Listening to the Bernie Sanders victory speech Tuesday night (February 9th) after New Hampshire brought several things to mind:
— There’s justice in the fact that the man’s initials are “BS”.
— Haven’t we heard this rot gut many, many times before? Seriously. As The Bern yammered on and on, haven’t we heard the calls for infrastructure repair and Wall Street versus Main Street going back at least to 1964 when Lyndon Johnson faced off against George Wallace for the Democratic Party nomination? (That’s right, George “Segregation Now, Segregation Tomorrow, Segregation Forever” Wallace. Liberals, that’s quite a skeleton you have there in your closet. No wonder your Presidential contenders are both Oscar-white).
— Bernie said that as a Senator he could confirm that climate change was real. Strange. I thought climate change was a scientific thing. Scientists, not Senators, do science. Nice try though, Bernie.
— Income tax season is right around the corner. What a huge (pronounced “ooojh” the way The Berners mimic their candidate) opportunity for Sanders and all his minions.
The Bern has made no secret that he plans to raise taxes. For some tax brackets, the increase under a Sanders administration would be considerable. So, with that in mind:
— Bernie Sanders, this tax season will you lead by example, avoid using deductions or loopholes, and pay your full share of taxes owed under the current tax code?
— Let’s not stop there Bernie. Will you take things a step further and pay whatever rate you’d impose for your own income bracket under your own tax plan?
Research suggests that Bernie Sanders makes somewhere between $200,000 and $330,000 each year. (His net worth is nearly $1.4 million). This means:
— If Bernie wants to lead by example he must pay at least 33% of his income – and maybe more – this year in taxes to match what he owes under the current tax code.
— If Bernie has the guts to back his own plan, he must pay at least 39.6% – and maybe more – of his income to match what he would owe under his own tax plan.
This simple gesture would be valuable proof that Bernie Sanders is willing to practice the hot mess he’s preaching. If it’s too much trouble for him to write the Treasury Department a check, a suitable alternative would be to hire someone for 23 weeks at $15 an hour. This would cost Bernie about $14,000(a). Why $14,000? On top of the $66,000 Bernie already owes under the current tax code, his own tax plan would add at least an additional $14,000 to that $66,000 – based on a $200,000 annual income. If The Bern made more money, The Bern owes more money.
There’s no need to put this all on Bernie though. His campaign is all about cutesy sounding things like “fairness”, “shared responsibility” and “income equality” isn’t it? So, his supporters can jump in and “share” in the “fairness” and “equality”, too.
Berners, will you:
— Follow Bernie’s lead and pay your full share under the current tax code, and then some, to match the tax burden Sanders has in mind for you?
— For those of you that get a tax refund back each year – which means you don’t actually pay taxes to begin with since you’re getting back more money than you paid in – will you send it back to the Treasury Department as a gesture of your solidarity with The Bern? You can even include a note explaining that your returned refund is to be used to help pay for healthcare, free college, Chevy Volts, or any random infrastructure project out there somewhere.
The Berners that are truly all in can avoid using deductions and the like to ensure they pay the full amount they owe. For someone who earned $15 an hour working full-time each week last year, with deductions and all the rest stripped away, the amount owed under The Bern’s plan is $5,367. That’s a lot of money for someone making $31,200 per year but then again, can a price tag be placed on all that shared responsibility and fairness designed to guarantee income equality?
It’s time for The Bern and his minions to put up or shut up.
(a) $14,000 accounts solely for the $15 per hour wage rate calculated over 23.33 forty-hour work weeks. It does not include additional taxes imposed upon employers but not included in an employees gross or net wages.
Image: http://liberalplanet.com/2013/12/30/watch-bernie-sanders-rip-republicans-theyre-at-war-against-the-middle-class/
