Michael Brown hates paying taxes but wants you to pay more

[Anonymous]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/14/AR2011011405998.html?wprss=rss_metro/dc

Jeff please defend (or not) how these politicians continue to force us ordinary hard workers to pay more and more of our income in to a losing cause yet they know fair well how onerous this is because they themselves can't even pay their tax bills. Ever wonder why few doctors that work at SIbley or GW, or most business owners that have setups in the District live in either Va or DC? It's largely due to our taxes (most of them can afford the schools). I don't mind paying my fair share, but 9%?? Come on.

[jsteele]

Michael Brown's excuse for his property tax issue sound reasonably believable. His mortgage company was paying the property tax (just as my mortgage company does and probably just as yours does). Then, the mortgage was sold and the new mortgage-holder didn't pay it. I've heard of that happening a number of times. Mortgages have changed hands so often recently that in some cases nobody even knows who owns what any more. Some people have had their home foreclosed on by banks that didn't even hold a mortgage on the property. So, a mix-up like that is conceivable.

As for tax increases, I don't think there are any current proposals. But, we know there is going to be a big deficit in the current budget that will have to be closed somehow. The government can either make cuts or increase revenues. The wealthy certainly won't put up with any cuts in their services, so unless you expect the poor to bear the entire burden, you should prepare to pay a bit more. That's not a plot to soak the rich, it's just reality. The same thing is going to be true just about everywhere else.

[Anonymous]

Jeff, a curious poster here. Do you think there should even be a limit to the percentage amount taken from a paycheck for state and federtal taxes? For example, think of a two-teacher family with two kids making about $120,000 per year. Gas tax, sale tax, etc. still in place, of course.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Jeff, a curious poster here. Do you think there should even be a limit to the percentage amount taken from a paycheck for state and federtal taxes? For example, think of a two-teacher family with two kids making about $120,000 per year. Gas tax, sale tax, etc. still in place, of course.

Of course there should be a limit. The whole idea behind marginal tax rates, tax brackets, and standard deductions is that you pay no tax on the first chunk of income, a low tax on the next chunk, a slightly higher tax on the next amount, and so on. One of the problems with the District is that the brackets are too low. The highest rate, 8.5%, kicks in at just $40,000. Jim Graham proposed a new bracket of 8.9% starting at $500,000. That means that taxes on all income below a half-million dollars would not change. If you make $1 million a year, your tax on the last $500,000 would increase .4% or $2,000. The tax on the first $500,000 wouldn't change. Admittedly, I don't earn a million dollars a year and maybe it's true that "the rich are different than you and me", but I have a hard time imagining anyone who earns a million dollars making any significant life change over a mere $2,000. That's why I find the idea that someone is going to sell their house, close their business, and so on over that sort of tax increase a bit unbelievable. In fact, a mad rush among the wealthy to flee the District would reduce their home values well more than $2,000.

[Anonymous]

OP to Jeff.

Here is the flaw in your overall argument :"The wealthy won't want cuts in their services". The "wealthy" already pay for all the services in this city. So the increasing of revenues will only come from their pocket with no increase in services for them. While the number of people who will flee will be marginal, Ill grant you that, the main effect will be to discourage new residents to live in DC, they'd just live across the river. And since we have few good schools, and a perceived crime problem (read these forums), we unlike most states have a very small middle class. Want to close budget gap? Submit Medicaid correctly and get the $375m from the feds, or not let employees steal $35m, or cut the bloated govt. Also DC isn't going to be "increasing" revenue per se, that only happens if salaries go up at the same rate, they're just robbing you for more and calling it increased revenue. Creative accounting. This is bad news.

