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Yet liberals who laud Bono and Gates sing a different tune when it comes to the millions of ordinary people who actually give of their own personal resources to help the needy. The June Washington Monthly crabs, in "The Tow-Away Tax Break" (not available online), that allowing hard-pressed American families to deduct the fair-market value of automobiles donated to charity is both inefficient and "drain[s] much needed tax revenue." Old-school liberals seldom admit that a greater supply of "much needed tax revenue" also means that well-to-do liberals like Gates and Bono need write fewer personal checks. This hidden benefit of government spending — more disposable income for wealthy liberals — can be clearly seen in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an island with a great many poor people and some astoundingly wealthy people. Advocates of statehood for the island argue that the wealthy are eager to pay the U.S. income taxes which they don't pay now. Statehood advocates seldom mention that, for the wealthier residents of Puerto Rico, paying U.S. income taxes would be a bargain. As far back as 1976, economist Jude Wanniski reported that "Puerto Rico income taxes made the mainland look like a tax haven." In addition, should Puerto Rico ever became America's 51st state, its take from the U.S. treasury would skyrocket. Thus, the announced willingness of Puerto Rico statehooders to pay federal taxes amounts in practice to keeping more money for themselves while forcing mainland America's taxpayers to lavish considerably more money on Puerto Rico. Bono and Gates may well have donated sums to charity which would dwarf the amount placed in a church-offering plate by a poor single mother. And by demanding tax increases and more government spending, they get to feel more charitable still while lecturing the rest of us on the evils of selfishness. But they would do well to remember that nowhere does the New Testament quote Jesus as saying, "Blessed are you who lobby for increased taxes upon your fellow man." — Jim Boulet Jr. is executive director of English First. |
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Krugman of the New York Times recently 
