If the Obama administration keeps demonizing "the richest Americans" (those who make at least $250,000), it can make them seem evil and greedy, but it can't make them stupid:
A 63-year-old attorney based in Lafayette, La., who asked not to be named, told ABCNews.com that she plans to cut back on her business to get her annual income under the quarter million mark should the Obama tax plan be passed by Congress and become law.
[. . .]
We have to find a way out where we can make just what we need to just under the line so we can benefit from Obama's tax plan," she added. Why kill yourself working if you're going to give it all away to people who aren't working as hard?"
The attorney says that in order to decrease her income she'll have to let go of clients, some of whom she's been counseling for more than a decade.
[. . .]
Dr. Sharon Poczatek, who runs her own dental practice in Boulder, Colo., said that she too is trying to figure out ways to get out of paying the taxes proposed in Obama's plan.
"I've put thought into how to get under $250,000," said Poczatek. "It would mean working fewer days which means having fewer employees, seeing fewer patients and taking time off."
People respond to incentives. If you identify the precise line that divides "the evil rich" from the rest of us, how hard is to figure out that people in the target group are going to produce just a little bit less to avoid the extra taxes? Despite the evidence of history and the dictates of human nature, why do so many people still not believe the simple truth that you get less of what you tax and more of what you subsidize?
Comments
ABC News should hire an accountant. A person earning $251,000 will only pay the higher rate on the $1000, not the 249,999 previously earned. The people quoted in this article will actually be earning less after taxes if they reduce their income, rather than just paying the higher rate after earning 250,000.