Redistributing Wealth One Voter at a Time

Be sure and read ALL of this before you react.

I've gotten this story in several emails lately:
Today on my way to lunch I passed a homeless guy with a sign that read "Vote Obama, I need the money." In the restaurant my server had "Obama 08" on his tie. So I didn't tip the server; I told him I was going to "redistribute" his tip to the homeless guy outside. I went outside, gave the homeless guy $5 and told him to thank the server. He was grateful for the money he didn't earn. The waiter was pretty mad that I gave away the money he did earn even though the other guy needed money more. Apparently redistribution of wealth is only a good thing when it's someone ELSE'S money being redistributed to YOU!

There's no doubt that involuntary redistribution of wealth is dangerous ground. But here's another take on this.

The server might very well respond, "Doesn't matter to me, sir. By the time I share my tips with the rest of the staff, I don't get much of it anyway. I rely on my hourly wage. " Then the manager comes by and says "Hi, we're going to comp your meal down to half price. We cover it by paying the servers a miserable wage and charging the other customers more. What they don't know won't hurt 'em, right?"

This is a pretty good analogy to many provisions of current tax law.

Example 1: You know all those Wall Street CEOS getting paid hundreds of millions to run their companies broke? That money is taxed at 15% as capital gains, not at 35% as income. Link
It meets every part of the definition of ordinary income and none of the definition for capital gains. But those guys redistribute a lot of wealth to congressmen, who have expressed outrage while declining to tax their benefactors at the same rate you pay. Are you happy that your Representative is standing firm against the involuntary redistribution of these guys' wealth?

Example 2: Companies with hundreds of millions in revenue, with operations entirely in the U.S., can file about 500 bucks worth of paper and register themselves in the Bahamas. They pay no U.S. income tax at all. For the logic behind this, refer to Example 1. Link
One of these outfits, by the way, is the most profitable consulting firm in the world. I read an article by their CEO about the challenge of staying profitable and the importance of maintaining a government environment with good business incentives. There was a picture of him, but it didn't look like his tongue had fallen out.

So if you're consistent in opposing redistribution of wealth, should you support these guys continuing to eat our golden geese with their silver spoons? Is it ethically wrong to take their money and reduce your taxes? One thing for sure, it's the law of the land, and it was lawed on the land by people we voted for. Lawed have Mercy!

But in the overall scope of things, it's no biggie. The restaurant manager is losing money hand over fist, He's been borrowing from China to to pay the waiter and to cover your discount. His restaurant will go belly up whenever Zhang Dejiang wants it to. If We the People are going to sell the United States to the Chinese, then the homeless might as well get their share. Those who are already homeless, I mean.