As one of Obama’s more vocal and influential supporters, I wonder if Oprah will be paying more with Obama or McCain. Could Obama could add some riders into the tax legislation that exempts Oprah specifically or black folks in general?
The President cannot write legislation, so no, he couldn’t and Congress wouldn’t. Since McCain favors extending the Bush tax cuts and Obama doesn’t, my uneducated guess is that Oprah would pay higher taxes if Obama is elected (assuming both men would be able to enact their respective tax plans if elected).
Even if the President does not write legislation per se, would you dispute that a President can influence legislation and get stuff passed through friends in Congress?
Do you think I’m going to say the President has no influence on Congress? Of course he does. But what you’re suggesting isn’t going to happen.
I guess technically legislation could be passed that says “Oprah Winfrey does not have to pay any new taxes” or “if you have X% of African blood in you, you do not have to pay any new taxes.” Do you really think that’s realistic, though?
The part I’m having difficulty with is that people are taking the OP seriously enough to even respond to it.
It’s a slow day with work and I decided to go after the low-hanging fruit in my quest to fight ignorance.
Ok, then if I may broaden my question. Friends of Bush and Cheney profited under their regime. How could Oprah profit under Obama above and beyond the other candidates?
It isn’t as easy as the government doesn’t contract that much work out in her field of business. I think it’s very likely that Oprah is neither hoping nor expecting to reap a financial benefit from an Obama administration.
Some very rich people think their tax burden is unfairly low and think they should be contributing more. Sounds crazy, I know, but they do exist.
Could it possibly be that Oprah doesn’t expect anything in return? That maybe she just thinks Obama would be a good president?
And Bush and Cheney are snakes.
He could appear on her show every now and then. I guess it’ll help her ratings… ?
Other than that, I got nothing.
That bleedin’ heart neo-commie Warren Buffett, for one! :eek:
Maybe he can arrange for Oprah’s book club to get a reading room in the Library of Congress?
Didn’t Ross Perot / EDS get some huge tax break written special just for them back in the early 80s? So I wouldn’t say it’s impossible for such a thing to happen.
(I remember this from back when he was running, but can’t seem to find anything on it Googling.)
OTOH, I’d suspect that Oprah wouldn’t really sweat paying a bit more in taxes. It’s not like it’d really affect her much.
They are certainly free to do so. The Treasury will gladly accept donations.
Of course, these folks are trying to use the government to force others to give more of their income to the government.
And they are free to do that to, by supporting candidates that share their views on public policy, just as other rich people are free to campaign for the government to extract less taxes from everybody. It’s what’s called a democracy.
You are missing the word fair.
Warren Buffet may think his tax burden is unfairly low compared to the middle class, but he may also think its unfair of him to donate money to the U.S. Treasury if Dick Cheney gets to sit on his wealth and therefore want to legislate a more fair distribution. He may believe (I’d call and ask him but he stopped taking my calls) that fair doesn’t mean “I pay more” but means “everyone like me pays more.”
I will only support Obama’s secret plan for a special lower tax rate to be paid by wealthy African Americans if it is called “blaxes”.
The government is spending the money regardless. Some people just want to shirk their fair share of the burden. Rich conservatives are like people who order the lobster at the restaurant but then always make sure they’re in the bathroom when the check comes.