“The rich are different from you and me.”
Wall Street bonuses of $18.4 billion – billion with a B – while the companies were losing zillions of dollars – zillion with a Z – and getting crajillions of dollars – crajillions with a capital C – in taxpayer bailout funds.
The Secretary of the Treasury (if this country still has any treasure) forgot to pay about $34,000 in self-employment taxes. This man will oversee the IRS. Now the nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services didn’t pay about $128,000 in taxes for using a car and driver given to him by a prominent donor.
Remember Leona Helmsley? Owned a chain of hotels, husband owned the Empire State Building. “We don’t pay taxes. Only little people pay taxes.”
The average tax rate paid by the richest 400 Americans fell by a third to 17.2 percent through the first six years of the Bush administration and their average income doubled to $263.3 million. The 17.2 percent tax rate in 2006 was the lowest since the IRS began tracking the 400 largest taxpayers in 1992, although the richest 400 Americans paid more tax on an inflation-adjusted basis than any year since 2000.
All this brings to mind the old joke: How do you make a million dollars? Start with $900,000 and invest wisely.
Does wealth make you stupid? Forgetful? Arrogant? Or does wealth – especially long-term or inherited wealth – put a person out of touch with the great unwashed? Does a sense of entitlement kick in when your bank balance exceeds a certain point? (That point has several zeros between the dollar sign and the decimal point.) Or don’t they care?
I wish, I dream, I hope, I fantasize about having the opportunity to be this stupid!
2 Comments
January 31, 2009 at 11:42 am
I think you nailed it in your second-to-last paragraph… forgetful, arrogant, out of touch, entitled.
Doesn’t sound like a very happy way to live though.
January 31, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Add Tom Daschle to the list of people who think that income tax laws don’t apply to them.