As Joel Connelly reported yesterday, Dino Rossi is a big proponent of extending the budget-busting Bush tax cuts:
Rossi argued that 2 1/2 million people in Washington benefit from the 2001 Bush tax cuts, the extension of which will be a major issue in Congress this fall.
Rossi described as “this class warfare program” the Obama administration’s plan to extend the cuts enjoyed by middle-income taxpayers, while repealing tax cuts for high-income households.
Huh. I’m not sure what’s more distorted, Rossi’s view of the lifestyle of your average Washingtonian or Rossi’s definition of “class warfare”…? As Think Progress explains:
There are about 6.7 million people in Washington state, so for Rossi’s number to be accurate, he’s either claiming that Obama and Murray want to raise taxes on people that they don’t, or he is claiming that more than one-third of the state’s population is making more than $200,000 per year. According to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, there are 105,209 households in the state that would be affected by the expiration of the Bush tax cuts (or about 1.6 percent of the total population). So Rossi inflated his state’s wealthy population by 24 times. Also, as The Wonk Room explains, Rossi’s push to extend the tax cuts for the rich would definitely help one Washingtonian: Dino Rossi.
I guess when you pretty much only hang out with folks making over $200,000 a year, $200,000 doesn’t seem like all that much.
I can see his next political ad now: “I do the math, so you don’t have to!”
One of the best comebacks to charges of “class warfare” from Republicans that I have ever heard came straight out of the mouth of Warren Buffett……..”we already have class warfare, and his class is winning!” Who better than Buffett would know?
He must be getting his McEstimates from McMegan.
It is amazing how people like Rossi try to spin the idea of a progressive tax into ‘class warfare.’ In that case, is Adam Smith not the father of modern economics, but instead the father of modern class warfare?
“The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state.” -Adam Smith
“The necessaries of life occasion the great expense of the poor. They find it difficult to get food, and the greater part of their little revenue is spent in getting it. The luxuries and vanities of life occasion the principal expense of the rich, and a magnificent house embellishes and sets off to the best advantage all the other luxuries and vanities which they possess. A tax upon house-rents, therefore, would in general fall heaviest upon the rich; and in this sort of inequality there would not, perhaps, be anything very unreasonable. It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion.” -Adam Smith
many people get agitated about an islamic center b/c both the republican and the democratic last 2 presidents and the fawning corporate media are at war on islamic countries and, supposedly, the islamic “extremists.” nobody at any point on the spectrum should be surprised. oh and endless war on borrowed cash has nothing to do with the economy so don’t talk about war and economic problems in the same sentence, tweet, post, etc.
So what. You’re talking about the “prefers Republican” party. This ain’t exactly a party that sweats details or facts. They don’t believe evolution is real, nearly all the folks who think the earth is 6,000 years old belong to their party, they think gays are destroying marriage despite every piece of evidence showing that’s not true, they think Obama (not Bush) created Tarp, they think Obama is a secret Muslim here to destroy Christianity, and now they’re worried about the “ground zero mosque” which isn’t at ground zero or a mosque.
You think THESE folks are going to be bothered by the fact he just made up MORE shit? That he exaggerated by 24 times? Please, try bringing this “fact” up and they’ll just accuse you of hating our troops or trying to destroy America. You can’t have a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.
Well, regardless of the math, extending the Bush economic policy has got to be a very good idea.
It worked so well before!
6: “You can’t have a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.”
Nice. For all their militarism, it would seem that our trolls are essentially unarmed.
@6
Unfortunately, Democracy relies on a battle of wits (ie. the principled debate).
The wingnuts who replace fact with fantasy and equate progressive taxation with class warfare don’t have the ability to realize that they are the thing which they fear the most – an imminent threat to American Democracy.
Yes, Rossi’s out-of-touch, but so is the Dem message on this. Why are we debating “extending the Bush tax cuts?” Shouldn’t we be debating Obama’s proposal to prevent 99% of Americans from experiencing “the scheduled Bush tax hike?” Obama wants to allow the Bush tax increase on the top 1% to go ahead but eliminate the Bush middle-class tax hike.
If you like, I’d even be willing to call them Republican tax hikes.
uummmm goldy, $200,000 a year really isnt that much, all things considered.
still wondering how much you paid in taxes last year…..does the number start with 0 and end with 0?
Liar @ 11
uuummmmmm liar, $200,000 a year is a ton of money, all things considered.
@11
‘uummmm goldy, $200,000 a year really isnt that much, all things considered.’
I was wondering when some wingnut’s distorted version of reality would make an appearance in this thread; I guess liar, liar felt like punting.
Please, liar, liar, explain to us what you mean. Why do you think $200,000 a year isn’t all that much, all things considered? It puts you in the top 1.6% of income earners in this state. It is almost 4x the median household income for Washington residents in 2008 ($54,086). What else is there to consider?
Looks to me like the median income for someone in Washington State is $54,086.
http://www.ofm.wa.gov/economy/hhinc/
I don’t know where Rossi gets that 2.5 million number but looking at that Census website that TP refers it stands out.
2.5 million HOUSEHOLDS in WA State. Not nearly all of which get that much benefit from the Bush tax cuts.
Empty suit Dino probably got his figures messed up. Not that it matters. If a salesman makes the right impact on his marks (brings the sale nearer to “close”), facts matter little.
@12
the hell it is….
Dori Monsan just had Dino on. I just had time to catch him saying that “the future of the Free World is at stake”, referring to his electoral contest with Patty Murray.
Gee, Dino’s head has really gotten swelled up lately. I mean, the future of the Free World might have been at stake when F.D.R. decided to push the lend-lease program instead of relying on polls which showed neutrality was still popular (the polls changed pretty shortly thereafter). And the future of the Free World was probably at stake when Truman pushed through Secty of State (and former Army Chief of Staff) George Marshall’s plan for giving aid to our former enemies, as well as to nations occupied by them during WWII.
But Dino Rossi???? Give me a break.
Dino also bragged about all the milage he had accumlated driving to small towns throughout the state since he had declared his canadicy.
I notice he didn’t mention any cities, or even suburbs, where most of the voters are found. He’s still counting on the folks who believe that they subsidize the cities, rather than the other way around, for the base of his vote.
Good luck with that strategy.
@16
Considering that the median income in the state of Washington is $54,086, I’d bet over half the people in the state would disagree with you on that.
I appreciate why teabaggers are suspicious of establishment Republicans like Rossi. After all, it was establishment Republicans who borrowed a trillion dollars from our Chinese friends to finance Bush’s tax cuts for the rich.
# 20: Yep, the Tea Bag party was an attempt by the Republicans to harness a junk-yard dog for their own purposes, and now they are surprised when it growls and bits at them. Republicans have traditionally used these people and hot-button sloganeering as their reliable base of support, both at the polls and in lots of small donations, and especially when using churches as organizing tools. But the Republicans never really did anything for them, and these Tea Party folks have just gotten around to understanding that now.
If they were to vote with their own best interests in mind, they would find a lot in common with the most progressive elements of the Democratic Party. But their own prejudices keep them from doing so – they prefer to hold onto their beliefs that somehow they are supporting thousands of black welfare mothers in urban Seattle, when in reality Seattle workers are subsidizing rural Eastern Washington.
View the world through Murray’s spend happy Eyes 120+ Billion deficit in just the 1st 17 days of this month. 1.5 Trillion deficit in a year…Go Greece