Robert Borosage: GOP: Tax poor - not the 1 percent

[babylonsister]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/66717.html

GOP: Tax poor - not the 1 percent
By ROBERT L. BOROSAGE | 10/24/11 9:35 PM EDT


Illustration by Matt Mahurin.


Texas Gov. Rick Perry this week will try to revive his flagging presidential campaign by embracing an old conservative fancy — the flat tax, while calling for “scrapping the 3 million words of the current Tax Code.” Embracing the flat tax trumps the “9-9-9” tax proposal that levitated Herman Cain’s candidacy. And it puts Perry at the head of what has become a bizarre GOP fixation — the need to tax the poor.

Taxing the poor has become a badge of honor among conservatives. When Occupy Wall Street protesters launched their cry of “We are the 99 percent,” the right-wing blogosphere responded, “We are the 53 percent,” meaning the 53 percent of American households that they say pay federal income taxes.

Conservatives have become fixated on the notion that largely because of the Earned Income Tax Credit — passed under Ronald Reagan and expanded under Bill Clinton — almost half of all Americans pay no income taxes.

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Republicans, intent on their reverse class politics, will most likely raise a lot of money to fuel their campaign. But most Americans are likely to find their position remarkable and alarming.

“Whose side are you on” the activists of Occupy Wall Street ask the country, “the wealthiest 1 percent or the rest of us?” Led by Perry, Republicans are making clear where they stand.