Stephen King on Taxes [EvolutionBlog]

May 6, 2012 by ScienceBlogs

Stephen King has been on a roll lately. His most recent novel 11/22/63 was a welcome return to form and his best work in years. And now he has this excellent essay, in The Daily Beast, on the subject of taxes:

Chris Christie may be fat, but he ain't Santa Claus. In fact, he seems unable to decide if he is New Jersey's governor or its caporegime, and it may be a comment on the coarsening of American discourse that his brash rudeness is often taken for charm. In February, while discussing New Jersey's newly amended income-tax law, which allows the rich to pay less (proportionally) than the middle class, Christie was asked about Warren Buffett's observation that he paid less federal income taxes than his personal secretary, and that wasn't fair. “He should just write a check and shut up,” Christie responded, with his typical verve. “I'm tired of hearing about it. If he wants to give the government more money, he's got the ability to write a check--go ahead and write it.”

Republicans used to argue that we need a flat income tax, because it was just terribly unfair that wealthy folks had to pay a higher tax rate than normal people. Their rallying cry was, “You shouldn't be punished for being successful!”

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