Punishing the Generous Rich

Carol Platt Liebau | February 05, 2010 3:38 PM

Michael Gerson points out one of the most pernicious parts of President Obama's proposed budget -- reducing the deduction wealthy people may take as a result of supporting a charity

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Dishonestly, the President demagogues the issue, arguing that because the middle class only gets to deduct 15% of its contributions, the wealthy shouldn't get to deduct 35% -- conveniently ignoring the fact that the deductions are in line with the higher tax rates the rich pay.

Worst of all, as Gerson notes, the tax increase on the "wealthy" doesn't penalize those who keep their money for themselves -- it only punishes the most generous among them, those who give away their money to help others.

Given the sky-high and unsustainable deficits Obamanomics has already caused, no doubt the tax increase is nothing more than another Big Government revenue grab. But if wealthy people are penalized for charitable contributions, no doubt there will be fewer donations from private sources . . . which, conveniently, leaves more room for Big Government to occupy the "helping" field.

How convenient for the left.