Fri Mar 06, 2009 at 11:48:41 AM EST
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Jonathan Chait at The New Republic was able to drum up considerable indignation at "wealthy idiots" and the "idiot reporter" earlier this week, when he stumbled across an ABC News report on Americans trying to cut their income to just below $250,000. Their logic, such as it was, involved avoiding the higher tax bracket by simply making a dollar less than a quarter-million a year.
Chait's response: "Oh my God, the stupidity."
That wasn't his only response. He also pointed out "the tax code doesn't work that way," and instead of being taxed on all your earnings at a higher rate because you suddenly earned more, "only every dollar over $250,000 is taxed at a higher rate." What made the piece interesting was not just the sheer stupidity of the subjects of the piece (and the reporter, for encouraging theirs and others stupidity), but Chait's incredulity in the face of it. Does he really believe masses of Americans are well informed about our tax code?
I'm not just talking about the subtle nuances of our tax code. Can a college kid deduct their tuition? Who knows without a trip to H&R Block? What I'm talking about is the writ large nature of our tax code. I'd be curious to see what percentage of Americans would be able to accurately describe the way our tax code works and what percentage would be in the same boat as the ABC reporter and her rich subjects, but I'd be willing to bet real money a sizable minority, if not a majority couldn't get it right.
All of which is why I think Chait got it wrong in a second post, following up on his earlier one, when he wrote:
Commenter "ratnerstar" has the right idea here: It's time to stop educating these ignorant rich people and start taking advantage of them. We have some number of high-income people out there who earnestly think they can increase their take-home pay by decreasing their salaries.This is one of the great scamming opportunities of all time, with the side bonus that the targets richly deserve their fate.
He's kidding, obviously. I think.
Nevertheless, the root issue here is education, and not just for the wealthiest earners who should know better. Liberals, back in the ancient days when they would routinely lose elections despite polling better on the issues, would lament this disconnect. Why were so many Americans supporting Republicans when it was obviously not in their economic self-interest to do so, when they said they agreed with Democrats?
Education. People aren't dumb, but in a world as big and complicated as ours is, why are we still so routinely surprised by people's failure to grasp the basic mechanics of that world? The Jewish tradition champions education, and it's not just because literacy is a prerequisite for Torah study. Judaism understood earlier than most that an educated, informed population was better able to chart its best course. We understood that to allow somebody to remain uneducated wasn't an act of politeness, it was an egregious crime against that person. Why would any ethical human being allow another human being to live in ignorance and likely suffer from their ignorance?
Clearly the tax code is complex, and it's just one plank in our economic system. We keep doling out billions, and I think it's safe to say at this point that a majority of people in this country are not what one might call well-versed on the complexities of the crisis and its solutions. Even some of the experts tasked with fixing the mess are basically winging it in some respects.
So how do we bridge the educational divide? How do we ensure that a lack of information and understanding on the part of the citizens who will benefit from these solutions doesn't overturn the attempts at implementing those solutions? Well, that's complicated. |
| Brad Pilcher :: No, nobody understands the tax code |
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