Let’s stop feeling so sad for poor Joe the Plumber, who just wants his teensy little piece of the American dream. In his original comments to Obama, Joe explained that he was about to buy a company that would make profits of about $270,000 a year. If that profit bumps Joe’s own income over $250,000, then he’ll be making more money per year than roughly 95 percent of his fellow Americans. In that case, yeah, as Obama explained to him, Joe won’t be getting that middle-class tax cut.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/xxfactor/archive/2008/10/15/joe-the-plutocrat.aspx
McCain got it wrong tonight when he said that, under Obama’s health-care plan, Joe the plumber would pay a fine if he didn’t provide his employees health insurance, because the Obama plan has an exemption for small businesses. Given that McCain from practically the first sentence trucked in Joe, last name and all, as his carefully planted and lovingly tended Real Guy, isn’t this the definition of campaign malpractice? How could his staff have possibly failed to get Joe right? McCain was often strong tonight, on guard and on the offensive. But when he registered open-mouthed surprise as Obama explained why he was wrong about Joe, McCain looked like a man playing Tina Fey playing Sarah Palin asking for a life line. Obama had his weak moments, too, in the reaction shots, like the big smile he cracked while McCain was making serious charges about Bill Ayers and ACORN. Watching them listen sometimes seems more enlightening than listening to them talk.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/xxfactor/archive/2008/10/15/say-it-ain-t-so-joe.aspx
Wurzelbacher’s new notoriety has brought to light the fact that he owes nearly $1,200 in unpaid taxes.
“There is a judgment lien against him for nonpayment of income tax,” Barb Losie, deputy clerk of the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas, told ABCNews.com. “The state files hundreds of liens a day. It means he owes that money.”
Wurzelbacher conceded today that he is not in danger of being hit with the higher tax rate. He acknowledged that he wants to buy a plumbing company for $250,000 to $280,000. That wouldn’t be how much profit he would make from the firm.
He would make much less, he said.
That would seem to indicate that Wurzelbacher would not be subject to Obama’s proposed tax increase from 36 percent to 39 percent for those making more than $250,000 per family. Instead, he would be eligible for a tax cut that Obama is proposing.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Vote2008/story?id=6047360&page=1
Our political dialogue is so pathetic that the major ‘issue’ McCain is trying gin up in the waning moments of this campaign is what they call the devastating effects of Obama’s tax plan on people and small businesses that make over $250,000 without ever being called on the carpet for not stating how much that tax increase is.
4%–yes, that is it, the tax increase on the top bracket that McCain predicts will cause the sky to fall (further), and what prompts Sarah Palin to draw upon her deep knowledge of history and economics to pronounce it ’socialism’, or, more recently, a nightmarish communism.
Our dearly-beloved news media, always preferring a manufactroversy (i.e., manufactured controversy) to useful dialogue, has fanned the flames of this issue. The news stations call on pundits of the right and left to argue about it, but never mention it is…4%. Joe Biden was even asked by a Florida News Station whether it amounted to Communism! 4%!
So, let us take an example. Suppose Joe does buy out his business, and suppose he works hard, and suppose there are not so many unemployed that business is good. Suppose the business, after expenses, takes in $300,000. What would be Joe’s additional tax burden? About $2000…or less than 1% of his total income after expenses. In a $300,000 business that is almost rounding error. Moreover, if he provides healthcare for his employee(s), Obama will give him a $3000 credit.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-abrams/4–thats-what-joe-the-plu_b_138147.html
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