Also Michael Brown is a liar. See Loose Lips:

Pay Your Bills, Tell The Truth: CM Michael A. Brown took a vacation from paying his property taxes, the Washington Post reports, and owes the city nearly $14,000. Also: "Since he bought his house in 1996, banks or mortgage lenders have issued five notices of foreclosure sale, according to records. None of the notices has led to a foreclosure sale, and Brown said he did not know that the notices were issued." The Post tries to amp up the hypocrite factor by pointing out both in the hed and the lede that Brown is one of the council's strongest advocates for increasing city income taxes on the wealthy. But Brown says it's not his fault: "Brown said he had assumed his property tax payments were being collected and remitted by his mortgage lender. After he refinanced his home in 2007, Brown said, his bank sold the mortgage to another financial institution. He said he thinks the original owner of his mortgage failed to inform the new lender about the property tax obligations." LL doesn't have a mortgage and can't really tell whether that's a plausible excuse, but what's more troubling to LL than Brown's tax troubles is his seeming inability to tell the truth. First, there's this: "When first contacted by The Washington Post last week, Brown said he was unaware of the unpaid taxes. In a subsequent interview this week, he said he and his wife learned of the debt late last year after they received a notice in the mail." Well, which is it? Then the Post brings up the fact that Brown and his wife settled with the city over unpaid District income taxes in 1999. Brown says he doesn't remember settling the $12,000 debt after being hit with a lien. "That was more than 10 years ago," he said. That strains credulity more than just a little bit. Who doesn't remember paying off a $12k tax lien? And let's not forget Brown's hazy memory when it comes to his high school basketball career. Be careful CM Brown, or you're going to get a knot on your tongue.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:OP to Jeff.

Here is the flaw in your overall argument :"The wealthy won't want cuts in their services". The "wealthy" already pay for all the services in this city. So the increasing of revenues will only come from their pocket with no increase in services for them. While the number of people who will flee will be marginal, Ill grant you that, the main effect will be to discourage new residents to live in DC, they'd just live across the river. And since we have few good schools, and a perceived crime problem (read these forums), we unlike most states have a very small middle class. Want to close budget gap? Submit Medicaid correctly and get the $375m from the feds, or not let employees steal $35m, or cut the bloated govt. Also DC isn't going to be "increasing" revenue per se, that only happens if salaries go up at the same rate, they're just robbing you for more and calling it increased revenue. Creative accounting. This is bad news.

Also Michael Brown is a liar. See Loose Lips:

Pay Your Bills, Tell The Truth: CM Michael A. Brown took a vacation from paying his property taxes, the Washington Post reports, and owes the city nearly $14,000. Also: "Since he bought his house in 1996, banks or mortgage lenders have issued five notices of foreclosure sale, according to records. None of the notices has led to a foreclosure sale, and Brown said he did not know that the notices were issued." The Post tries to amp up the hypocrite factor by pointing out both in the hed and the lede that Brown is one of the council's strongest advocates for increasing city income taxes on the wealthy. But Brown says it's not his fault: "Brown said he had assumed his property tax payments were being collected and remitted by his mortgage lender. After he refinanced his home in 2007, Brown said, his bank sold the mortgage to another financial institution. He said he thinks the original owner of his mortgage failed to inform the new lender about the property tax obligations." LL doesn't have a mortgage and can't really tell whether that's a plausible excuse, but what's more troubling to LL than Brown's tax troubles is his seeming inability to tell the truth. First, there's this: "When first contacted by The Washington Post last week, Brown said he was unaware of the unpaid taxes. In a subsequent interview this week, he said he and his wife learned of the debt late last year after they received a notice in the mail." Well, which is it? Then the Post brings up the fact that Brown and his wife settled with the city over unpaid District income taxes in 1999. Brown says he doesn't remember settling the $12,000 debt after being hit with a lien. "That was more than 10 years ago," he said. That strains credulity more than just a little bit. Who doesn't remember paying off a $12k tax lien? And let's not forget Brown's hazy memory when it comes to his high school basketball career. Be careful CM Brown, or you're going to get a knot on your tongue.

I'm sorry, but I fail to see where you demonstrated either a flaw in my logic or that Brown lied about his property taxes. The "wealthy" do not pay for all the services in this city. The middle class and the wealthy do. You seem to combine anyone who doesn't have money into a single class. But, there is a big difference between someone making $100,000 and someone making $1 million. The first is unlikely to see any income tax increases while the second may. Brown seems to have an unclear memory about income tax liens and when he learned about his property tax problems (btw, "late last year" was only two weeks ago). But, it doesn't change his believable explanation regarding why his property taxes weren't paid.