A little pep talk

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!