Michelle Malkin » Going Galt: Tax hikes have consequences

Going Galt: Tax hikes have consequences

By Michelle Malkin • March 2, 2009 06:22 PM

There’s a new report on ABCNews.com about how upper-income business owners are looking for ways to reduce their earnings to deny the government their tax dollars. This is exactly what Dr. Helen was talking about in October and on our PJTV panel this weekend– the producers of this country choosing to “Go Galt.” It’s the sentiment you saw in the “Atlas Will Shrug” sign at the Denver anti-pork rally two weeks ago and at many of the Tea Party protests. And it’s the sentiment you see in the rise of Ayn Rand novel sales.

Tax hikes have consequences. Incentives matter. Only self-deluded wealth redistributors living in la-la-land believe otherwise.

Read:

President Barack Obama’s tax proposal which promises to increase taxes for those families with incomes of $250,000 or more — has some Americans brainstorming ways to decrease their pay, even if it’s just by a dollar.

A 63-year-old attorney based in Lafayette, La., who asked not to be named, told ABCNews.com that she plans to cut back on her business to get her annual income under the quarter million mark should the Obama tax plan be passed by Congress and become law.

So far, Obama’s tax plan is being looked at skeptically by both Democrats and Republicans and therefore may not pass at all.

“We are going to try to figure out how to make our income $249,999.00,” she said.

“We have to find a way out where we can make just what we need to just under the line so we can benefit from Obama’s tax plan,” she added. “Why kill yourself working if you’re going to give it all away to people who aren’t working as hard?”

***

The nationwide Tax Day Tea Party is April 15. I’ve just signed on as a sponsor. Make your voices heard.

Posted in: Tea Party

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#637697

On March 3rd, 2009 at 9:54 am, GladzKravtz said:

Not that we make big money but the minute after BHO won the election, Mr. K and I were immediately discussing how we could (legally) find a way to ‘work around’ paying taxes.
Totally disgusted with all of this…
#637848

On March 3rd, 2009 at 11:30 am, battleaxe said:

Instead of providing a personal return by April 15, what if everyone were to file for extension? If enough people filed for extension, would that change the US financial picture enough to send the bums in DC the message?
#637859

On March 3rd, 2009 at 11:38 am, conservativesRus said:

On March 2nd, 2009 at 8:42 pm, zyzzyg said:
Cutting off your nose to spite your face.
Well, if this is how one wishes to protest, so be it.

Spoken like someone who doesn’t understand how business works. Who says anything about cutting off one’s nose?
A trip for everybody in my company and their families to attend a meeting in Perth in January just became an absolutely necessary business expense.
#637868

On March 3rd, 2009 at 11:40 am, stalban said:

katablog said:Who is willing to work for 60% of their pay?

Actually, it’s more like “Who’s willing to work for 40% of their pay?”!!
As a business owner, I’m definitely looking for ways to power down. The thing about it is that this “wonderful” trickle up concept is going to bite Obingo’s supporters squarely in the butt. Fewer dollars spent by me mean fewer trips and meals and fewer tips…
#637941

On March 3rd, 2009 at 12:27 pm, cheapseat said:

yes but think of how much better off the working man is now that we have successfully brought down those fat cats in banking, automotive, insurance, technology, and oh yeah the auto dealerships too. yes, this economy is zipping along on the industry of thug thizzle and the acorn mob. just yesterday the gang of morons marched and protested in a snowstorm over global warming. i’ll bet numerous hotdogs were sold, except of course to the pita loons, who ate tofu dogs. hollywood sent out it’s best and brightest in darryl hanah to entertain and warm the hearts of the freezing global warming loons, but san fran nan was a no show because the blizzard kept her private tax payer funded airliner from landing in d.c. but her heart was in the parade as she carbon footprinted for half the population of d.c. in her private jet.
#637947

On March 3rd, 2009 at 12:33 pm, RabbidSquirrel said:

On March 3rd, 2009 at 8:52 am, John Deaux said:

Better off dead.

Ah! A John Cusack connoisseur
#637949

On March 3rd, 2009 at 12:37 pm, RabbidSquirrel said:

On March 3rd, 2009 at 9:28 am, sonofdy said:

Why do you think I kept my New Zealand passport???

Im loving ‘Flight of The Conchords‘ on HBO

Brett: “Can a get an official New Zealand gun?”

