TCTI: Too Crazy Too Ignore
 Dave Ross
fdr.jpg
Even FDR backed increased tax rates for the rich, and Dave Ross says that wasn't the disaster many Republicans predict. (AP image)

A little pep talk

BY Dave Ross  on December 5, 2012 @ 8:33 am (Updated: 8:54 am - 12/5/12 )

Republicans need a little pep talk because it looks like they're going to lose the argument on tax rates for rich people.

And it stings. Raising rates is odious to every fiber of their being. But look who else was once was against raising rates: Barack Obama himself!

"What we said was give us $1.2 trillion without hiking tax rates but by eliminating loopholes, eliminating some deductions," he said when he was pushing a deal back in 2011.

So even Barack Obama has been forced to accept Barack Obama's insistence on higher rates.

But here's the deeper reason for Republicans to accept the higher rates: even FDR backed them.

"I do not think that any American citizen should have a net income of in excess of $25,000 dollars after taxes," he said in a speech.

There was a war on, and he raised the top bracket to 94 percent for households making over $200,000.

Of course $200,000 then would be about $2.5 million now.

But here's the point: FDR's tax rates set up 60 years of tax cuts - tax cuts which didn't actually cost the government money because as you cut rates, inflation bumped more people into the next bracket. It was perfect.

So why are Republicans trying to stop a Democratic administration from raising tax rates? Let them go to 94 percent, blame the Democrats, and set yourselves up for a free ride that could last the rest of the century!

Dave Ross, KIRO Radio Talk Show Host
Dave Ross is co-host of The Ross & Burbank Show on KIRO Radio (weekdays 9-Noon) and never too far from the spotlight.
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Comments (38)


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  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    There is no motivation for the Republicans to compromise, at all....
    December 5, 2012 8:31 am
    The results will be exactly the same, as far as they're concerned, whether they compromise or not. The marginal tax rates on the "job creators" will skyrocket, (back to the level that prevailed when Clinton was president and we last ran budget surpluses).

    Funny thing is, that if those same "job creators" had plowed the tax savings they have enjoyed for the last decade or so back into actually creating jobs (in the US, that is)the economy would have grown to the point where an additional tax *decrease* might even be possible. It's rather obvious that's not how their increase in take-estate pay was spent.

    Republicans are dinged if they do and darned if they don't, so why bother doing anything? Giving the Democrats anything at all would be ridiculous right now. Taxes are going up whether the Republicans compromise and allow them to go up, or not. Since there are no real moral issues in play over this issue, (abortion, gay marriage, immigration, etc), the only horse the Republicans are running is their fiscal pony. The rules of the race right now say that they can either agree to lose, or just simply lose, but the results will be the same.

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  • maplefish wrote...
    Chuck
    December 5, 2012 8:55 am
    You nailed it. I say lets go over the cliff and see what happens? Obama will blame the Republicans, but it might wake people up to the fact that Obama has borrow and spent more of our tax dollars than any president in history. He cant keep blaming that on Bush. Hope the Republicans hold steady and call Barry's bluff.
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  • messiah101 wrote...
    FISH
    December 5, 2012 10:07 am
    Why do you call Obamas strategy a bluff?I have explained before that the Dems can allow the tax deal to not be addressed in 2012 and then introduce it again in 2013 and the GOP will have to accept it or risk losing more then just the House in the next general election.Why can't you see that?All polls show overwhelming support for the higher 2% to pay more taxes and the middle class to have the current level of taxation remain in place.The GOPers WILL vote out Tea Party LOONS that allow middle class taxes to rise
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  • Fuego wrote...
    FDR policies for job growth
    December 5, 2012 8:55 am
    is a really bad example. Unless you're suggesting that world war will help the unemployed. Unemployment under FDR's first 9 yrs in office was horrible. It wasn't until December 8th, 1941 that job growth started to accelerate.
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  • messiah101 wrote...
    Fuego
    December 5, 2012 2:04 pm
    Look at how much more $$$ the Federal government was injecting into the economy.That was a GIANT stimulus package.Spending increased about 450% in a year or two,unemployment went from 14.6% in 1940 to 4.2 in 1942,1.2% in 1944
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  • ron prevost wrote...
    Get a clue, messiah. There was that little thing called World War Two.
    December 5, 2012 6:17 pm
    Of course unemployment dropped to 4.2% in 1943 and 1.2% in 1944. ..... Just about EVERY able bodied man was in uniform !!!

    Remember Rosie the Riveter? So many men were under arms that women were needed to take industrial jobs. .............. And that GIANT stimulus package was THE WAR.

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  • ratrustle wrote...
    I could have voted Republican if...
    December 5, 2012 8:55 am
    those Morons would get out of my bedroom and concentrate on Economic issues. I'm more concerned about the "baggage" of the Republican Party. I'm a gun toting, fiscal conservative who doesn't want religion thrown in my face nor do I believe that everyone on public assistance is gaming the system. I want smaller government with more personal responsibility and I consider myself a Democrat. It's going to take a lot more than a pep talk to get people like me to make a "right turn".
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  • mynorthwester wrote...
    haha
    December 5, 2012 1:47 pm
    Oh here goes AJ again
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  • longwayhome wrote...
    AJ Von Braun
    December 5, 2012 7:00 pm
    Our resident Rocket Scientist, in case I forget to mention this, your new pic on your "handle" makes you look really as stupid as your posts. A picture of a horses patoot would suit you much better. That said, if you are self conscious about your looks, as you should be, just leave it blank and let the other posters on this site use their imagination. You certainly cannot be vain and survive on this site very long.
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  • Rangerhawk wrote...
    What if the "Rich" stop making big money on purpose?
    December 6, 2012 12:25 am
    Remember, unless Congress passes a law that these people have to make that money (by employing us) that they plan to tax so insanely, the already "Rich" can retire to their amassed wealth until the insanity is over. That would be called "Depression." If it happens, blaming someone comes pretty far behind food and our debt ceiling wont matter much when our money becomes worthless.
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  • sportsguru wrote...
    Rangerhawk
    December 6, 2012 6:49 am
    Somebody else would take there place and make that insane amount of money. Similar to when a drug dealer get's retired by going to jail, another drug dealer takes it's place. To much greed for anybody to just let all that CONSUMER money that can be put in there pocket just RETIRE and go away,lol.
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  • longwayhome wrote...
    Yeah....
    December 7, 2012 9:30 pm
    Looking at aj's new picture makes me think that his mouth looks like an asshole with wings.
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