviet law on the annulment of loans negotiated by the governments of the tzar, the landlords and the bourgeoisie ...
"e. To ensure the sovereign power of the working people and to rule out any possibility of restoration of the power of the exploiters, ... the creation of a socialist Red Army of workers and peasants, and the complete disarming of the propertied classes are hereby decreed."
So, before you decide to nationalize the income and the assets of Bs, Ms and greedy corporations, think twice. The America of your dreams, could very well end up looking a whole lot like the workers' paradise formerly known as the USSR. And if you are too young to remember the USSR, take a trip to Cuba.
It's only 90 miles away!
So why defend Bs and Ms (those who have lawfully amassed and lawfully utilize their wealth)?
It is not because I admire them or want to be one of them. It is because I am unwilling to exchange traditional American "equality of opportunity," for Soviet-style "equality of outcome."
As long as America has its Bs and Ms, you and I retain the liberty to become Bs and Ms. I defend them because I won't engage in class warfare, and because I refuse to covet my neighbors' goods. Because if their wealth can be expropriated, so can yours and mine.
Posted Online: Aug. 24, 2011, 2:46 pm - Quad-Cities Online
by John Donald O'Shea
Copyright 2011, John Donald O'Shea
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