Is Bill Gates a Patriot?

Reading the previous post really challenged my thinking as it was clearly well thought out and extremely thought provoking. I do have some reservations on a few of the points that were made, so here is my response as well as some additional insight.

When we talk about Patriotism as it relates to paying taxes we are addressing Sen Joe Biden's quote yesterday when he suggested that it was in fact more patriotic to pay more taxes. (Source: AP http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ijhWY4xbOaT6L788T-6b9FgI2dKAD9393ULG3) Sen. Biden's claim is one certainly worth discussing, but I think the way he framed it has a few holes. It is one thing to say that paying your taxes in full, on time is patriotic, it is another thing to say that the wealthy in this country are not pulling their weight. As a frame of reference, I would not fall into Sen. Biden's or Sen. Obama's $250,000+ "rich" box, so it is possible to have concern about taking money from other people or attacking their patriotism without actually being one of them.

Taxes are in fact an investment.

There is no doubt that everything that was stated in the previous post, in regards to infrastructure and roads was right on the money. I don' think anyone could really argue against the fact that infrastructure is the backbone of the American economy, including the gentleman in the Ferrari who does need a road to drive it on.

Defense is the other crucial investment that our tax dollars pay for. As outlined in the preamble of the constitution "…ensure domestic tranquility. Provide for the common defense…" This is the basic provision that the FedEx building fire gets put out and the Canadians don't even make it across the border to invade Minnesota.

Taxes are necessary, of course. A tax free America would never work. Jesus himself said "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's" in reference to dutifully paying your taxes. So we agree up until this point.

Now about "fair share"...

I don't think it is fair to categorize all large corporations as tax evaders and as corrupt. There are of course, companies that will take advantage of any tax break they can get and even cheat the system by putting money in offshore bank accounts so they can avoid paying taxes on them, shame on them. That is in fact very unpatriotic. However, you can’t throw the baby out with the bath water on this issue and penalize all corporations for the behavior of a few. That would be like wiping out welfare because of the few individuals who purposely are lazy and choose to live off the system (also unpatriotic by the way).

I would submit that lower corporate taxes encourage more corporations to do business in the U.S. and thereby grow the economy greatly. I am sure most of them wish it made more sense to do business here and I'm sure a lot of them even go as far as foregoing millions of dollars in potential profit just so they are not tagged as "unpatriotic" - you decide what is fair in this regard and what the solution is. Do we raise taxes and try to force the hand of CEO's to keep all their profits taxable and on U.S. soil, or do we make the arena easier for them to be "patriotic" and keep reinvesting in the U.S. Economy? You can’t force anyone to do anything, as long as there is opportunity to save money or earn more money elsewhere, those avenues will be pursued. Forget about patriotism for a second- what about foreign companies that we want to attract? Isn't that one of the best ways to grow the economy? Why in the world would a foreign company try to expand into the U.S. if they could stay in their country and pay a fraction of the taxes- especially when they know Americans are the largest consumer in the world, and we are still going to buy their product! We need to encourage growth and corporate expansion by making it appealing; give an incentive to do business here. By raising taxes you may generate more “tax” revenue for a short while, but you are going to cripple overall economic expansion, you will discourage some companies from doing business altogether and thereby reducing tax revenue in the long term.

Now as it relates to YOU come April 15th- what is your fair share in this investment? The roads you drive on and the police officers, fire fighters, and armed forces that protect you and all of your rights?

I absolutely agree with JB that you should pay in relevance to how successful this country has made you. If it weren’t for the infrastructure that you stand on, you would have no wealth or success to speak of. The question remains, what is my fair share?

An example of an "unfair share" would be a flat tax. If everyone who made an income was required to pay $20,000 in taxes every year that would obviously be unfair. You can’t tell someone who made $30,000 to pay as much taxes as Bill Gates. No brainer, right?

I would submit that a simple percentage is the only TRUE fairness. Let's just use 25% as an across the board tax. You can't tell me that asking that same person who made $30,000 to pay $7,500 in taxes and asking Bill Gates who made $175 million to pay $43 Million, is unfair. That's a big tax bill for Mr. Gates- but guess what, this isn’t even what he pays. It’s also not even what the 30k/yr person pays. Under the 2008 Federal Income Tax bracket this scenario would have the gentleman making $30,000 actually in the 15% tax bracket and their tax bill being roughly $4,500. As for Mr. Gates? His income would put him (of course) in the highest tax bracket, which is 35%- which, if you are keeping score at home, is 20% higher than Mr. 30k/yr. The Gates tax bill would be a measly $61,250,000. Yes, Mr. Gates can easily afford this- but is it fair? Likewise, is it fair to criticize Mr. Gates' patriotism should he disagree with increasing this gap? I for one think Bill Gates is pulling his weight. I for one think Bill Gates and all his rich friends are patriots as long as they are paying what the government is requiring. 5 words for you- Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. (please don't insult the good work and philanthropy of the Gates' by suggesting they only do it for a tax break, thank you.) Of course this is only one example, but it goes to show you that people are capable of doing good and reinvesting into society (and the world) without the Government forcing them to do so all the while, still paying their fair share of the tax bill and being "patriotic".

As Garrett pointed out in a previous thread, the larger issue is really income redistribution. Under the Obama tax plan, by the Senator's own admission, taxes on the so called "rich" would increase and the "middle class" would decrease. That would mean that some tax revenue would go from one class to another. Right? If you increase the higher bracket by 3% and decrease the lower bracket by 3%, aren’t you essentially taking from the rich and giving it to the poor? That does not resemble capitalism, that is purely penalizing the rich for their success and giving it back to us “less fortunate” middle class’ers. That is not my definition of patriotic, and certainly far from what I would call fair.

Let the rich keep the money that they earned. Tax them a fair amount of money for utilizing the amenities and consuming American resources, but don’t try to make them carry the country on their shoulders. Don’t increase capital gains tax, don’t reinstate the inheritance tax, and whatever you do, don’t increase taxes on small business. It just doesn’t make any sense. It discourages people from investing in anything American, from buying stocks to buying property, from starting businesses to working for small business…

Lastly, I will point out that I would answer “yes” to all of JB’s opening questions and I especially would like to highlight the fact that the Good Lord does expect us to “tithe” to our local church, which literally means 1/10th of our income, or 10%. He also tells us that “to whom much is given much is expected”, so apply both of those statements in context and remember- That was God talking, not Uncle Sam.