It’s Time To Raise Taxes

Obama and the Democrats’ reckless and wasteful spending (read: pillaging to help their contributors) has put this country into a bind. They spent so much money that we can no longer afford to pay for many of the things government needs to do -- we certainly can’t afford any of the daffy items on their liberal wish list. And the debt the Democrats are leaving to future generations borders on criminal. But I have a solution. . . a proposal as it were.

There is an industry in this country that is just packed to the gills with rich, bastards who don’t pay their fair share. According to one accounting firm, the industry is worth almost two trillion dollars. Yet, they pay little in taxes. Most of the money they make disappears in phony accounting gimmicks and a good portion gets hidden overseas. Those are the same disgusting, rich-bastard-type loopholes that the Democrats claim to hate (except for Charlie Rangel).

What is this evil industry? Hollywood.

Thus, I propose a 50% gross receipts tax on all ticket sales, as well as a sliding tax on DVD sales and television licensing receipts -- the sliding scale would begin at 10% and then increase depending on the amount of money taken in, so that the richest pay the bigger share and the overall tax equals 50%. Why a gross receipts tax? Because that’s the only way to keep their hired accountants from finding dirty loopholes in which to hide their excessive profits.

How much would this raise? Well, worldwide box office receipts were around $25 billion last year. Another $65 billion was made on “packaged media” (DVDs, blue rays, and games). PriceWaterhouseCoopers estimates that the television industry made another $174 billion. That’s $264 billion right there. If we tax that at 50%, then we bring in $132 billion per year. . . or $1.32 trillion over ten years. That just about pays for ObamaCare (assuming that somehow Obama’s numbers are true).

In other words, Hollywood could pay for our health care!

This is only fair. These people are rich, and therefore rotten, greedy bastards. We know they don’t pay their fair share because they’re successful. So it’s time that we forced them to do their patriotic duties.

Moreover, this is not a patriotic industry. They outsource a lot of work to cheaper countries to avoid paying American workers. They hire expensive lobbyists in Washington to guarantee themselves favorable tax treatment, to make changes in the law akin to the worst elements of the anti-American Patriot Act which let them pursue anyone they themselves designate as a pirate (even without legal process), and they demand and receive government subsidies because many states give them tax breaks to film within those states. How much more rotten could an industry get?

Now, I know some of you will claim that this might lead to fewer movies being produced. But the Democrats assure us that taxing something is a way to stimulate its growth, so I will reject your concerns as being manufactured by a corrupt industry that just wants to avoid paying its fair share.

But I’m not done there. For far too long, too many in this industry have gotten stinking rich while Main Street suffered. Johnny Depp made $92 million in 2007 alone! For what I ask? Will Smith made $80 million 2008. Mike Myer and Eddie Murphy made $55 million each. Oprah makes $385 million a year! George Lucas has a net worth of $3.6 billion. Steven Spielberg has a net worth of $2.8 billion!! This is outrageous.

Thus, I am proposing a “millionaire surcharge” on anyone working within the entertainment or software industry. This “millionaire surcharge” will tax any income above $250,000 at 90%. I don’t know how much money this could bring in (though I’m sure it’s a lot), but that’s not the point. The point is that the world is upside down. We’ve reached a point where the people at the top earn thousands of times what the people at the bottom earn, and they simply don’t need all that money.

Join me in passing this proposal along to our representatives. It’s time that we made sure that these faceless corporations and greedy actors pay their fair. It’s time that they gave something back to our country from which they've taken so much.


Final Note: I’m not sure if I’m serious or not, but if our government is going to start playing the “target particular groups for taxes” game, then I vote we tax liberal, liberal Hollywood first. Thoughts?