Tax Me Not

Suppose that an investor you admire and trust comes to you with an investment idea. “This is a good one” he days enthusiastically. “I’m in it and I think you should be too.” Would your reply possibly be this? “Well it all depends what my tax rate will be on the gain you’re saying we’re going to make. If taxes are too high I would rather leave my money in my savings account, earning a quarter of one percent.” Only in Grover Norquist’s imagination does such a response exist.

The preceding is part of an op-ed piece in Monday’s N.Y. Times by Warren Buffet. I wrote something along this line in a recent letter, but not as coherently. The corollary to the obvious answer is that the moneyed people who answer otherwise are bluffing, although it’s not out of the question that some might act differently in a fit of pique, to prove a point or both.

As Mr. Buffet shows, no discussion of this subject is complete without mentioning Grover Norquist. He is a man who has never been elected to public office, but with the authority over many who have, by forcing virtually all Republicans running for Congress to take an oath to never vote to raise a tax or remove a tax deduction.

While his name has wider recognition today than most Congressmen, I predict that it’s a matter of time before it will be little more than a footnote of historical trivia. Because of their adherence to what he espouses Republicans have just received a shellacking at the polls, something which they don’t take lightly. Several have already traded their Norquist devil’s outfit for dress suits and more will surely follow. But they’ll be adorning the same people.

While I question the judgment of Congressmen who vote as Mr. Norquist’s insists, I wouldn’t question their character if they were to publicly disavow their votes’ direct connection to his edict. It may be inaccurate to paint Republicans with one brush, less so now than a few years ago. But of those who subscribe to the party’s stated platform it can be said that in one sense they choose, as they urge others, to give their souls to their God in exchange for what they claim is eternal salvation. By the same measurement it can be said that they have willingly pledged any semblance of integrity to Grover Norquist in hopes of a seat in Congress.


Addendum: For those who choose to read it I’m sending separately Mr. Buffet’s entire article.