Time to Hit the Beach?
I was reading my recent copy of Forbes and came across some thoughts by Rich Karlgaard should Obama win the presidency:
"What will happen to the U.S. economy if Barack Obama wins the presidency and he's backed by a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate?
Taxes will go up. Capital gains and dividends will bypass 20% on their way to 25% or 30%. Income taxes will go to 40% for higher earners and possibly more for the "super-rich." The ceiling on payroll taxes will rise to $150,000 or so.
Government tax receipts won't grow at all. The highest taxpayers, feeling assaulted, will flee. To where?
Some will take longer vacations. If your last earned dollar is pinched in the 60%-plus range by the feds, the state and your city, you'll envy the beach bum's life.
Some will move to smaller cities. If a $150,000 income in Des Moines, Iowa, or Spokane, Wash., buys you the same house and lifestyle as a $500,000 income in Greenwich, Conn., or Palo Alto, Calif., why not move? The tax monster will eat most of that $350,000 difference.
Some will move to entrepreneurship. If you can live with a lower income, you might as well build equity behind the tax curtain and harvest it in better times. That's what entrepreneurs did in the 1970s.
Some will switch careers, become tax lawyers and make the most money of all."
The Wall Street Journal points out that Obama is out of touch with his false notion that capital gains are mostly the province of the wealthy. "In 2005, according to IRS data, 47% of all tax returns reporting capital gains were from households with incomes below $50,000, and 79% came from households with incomes below $100,000."
Hardly wealthy, especially if these households live in New York or California or other expensive areas. With less money due to high taxes, my fear is that many people will move down to the South where it is cheaper (I like it less crowded here) but maybe many of us should flee to the beach and only work part of the year to avoid the high income taxes. Afterall, if you can't beat em, you might as well be happy. The problem with this plan, however, is that if everyone takes this attitude, where will the US be in terms of a superpower or in terms of production? Or maybe this is the plan afterall? For those in this country with anti-American sentiment, what could be better?
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