Tax Rises and Class War

If tax-rises on the wealthy are class-war then it must follow that not having tax-rises are class-war on the poor.

Can't have it both ways.

And funny how class is only recognised when taxes for the the wealthy are mentioned. No such thing as class, apparently.....until taxes on the wealthy are considered....then it's suddenly class-war.

From 'The Economist' :

BARACK OBAMA'S proposal to raise tax rates on the rich has resulted in the usual ruckus. Republicans have declared class war. Mr Obama has replied: "This is not class warfare—it's math".
SOURCE

Remarkably the writer adds

Mr Obama claims to be on the side of the working and middle-classes, but I would submit that this sort of tax policy is in fact trivial. It's electoral public relations. The edges are precisely what this sort of thing is around. Our economy is riddled with a multitude of deeply-embedded structural flaws that allow the well-connected to enrich themselves at the expense of the rest of us, but nobody will do anything about it. There is a class war in this country, a war between the subsidy barons, the regulatory arbitrageurs, the patent monopolists and the rest of us. Mr Obama is a class warrior. The trouble is he's on the wrong side.

That may be so, but at least Obama is now exposing the Republicans' real interest and their commitment to class war (against the masses). It also puts the heat on The Tea Party and their ridiculous "No more taxes" line. Very smart, methinks.

From The Guardian:

With unemployment now at 9.1% and income inequality at record levels, the president is hoping to put pressure on Republicans who have staunchly rejected any tax increases and have called for deep cuts in government spending on the US's Medicare, Medicaid and social security programmes.
SOURCE

They add the usual statistics which the left has been banging on about for.....100s of years:

Last week the US census revealed that 46 million Americans – one in six – now live in poverty, the highest number ever.

• In 2010, the top 20% of Americans earned 49.4% of the nation's income. The top 1% account for 24% of all income.

• People who make money from investments pay far lower taxes than those who earn it from their wages.

• Last year Warren Buffett, who has a $50bn personal fortune, paid $6.9m in federal taxes – 17.4% of his taxable income. The other 20 people in his office paid between 33% and 41%.