Genii Weblog

Please raise my taxes

Fri 6 Feb 2009, 11:29 AM



by Ben Langhinrichs
My daughter pointed this out to me, and I wanted to post it along with my wholehearted endorsement...

Reed Hastings had an editorial in the New York Times yesterday entitled Please Raise My Taxes.  It starts
I'm the chief executive of a publicly traded company and, like my peers, I'm very highly paid. The difference between salaries like mine and those of average Americans creates a lot of tension, and I'd like to offer a suggestion. President Obama should celebrate our success, rather than trying to shame us or cap our pay. But he should also take half of our huge earnings in taxes, instead of the current one-third.

Then, the next time a chief executive earns an eye-popping amount of money, we can cheer that half of it is going to pay for our soldiers, schools and security. Higher taxes on huge pay days can finance opportunity for the next generation of Americans.
He goes on to argue that it hasn't worked, and won't work, to try to cap the amount CEOs make, because those high compensation numbers are how you attract talent, but that instead of capping it, you should tax it heavily, or at least more heavily.

Now, I don't make that kind of money, but I do make a lot more than the average American.  I have a successful business and lots and lots of customers.  Frankly, I am sick of the incessant calls to lower my taxes.  Part of success is responsibility, and I feel a responsibility to those around me who are less fortunate.  I believe that while government isn't perfect, a government of the people, by the people and for the people can do a great deal of good, and that good work doesn't come cheap.

So, raise my taxes, please.  I won't be less motivated.  In fact, I'll be motivated to make even more to make up for the additional tax.  If you don't believe it, look at iFidelity, which I created because I thought (wrongly, as it turns out) that my business would slow considerably in the current economic crisis.

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What has been said:


784.1. Russ (02/06/2009 10:04 AM)

Ben,

If you want to pay more taxes, just send the extra money to the US Treasury. They will take it any time.

Poof! You got your wish!


784.2. Ben Langhinrichs (02/06/2009 10:18 AM)

@Russ - It just isn't the same thing. I feel a shared responsibility, not a responsibility to pay while others don't. For that matter, I donate money to many causes, but what I would like to see is a sense of renewed general responsibility amongst those who are more successful.


784.3. Russ (02/06/2009 11:08 AM)

@Ben - I understand your point and I agree with your goal. I totally disagree with the assumption that others are not/would not be paying. It simply is not true based on my personal experience. The most successful people (which I will arbitrarily define as the top 10% of earners) already pay the overwhelming majority of the taxes.

Simply put though: government is not the channel the founders wished to be the conduit for successful citizens to satisfy their financial responsibilities for the well being of their fellow citizens.


784.4. Ben Langhinrichs (02/06/2009 12:37 PM)

@Russ - It sounds like we agree in general. I must admit I am not terribly swayed by the original intent of the founders, who also were willing to define slaves as three fifths of a person. Just as good companies don't do the same thing year after year without adjusting to the world around them, good countries need to adjust to the world around them, and I think the government has a bigger role to play for good reasons that could not be anticipated by the founders.

My point about shared responsibility was simply to say that I wanted the tax rate to go up for everybody in my income bracket, not to simply pay more taxes myself.


784.5. Erik Brooks (02/06/2009 01:40 PM)

Have you thought about joining the Shriners, or some other philanthropic fraternity? You can give your money to those who need it, without the 25 layers of governmental red tape and nightmaringly inefficient administrative overhead.

And you'd be part of an organization of similar people who worked to get where they are in life, and worked to become part of that fraternity. There's a little bit of work involved in becoming a Shriner.

I'm not trying to sell you on the Shriners specifically. There's plenty of other similar organizations out there. But I do think you'd look awesome in a fez and driving a go-cart in a parade. :-)


784.6. Erik Brooks (02/06/2009 01:57 PM)

And if I recall, the "3/5 a person" clause of the Constitutional Convention was an attempt by slavery *opponents* to limit the congressional influence of the *proponents*.

It was a shame they couldn't end it, though. That will always be the tarnish on their legacy.


784.7. Ben Langhinrichs (02/06/2009 02:05 PM)

@Erik - I give to several very good organizations already, but the fez is very tempting.


784.8. David Bailey (02/06/2009 02:26 PM)

I agree with you, Ben. I'm always amazed at the wealthy that complain about their high taxes.

I favor smaller government. Unfortunately, the only way to get it is to insist that we raise taxes enough to pay for the spending. Neither political party has the character to cut spending, otherwise.

I've traveled a lot to third-world countries. We are (make that, have been) so damn lucky to be American, Europeans, etc. Americans complaining about high taxes are just ignorant.


