I missed this while I was on vacation a month ago, so forgive me for rehashing old news. But wtf?
Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards on Thursday unveiled a plan that would increase taxes for the wealthy and create tax breaks for the middle class.
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Among the proposals, Edwards would make long-term savings easier for low-income families with “Get Ahead Accounts” that would match savings up to $500 per year.
Wow. We really live in a country where a presidential candidate wants to take money that belongs in the earner's savings account, launder it through the government tax system, and put it in the savings account of someone who didn't earn it.
What I hate about Republican candidates is that they never seem to cut through the euphemisms. There's always a way to rephrase what Democrats want to do that makes them look bad. All you have to do is point out that someone worked hard to earn that money, and the government took it away and put it into someone else's bank account. If you get someone to admit that that's what he wants to see happen, you reveal something about his character and values. If you let him call it pretty things like Get Ahead Accounts, you let him frame the debate. Republicans need to refocus things like this on the taking of the money and stop letting Democrats focus on the giving of the money.
John Edwards wants poor people to take home rich people's money. That's fine if he wants to start passing out his own hundred dollar bills, but it plain stinks when he wants to force the whole country to participate.
Posted by Sarah at September 10, 2007 11:24 AM | TrackBackAgreed!
Tax increases for the rich never work, anyway, because they're rich in assets that are usually tax-free. The taxes have to come from somewhere, so it trickles down into the middle class.
Yeah, thanks but no thanks, Edwards. :p
Posted by: deltasierra at September 10, 2007 11:37 AMI think we should help out people who have simply hit a hard time in their lives, but it should be OUR CHOICE to do so. If nobody chooses to help out their fellow man, that's on them, between the individual person and their god(s). It's not the duty of other fellow men to beat charity out of each other.
Posted by: Green at September 11, 2007 12:58 PM