Return of the “Lucky Duckies” Meme Continues at Repub Presidential Debate

A few months back I noted here and here that the Republicans have lately begun resurrecting the myth that people living at or below the level of self sufficiency should be considered “Lucky Duckies” because they pay little or no federal income tax. The implication being that they should increase their “skin in the game” by paying, you know, more income taxes.

This charming theme was originally advanced by a Wall Street Journal editorial in November of 2002, apparently because people who don’t pay enough in federal income taxes won’t be sufficiently pissed off at government to support cutting taxes for the rich!

To a person earning $12,000, the Journal argues, paying 4 percent in federal income tax is not

enough to get his or her blood boiling with tax rage. … [A]s fewer and fewer people are responsible for paying more and more of all taxes, the constituency for tax cutting, much less for tax reform, is eroding. Workers who pay little or no taxes can hardly be expected to care about tax relief for everybody else. They are also that much more detached from recognizing the costs of government.

So we must raise taxes on the serfs so they will support cutting taxes on their masters. Interesting.

Or, as Jonathan Chait put it:

One of the things that has fascinated me about The Wall Street Journal editorial page is its occasional capacity to rise above the routine moral callousness of hack conservative punditry and attain a level of exquisite depravity normally reserved for villains in James Bond movies

Of course all of this fantasizing over how lucky those who are scraping by from paycheck to paycheck really are, because they pay little or no federal income taxes, simply ignores the fact that the Lucky Duckies are still hit with highly regressive FICA taxes and sales taxes, not to mention gasoline taxes and excise taxes. And renters are paying their landlords’ property taxes indirectly through their rent. How lucky can you get!

Still it seemed that this agonizing over middle and lower income Americans refusing to offer up additional pounds of flesh to make the gameskinners happy was fairly isolated. Until last night.

Behold the Mittster saying exactly that:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

If you can’t play videos where you are, basically Mittens was asked “[Y]ou often hear this figure, 47% of Americans pay no federal income tax…. Isn’t some of this argument semantics? And won’t the effort to correct that be a de facto tax increase?”

To which he replied that Lucky Duckies WANT to pay more in taxes because they feel bad that they’re not supporting the military!! (Well, other than with their actual bodies by actually, you know, serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the National Guard). And they don’t provide for our roads!! (Hello - gasoline taxes anyone??) Not to mention our schools! (Well, you get it by now. Umm, sales taxes? Property taxes?)

All of this preceded by “I don’t want to raise taxes on the American people, but . . . “

And Romney’s supposed to be the moderate one of these guys. (Well, except that his newly revealed jobs plan would probably mean the end of Medicare but as Yglesias points out that’s just for old people anyway.)

I tell ya, folks. If we don’t stomp the Republicans in 2012 we’re pretty much doomed. Game over.

Posted by marindenver on 09/08/11 at 05:00 PM • Permalink

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That Chait quote is perfect and priceless.

From what I’ve read, that clowncar fail parade last night generated enough material for a half dozen attack ads against whoever wins the nomination, unless it’s Huntsman.

“Unless it’s Huntsman.” Snort. Chuckle. Guffaw.

Comment by TomHilton on 09/08/11 at 05:11 PM

I wouldn’t pay any attention to this “Tom Hilton” fellow.

(great to see you around, Tom, bring some of your brilliance by more often, we need it)

Comment by HumboldtBlue on 09/08/11 at 05:18 PM

I tell ya, folks. If we don’t stomp the Republicans in 2012 we’re pretty much doomed. Game over.

I agree 100%, but the general election will likely be a close one no matter what loon the GOP puts forth. The economy sucks, and the Republicans in Congress are in a position to thwart any attempt by the president to make it better. I don’t know whether to root for Perry because he’s less electable or Romney just in case the GOP actually does pull off the most massive political bamboozle ever. But you’re right—in either scenario, we’re doomed…

Comment by Betty Cracker on 09/08/11 at 05:19 PM

On several occasions over the past two years I have shown my pay stub to folks who make two claims: 1. they are paying more taxes than ever despite Obama’s tax cuts for middle incomes) when all one need do is compare a pay stub from 2009/10 to one from 2007/08, and 2—to put the lie to this fucked up meme that a guy who doesn’t make much money doesn’t pay taxes.

Fuck, I’ve been single all my life and even when I made a lot more money than I do now I was still due a refund from the govt because of the withholding. I have never owed the IRS money after filing my taxes and the only time I took a hit was because of a mistake on my part in regard to a 410k.

Comment by HumboldtBlue on 09/08/11 at 05:28 PM

So ... Mitt thinks he can make middle-lower class people believe paying more taxes is fun even as he deplores the fact the rich have to pay taxes.

This is how revolutions get started.

Comment by Hunger Tallest Palin on 09/08/11 at 06:36 PM

The real problem with the claim that 46% of Americans don’t pay income tax is not simply that it overlooks the regressive payroll/sales/gas/etc. taxes they do pay. The problem is what it reveals about the horrifying skew in income distribution. The rich pay most of the taxes because they have all the money. The reason so many people don’t pay income taxes is because THEY DON’T MAKE ENOUGH GODDAMNED MONEY.

Comment by Phineas Phang on 09/08/11 at 11:32 PM

The reason so many people don’t pay income taxes is because THEY DON’T MAKE ENOUGH GODDAMNED MONEY.

Very true. I touched on this with the phrase that “people living at or below the level of self sufficiency” don’t pay income taxes but probably should have emphasized more that what this means is that almost half the people in this country are living either in poverty or just above. Thank you for pointing this out.

And Rick Perry, for all his braggadocio about all the jobs in Texas, never mentions that most of those jobs pay minimum wage which equals about $15,000 per year. Try living on that by yourself let alone raising a family on that wage.