One nice thing about the modern Republican party is that so many of them can’t help themselves. They are reflexively pro-rich, and reflexively against anything more than one Democrat is for. Sometimes, they react before taking time to think, meaning they do quickly what they would do anyway, because true thinking is hard. Case in point:
New Democratic-led legislation aimed at penalizing those who would renounce their U.S. citizenship to dodge taxes has provoked fiery criticism from influential conservatives and is putting Republican leaders in a politically precarious situation.
Inspired by the actions of Eduardo Saverin, the Facebook co-founder who renounced his citizenship ahead of a large tax payment associated with the company’s much-ballyhooed initial public offering, Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Bob Casey (D-PA) unveiled a bill Thursday to force such tax-dodgers to pay a 30 percent tax rate on all future U.S. investments and ban them from ever setting foot in the country again.
Anti-tax activist Grover Norquist compared it to the actions of Nazi Germany.
“I think Schumer can probably find the legislation to do this. It existed in Germany in the 1930s and Rhodesia in the ’70s and in South Africa as well,” Norquist said, as quoted by The Hill. “He probably just plagiarized it and translated it from the original German.”
The Wall Street Journal editorial board derided the legislation as “Soviet-style exit taxes” that resemble “what oppressive and demagogic regimes do, and it’s humiliating to see U.S. Senators posture in such fashion.”
(via Talking Points Memo)
Perhaps it is smart politics to defend a billionaire who renounces his citizenship to avoid paying taxes. (In the interest of fairness, I should add that he has said it was not about taxes, but if you run that through Google translate it comes out as It’s all about taxes, something even his Republican defenders acknowledge celebrate.) It’s an option, it hardly needs pointing out, not available to the rabble. This plays perfectly into the Obama attack line against Romney, who thinks the only reason the GM bailout was any good is because GM is now making a profit. Now, if only the Cory Bookers of the Democratic party would get out of the way.
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