Michael Hiltzik in the LA Times today,
To everyone who claims that our wealthiest citizens pay more than their fair share of income taxes and we should cut them a break because they’re the ones who, you know, create jobs in our economy, I have four words for you:
Frank and Jamie McCourt.
The McCourts, who own the Los Angeles Dodgers (so she says; he says he’s the owner and she’s not), jointly pocketed income totaling $108 million from 2004 through 2009, according to documents Jamie McCourt recently filed in the couple’s divorce case in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
On that sum, they paid zero federal and state income tax. Jamie suggests that some tax breaks will apply this year too.
The McCourts have eight houses. Eight. Houses.
California is laying off teachers, closing parks, etc. — killing the state — just to protect the wealthiest and biggest corporations from paying their fair share of taxes. Millions of dollars in corporate contributions pay for the nasty smear campaigns — and all the lies about how the wealthy are “hurt” by taxes and will “leave the state” — all to protect THIS!
California needs to take a cold, hard look at the game-playing and the holes in our tax system that allow the rich to get away with paying less taxes than “the help” while at the same time we’re telling teachers we can’t afford to keep them teaching our kids.
And please, let’s stop all this nonsense about “they’ll just leave the state” if we try to make the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share.
How can this be legal?! The notion that the rich are overtaxed and that they will leave our state if they are asked to pay their fair share of taxes is a lie. We are decimating our schools and our infrastructure because the rich think they are entitled to a free ride.
The voters of California also share the blame here. We need to elect individuals who put the public interest first. Arnold is the very opposite of a public servant, and he has run this state into the ground.
I hope the voters do not make the same mistake with Meg Whitman. She has no roots in CA, and she favors the interests of the wealthy. She will probably privatize the water and make even deeper cuts to our K-12 schools and universities. She will also sell off our assets cheap to her rich friends, and then make us pay rent to use them, something Arnold has already started to do.
Meanwhile the super rich will make hundreds of millions of dollars tax free.
People seriously need to wake up.