784.9. Rodney Scott (02/06/2009 07:10 PM)

Anyone who's seen a cop walk right past a knife fight to give a parking ticket, or had the mailman stop delivering cause they complained when he gave their checkbooks to the neighbors, or heard a teacher say "I'm paid to teach, not prevent bullies", probably agrees that taxpayers should at least have more control over spending, as consumers. The cops in my neighborhood get paid to stroll the beach "off-duty", cause they need their exercise. My boss would be upset if I died of a coronary, but I've been spoiling him by strolling voluntarily, on my own time! So I argue for smaller government and more privatization, or at least connect the money to consumer satisfaction so that making money and earning it are somehow tied. We'd get fewer "bridges to nowhere" for our buck.

Anyway, off the soapbox, you have already given to me, Ben. A while back, I ate a fortune cookie and it read "you will succeed in a business of your own". It wasn't until I read that fortune, read your blog, and put the pieces together that I realized I had accidentally eaten your cookie (and, by that time, it was way too late to give the cookie back), so I apologize.


784.10. Doug Finner (02/07/2009 04:03 AM)

<snip> try to cap the amount CEOs make, because those high compensation numbers are how you attract talent, </snip>

I kind of like the overall theme of this guy, but I have a tiny quibble with this one bit. We're talking about capping the compensation of a specific subgroup of CxOs. These 'talented' folks are the same ones who helped get us into this current mess (and yes, those who took the bait share some of the blame). If they couldn't see the disaster coming why exactly should I believe that they're smart enough to dig us out? And why or why should any of my money go into these guys pockets?

I say, they work for minimum wage (it's a living wage, right?) plus a very good commission based on profit. Heck, that's a better deal than most car sales reps get since they tend to be 100% commission.

I'd even go so far as to take money away from any CxO/board/ruler who downsizes the company for profit...cut jobs by 10%, your commission goes down 10%.

You get your commission for profits averaged over 5 years not the last month/quarter/year.

You don't like this kind of program then don't take the government money.

If only I was king of the world... ;-)

What's funny is that eventually we'll either pull out of this mess or wind up a 3rd world country and THEN the experts will let us know why.

It's gonna be an interesting couple of years.


784.11. Ben Langhinrichs (02/07/2009 05:55 AM)

@Rodney - Have you ever seen a cop walk right past a knife fight to give a parking ticket or the mailman stop delivering, or heard a teacher say "I'm paid to teach, not prevent bullies"? Those sound like classic urban legends or "welfare-queen" myths. I don't know where you live, but in my community the police take unpaid time on weekends to reach out to urban youth, the mail carriers will trudge through two feet deep snow to deliver the mail if you don't get a chance to shovel, and the teachers pay for extra supplies out of their own pockets and work Saturdays for no pay to provide extra help for students who need it and attend plays and concerts and more to support their students.

I am sure there are bad cops, bad mail carriers and bad teachers, but in my 46 years, I've experienced far, far more of the good ones than the bad ones, and am quite sure that many of the acts of kindness and decency happen out of my direct sight, so I have no illusions that I am the best qualified to determine exactly who gets what.

As for the fortune cookie, keep it. May it do for you what it has done for me.


784.12. Rodney Scott (02/09/2009 04:51 PM)

I live in LA. Admittedly, this is surely where you want to live for an education in how absurd so-called "liberal thought" can get. The news is probably quite different here, but cops are paid to exercise the first hour of a workday (this includes a simple stroll on the beach) and are considered "off-duty". A friend of mine tried to prevent some kids from tagging the library, and was attacked. He called the cops on his cell phone, but they didn't arrive until two hours later. That is only one example of many where they failed to respond to a violent situation. They might have their hands full with gangs who travel freely back and forth across the national border at whim, but they always seem to find time to enforce the seatbelt law.

Last night, the news was covering how upset local residents were that Obama's plans to send funds to California were cut, cause that left movie producers and scriptwriters (the same people who were on strike last year) without extra funding to carry them through the "rough patch". You might not even realize how poor we Californians are. We may have enough opportunity to trip over, but we aren't getting tax refunds this year! I agree with you that some people who work for the government do their jobs very well, even commendably. But I also should remind you that school principals are some of the most highly paid people in America, and they get summers off. I think anyone who pays for services is qualified to judge whether they are getting the service they are paying for. You seem to know of instances where you are, so they really aren't being that secretive.

In case you think this is a conservative idea, it certainly is not. Many, many liberals agree we at least need more knowledge of what's going on and what we are paying for, if not more control and choice over the spending. I personally got the idea from John Stossel, and my conservative parents disagree. I think that decision is a "football team" sort of thing with them, but I hope it's not the same for you. Other countries are already rewarding the best schools with more students (to which government money is attached), and I'm afraid there is evidence that they may be... well, smarter.

Anyway, this is your blog, so I'll stop preaching. It may be I've witnessed more of these "urban legends" as a function of living in a huge city that has shut off it's brain at the risk of sounding insensitive.


784.13. Rodney Scott (02/09/2009 04:54 PM)

Incidentally, I also agree with you about our forefathers - the dead shouldn't rule the living.