Tax Avoidance: Only The Little People Pay Taxes
Friday, July 30, 2010 at 09:13AM Recent headlines in newspapers, tabloids and blogs are awash with details about Senator John Kerry's Yacht and the alleged tax avoidance he has been purported to undertake, as many have characterized this as a "negative." Well, excuse my ignorance, but I fail to see the negative in this. On the face of the issue, it would appear that Kerry made a sound economic decision to park the Yacht in Portsmouth Rhode Island. By not mooring or docking in the Bay State, Kerry save himself over a half-million in sales taxes and upwards of $70,000 in excise taxes.
However, what I do find fault with is the fact that John Kerry is just another tax and spend liberal Senator, who has engaged in the age-old class warfare mantra about the, "Rich paying their fair share." As a big government tax and spend liberal Kerry's hypocrisy and personal behavior demonstrates the one undeniable truth about taxation: When taxes become burdensome and oppressive, people act to minimize the fiscal consequence or avoid paying in any legal way possible.
The Movie Industry in California with all its wealthy movie moguls who tend to support liberal tax and spend big government politicians like Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein, avoid oppressive taxes. In February of 2009 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation creating multi-tiered tax credits for the movie industry as so many have been fleeing Hollywood for other venues with more favorable tax consequences.
Then there are the rich and famous who have been prosecuted and jailed for having failed to pay taxes. Most recently, Wesley Snipes was jailed for tax evasion. Others who have been under the tax evasion microscope include Nicholas Cage, Paul Hogan (Crocodile Dundee), Melissa Etheridge, Annie Leibovitz, Luciano Pavarotti and Martha Stewart to name a few. Perhaps the late Leona Helmsley is right after all: "Only the little people pay taxes..."
Massachusetts State Representative Michael J. Rodrigues (D) 8th District was exposed last fall walking out of the State Liquor store in Portsmouth New Hampshire sporting a parcel of libations. Rodrigues drove his personal car, bearing his official legislative license plates...this after Rodrigues had voted to raise the Bay State's sales tax to 6.25 percent. Rodrigues, along with thousands of other Bay Staters, was dodging the tax he raised! Most recently, Marty Meehan, a former Massachusetts congressman, purchase two bottles of wine here in the Granite State.
The notion of achieving a favorable tax consequence is physically evident at the Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua. JC Penny is missing a corner of the building, thereby avoiding having any part of the structure in MA. That missing corner runs flush with the State of MA/NH line. (You can actually see the line as it is physically cut into the pavement and sidewalk. The parking lot and related landscapes are located in Tyngsboro, MA, but the building is located in "tax free" New Hampshire as the Simon website declares.
Lets face it. There is no shame in purchasing goods and services at prices that are the lowest. For Many in the Bay State that means crossing the border and making purchases here in New Hampshire. Union Leader Editor and Granite-Stater Drew Cline, commenting in the American Spectator, aptly states, "They don't really believe everyone should have to pay 6.25 percent to the state on every purchase. They simply find it a convenient way to raise revenue. If they believed that their high taxes were moral and just, they would pay them, not dodge them..."
There is a common thread here that tax and spend liberals discount in all debates concerning revenue: INCREASING Taxes LOWERS revenues...LOWERING taxes INCREASES revenues. High taxes are the root cause of tax avoidance while low taxes favor economic activity and increased revenues. Why is that so hard to understand?
It is a hard undeniable truth that oppressive and burdensome taxation contributes to decreased revenues because it is human nature to try and get more bang for ones buck. Even the hypocritical big government taxers and spenders show they understand this on some personal level.
Reader Comments (4)
Under Frank Guinta's flat tax scheme -- it WILL be the little people paying taxes
President Barry Soetoro's exemption of his pals from the ObamaCare bill is the same thing.
Just with a touch of thuggery.
You are stoopid