John Hinderaker at Power Line asks, "Are We a Banana Republic" in regard to the Democrats' proposal to tax at 90% or more the bonuses given by AIG to retain certain of its critical employees. With some of the events in Washington these past 2 months, one might find this characterization to be an insult to banana republics.
Many people are undoubtedly shouting, "Right on" to the proposal to tax the AIG bonuses at confiscatory rates. That is why demagogues take such positions. They know they can whip up support for their policies.
That is the very reason that the founders enacted the Constitution - to limit the powers of the demagogue to gain temporary support for policies that hurt the country in the long run. John says it well:
I would have considered it a bright line rule that the government can't
identify a class of unpopular people and impose a special tax on them. What's
next? A 100% income tax on registered Republicans, retroactive to last year? If
Pelosi's bill passes muster, why not?
If Congress can pass a confiscatory tax on the AIG bonuses, no contract is safe in this country. Who will be next? Why stop with AIG? The Treasury obviously needs a tremendous injection of income, why not look at other unpopular salaries in the country?
A lot of people think our star athletes are overpaid. Why not pass a 90% tax on all athletes' compensation above $400,000 per year? While we're at it, why not apply the same tax to our college and professional coaches? Why should the football coach at the University of Texas make such a huge salary?
Now that we're on a roll, we can include the news readers and political pundits in the tax. Also, we should apply it to all contributions to political campaigns and all politicians' personal income. Uh oh. I think I've gone from preaching to meddling, haven't I?
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