Murray: “Well… the army has that one…”
#637962

On March 3rd, 2009 at 12:43 pm, conservativesRus said:

On March 2nd, 2009 at 11:47 pm, CrazyFool said:
Do you seriously think the magic number will end up as 250K? I don’t.
I suspect it’ll be more like 50 – 70K

I suspect it’ll be more like any positive number.
Ya know – “from ability to need”
If you are able, you obviously don’t need.
#637991

On March 3rd, 2009 at 1:05 pm, dadinseattle said:

Our wealth for their power? Never!

The left has done a decades worth of damage in a few weeks, they are just getting warmed up as there are a few areas left that they do not yet have total control of!

Please read Randall Hoven’s Bingo! Call It Communism at AT.
#638005

On March 3rd, 2009 at 1:14 pm, NJ-Aviator said:

There’s a new report on ABCNews.com about how upper-income business owners are looking for ways to reduce their earnings to deny the government their tax dollars.

No surprise there.

“We are going to try to figure out how to make our income $249,999.00,” she said.

“We have to find a way out where we can make just what we need to just under the line so we can benefit from Obama’s tax plan,” she added. “Why kill yourself working if you’re going to give it all away to people who aren’t working as hard?”

Yeah… that Obama… he’s a real motivator huh?

What kind of Dope would do what he is doing in this climate? That would be like sticking some Community Organizer in the White House and expecting that he had a clue as to what to do.

oh yeah.. that’s what happened.
#638458

On March 3rd, 2009 at 7:15 pm, steveegg said:

I wonder how many ex-pats are being created this quarter. Those are the ultimate Galts, and I don’t blame them for bailing.

I’ll be in Madison for that tea party.
#638523

On March 3rd, 2009 at 8:51 pm, southsideironworks said:

Test
#638592

On March 3rd, 2009 at 11:00 pm, DerKrieger said:

My personal John Galt:

My wife and I make ~$200k. Before the election it was announced that our company was being acquired by a larger rival. Knowing that we’d likely get laid off I left for another position leaving her behind to collect her retention and severance when she is finally laid off. We decided after the election that when she finally did lose her job that she would stay home with the kids until Obama lost in 2012. Our gross income will be cut in half, I get another tax deduction with her as a dependent, and we’re in a lower tax bracket all resulting in our tax bill being reduced by more than half. I also took part of my new pay package in preferred stock which I’ll hold for years or decades if I have to just to avoid the taxes.

Screw you Obama!
#638899

On March 4th, 2009 at 12:33 pm, wayiwalk said:

Ex- pats?

How about recent immigrants (chinese, indian) who work in our tech sectors and are the entrepreneurs of the present or future?

There certainly would be a point where it is no longer to run your start-up or start a business in this country.
#639643

On March 5th, 2009 at 8:31 am, Danceswithdachshunds said:

From an exchange between Charlie Gibson and BHO at the dem primary debate in Philadelphia last April that bears repeating over and over and over again to every damn person who voted for Obama:

GIBSON: All right. You have, however, said you would favor an increase in the capital gains tax. As a matter of fact, you said on CNBC, and I quote, “I certainly would not go above what existed under Bill Clinton,” which was 28 percent. It’s now 15 percent. That’s almost a doubling, if you went to 28 percent.

But actually, Bill Clinton, in 1997, signed legislation that dropped the capital gains tax to 20 percent.

OBAMA: Right.

GIBSON: And George Bush has taken it down to 15 percent.

OBAMA: Right.

GIBSON: And in each instance, when the rate dropped, revenues from the tax increased; the government took in more money. And in the 1980s, when the tax was increased to 28 percent, the revenues went down.

So why raise it at all, especially given the fact that 100 million people in this country own stock and would be affected?

OBAMA: Well, Charlie, what I’ve said is that I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness. …..

(emphasis mine)
There was no serious pursuit of that exchange in MSM to my knowledge but it would have been easy to challenge BHO with the question, IF you are so concerned about fairness then HOW will the federal government be better prepared to dish out that ‘fairness’ with less revenue?

It’s just so strange to me. BHO appears to actually understand and believe the Laffer curve but really has this unshakable intention to simply PUNISH the rich.

But how how in the world can he reconcile that idea when he IS rich himself? Could it be that perhaps OBAMA HATES HIMSELF (as do many males who were abandoned by their fathers)? To me, this is a VERY worrisome question…