The Washington Post has a curious, almost humorous, editorial today arguing that “there is no case to be made for the House Democratic majority’s proposal to fund health-care legislation through an ad hoc income tax surcharge for top-earning households.”
You might think that the Post bases its “no case” argument on what it describes as
[t]he traditional argument against sharp increases in the marginal tax rates of a very narrow band of Americans is that it could distort their economic behavior — most likely by encouraging them to put more of their money into tax shelters as opposed to productive investments.
But if you thought that you would be wrong. The Post objects to paying for Obamacare by taxing the wealthy not because it objects to taxing the wealthy but because it wants to tax them for something else. It believes that it is not wise
to pay for a far-reaching new federal social program by tapping a revenue source that would surely need to be tapped if and when Congress and the Obama administration get serious about the long-term federal deficit.
But if Obama and the Democratic Congress never “get serious about the long-term federal deficit,” then presumably it would be fine to pile more taxes on the wealthy (and not so wealthy) now.
I think anyone who casually assumes, as this editorial does, that anyone’s earnings or wealth are available to be “tapped” should be shunned from public life. What disgusting people.