Dartblog

Whether it be women’s “reproductive rights” or “equal pay for equal work,” the Democratic Party fancies itself as the sole champion of women and women’s issues.

However, after a close examination of the Democratic Party’s typical practice of raising taxes on true middle class families, all the pro-woman liberal jargon is reduced to little more than hypocrisy.

Follow the logic….

When we talk about an increase in taxes, we mean an increase in marginal tax rates. Today in 2008, there are six different tax brackets. A married couple filing their tax returns jointly experience a schedule that looks like this:

Taxable income between:………………………………..Tax Bracket:
$0 - $16,050……………………………………………………10%
$16,050 - $65,100…………………………………………..15%
$65,100 - $131,450………………………………………….25%
$131,450 - $200,300………………………………………28%
$200,300 - $357,700……………………………………..33%
$357,700+……………………………………………………..35%

Consider the fictitious (though very plausible) middle class family, the Smiths. The Smith family is composed of Mr. Smith, Mrs. Smith, 2 children, 1 dog. Mr. Smith is a salesman who brings in an annual taxable income of $65,100. Mrs. Smith is a part-time secretary (forgive the sexist stereotypes) who brings in an annual supplemental income of $15,000.

The way the system is currently set up already seems to be a bit sexist because….

Mr. Smith’s income is taxed like this:

($16,050 - 0) x .10:……………………… $1,605
($65,100 - 16,050) x .15:……………….$7,357.50

Whereas Mrs. Smith’s income is taxed like this:

($80,100 - 65,100) x .25:………………..$3,750

The Smith family gets to keep 86 cents of every dollar that Mr. Smith earns, but only 75 cents of every dollar that Mrs. Smith earns.

Now enter typical tax raising Democratic President with his sidekick - a Democratic super majority Congress. They decide that the wealthy people (a.k.a. those making, oh say $65,100 or more) can afford to pay their “fair share” in taxes (after all, says Mr. Biden, paying taxes is a patriotic duty!). Thus, they raise marginal tax rates by 2% on each bracket over $65,100.

Under the Democrats’ new tax scheme, Mr. Smith still gets to keep 86 cents of every dollar he earns, but his wife Mrs. Smith now only gets to keep 73 cents out of every dollar she earns.

At this point, Mrs. Smith decides that it’s no longer profitable to work and resigns herself to stay at home. (Who wants women in the workplace anyway? joke Mr. Frank and Mr. Reid in the men’s lavatory of the Capitol building.)

What happened to equal pay for equal work?