A masterpiece: "An indecent proposal" by Hunter for DailyKos

[RhodaA]

An indecent proposal
by Hunter for Daily Kos

Via TPM, Grover Norquist thinks of himself as quite the wit. His response to Warren Buffett agreeing that the rich can/should be taxed more than they currently are? Why, you're free to cut the government a check, dear fellow! ...

Conservatives seem to think they've stumbled on a very clever argument, which is that people who want taxes raised on the wealthy should just donate money instead and let the various more greedy sons-of-bitches in America continue on as usual. Ha ha! Take that, you intellectuals! ...

My proposal is that we make taxes for wealthy Americans and corporations entirely optional. That's it. If a corporation wants to pay zero percent in taxes, they should be allowed to, and if they want to pay the full tax rate, that is also allowed. The same for wealthy Americans. The only caveat is that non-contributing corporations and individuals will be barred from taking advantage of any government services ...

Rather than a long, drawn-out explanation of the basic economic principles of taxation, then, since Norquist neither cares about such things nor has any understanding of them, I'm going to counter-propose my own entirely spurious plan. And I think it's one Grover Norquist could get behind.

My proposal is that we make taxes for wealthy Americans and corporations entirely optional. That's it. If a corporation wants to pay zero percent in taxes, they should be allowed to, and if they want to pay the full tax rate, that is also allowed. The same for wealthy Americans.

The only caveat is that non-contributing corporations and individuals will be barred from taking advantage of any government services. It is the perfect free-market-based opt-out: If you do not want to support the American infrastructure and population to the same extent that your fellow citizens do, you can simply decline to, and live your life as the libertarian god you have always longed to be. You will be free! You will be allowed to go Galt, or not go Galt, to whatever degree you wish; as a special bonus, we shall prevent you from becoming that most dreaded of figures, the parasite, since if you are not contributing to the benefit of society it only stands to reason you should not gain profit from it either.

For starters, companies that do not pay the going tax rate will be barred from shipping their products on American roads. They will be prevented from connecting to the American electric grid, or from using municipal water or sewer systems. Instead, they will have to provide these services on-site. The good news: They can feel free to pollute as much as they like, as long as no pollution crosses the boundaries of their property (above, below or horizontally) into the rest of America. That would be considered an act of war.

Continue
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/02/1021032/-An-indecent-proposal

[Quantess]

1. Nice!

K&R

[Kaleko]

2. Gotta love logical thinking taken to its inevitable conclusion.

Rec'd.

[in_cog_ni_to]

3. Freakin' BRILLIANT! That needs to be sent to every newspaper in the country as a LTTE!

Thanks for posting this!

[in_cog_ni_to]

4. Are you kidding me? This is sinking like a lead balloon!

:wtf:

KICK!

[calimary]

21. Not if I can help it.

[highplainsdem]

5. K&R

[Matariki]

6. Excellent.

K&R

[in_cog_ni_to]

7. Daily Kos

must be on DU's shitlist for some reason.

This is an EXCELLENT piece and should be treated as such. :(

KICK!

[PETRUS]

8. Delightful! K&R

[moonbatmax]

9. He forgot about lobbying

After all, why pay taxes when you can just buy yourself a Senator, and a Rep or two while you're at it? Of course, without access to roads and airspace, it might be a little harder to keep in contact with 'em, but I'd really rather this one be made explicit.

Oh, and while we're at it, here's the real kicker: you don't have to pay American taxes, as long as you don't buy anything with American money! I mean, doesn't that require government backing, at some level?

[Beartracks]

10. "'You're free to cut the government a check" -- Yeah...

That wittiness must be making the right-wing and libertarian rounds. Heard Neal Boortz say the same a few days ago on his radio show.

Must have been on the talking points memo they got last week.

=========================

[999998th word]

11. Norquist is a vile nasty POS.

He is the by product of a wasted sex act and the BEST part of him ran down his mothers leg. A walking-talking ad for the usefulness of birth control.

There are a lot of others who fit in the same category, including certain 'elected officials'. No wonder they fight against the use of contraception.:rant:

[calimary]

28. Agreed! Although that's an insult to wasted sex acts everywhere.

[999998th word]

31. Good one! -I can still think of some quarters that should

have been spent (back in the day).

[calimary]

33. Kick!

[beac]

12. That is a thing of beauty. K&R!

"... and while we're talking about things that only exist due to the largess of the government: Get the hell off our internet, Mr. Grover Norquist."
:applause:

[xxqqqzme]

13. I want to know why norquist

has never been arrested for advocating the destruction of the American government. Drowning something is a violent act. He is advocating anarchy after all.

[calimary]

20. Sounds like a combination of treason and domestic terrorism to me.

Dearest God, I LOVE this idea! LOVE it, LOVE it, LOVE IT!!!!

This is freakin' BRILLIANT and should be advocated widely - and IMMEDIATELY!!!! Let's get a drumbeat going, and fast!!!!

[Doctor_J]

14. They can also not fly their goods anywhere, since the FEDERAL

Aviation Admin makes the air safe for travel.

Kick & hearty Rec

[madrchsod]

15. hunter nails it to the gates of the uber-rich.

[Hotler]

16. k&r n/t

[Pacifist Patriot]

17. This line right here sums it up both literally and beautifully metaphorically for me.

"the liberty lovers can cross the goddamn river the old way, by swimming for it and hoping for the best."

[saras]

18. No, they don't get to use my clean air if they won't pay taxes

They have to breathe nineteenth-century British air, the way all air would be if our taxes didn't fund governments that are strong enough to control the corporations. Or maybe Mexico City air.

[dotymed]

19. If this is any indication...

Contributions to non-profit organizations geared toward "poverty in America" and the government contributions for these services have been drastically reduced n the last few years. I do not have the link to this specific story off hand. I am sure that it is available on google or another ( better?) search engine. I believe it was well documented, I usually check. That seems the current problem, social welfare has become optional. Greed is mandatory.

[calimary]

22. Kick!

[lsewpershad]

23. Great remedy

[AmBlue]

24. Perfection!!

I'd vote for that!

[DeSwiss]

25. Perfect.

[calimary]

26. Where'd this go? Kick it back up!

[calimary]

27. Kicking again!

[Bryn]

29. Excellent!

I love this idea! Perfect :hi:

[jmowreader]

30. Didja ever hear what turned Grover into what he is?

Norquist's daddy had this neat little way of teaching his son to hate taxes: He would buy young Grover an ice-cream cone and hand it to him. As Grover ate, his father would describe each bite as a tax--and, of course, with enough taxes the entire cone disappears. He, of course, left out the benefits of each tax--in this case, the pleasure derived from eating the ice cream.

I was going to say Grover agrees with the Austrian School supposition that every private sector transaction benefits everyone in it, while every government transaction benefits some at the expense of others. Then I remembered: We're talking about Grover Norquist. That worthless cocksucker believes there's no such thing as a government transaction that benefits anyone.

[w0nderer]

32. k&r for reading later n/t