Yesterday, I commented about how Democrats believe that they should spend more of your money than they already do and how they are smarter with your money than you are (or so they think).

Scott Bauer of the Associated Press brings this up:

Here is the Assembly roll call vote on the child tax rebate bill that passed 61-35 in February. Some Democrats who voted against it are now advertising how to sign up to claim the $100 rebate.

Why would they do that? One Democrat, Rep. Jason Fields (D–Milwaukee), voted for the tax rebate. Fields’ party is opposed to tax cuts. They would take all of your money if they could.

RightWisconsin reports on something else:

It turns out Cathy Myers, a Democratic candidate for the 1st Congressional District, is one of them Illinois imports that Democrats warned us about during the Foxconn debate.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Mary Spicuzza and political gossip columnist Dan Bice are reporting Myers claimed a $6000 annual homestead tax credit for a primary residence in Illinois until 2012. The problem is Myers moved to Wisconsin in 2009 and began voting here at that time.

“My taxes were filed based on the advice of a licensed tax attorney,” Myers wrote to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to explain. “I am seeking a second opinion to review those filings. If there are any  adjustments that need to be made, I will, of course, make them.”

Myers, of course, has been critical of Randy Bryce, her Democratic Primary opponent, over his finances including unpaid child support.

Bice and Spicuzza point out that property taxes are a key funding source for school systems. Apparently, it’s okay if other people pay (even more) taxes to fund Myers’ salary, but not so much for Myers to cough up her full share of property taxes to fund schools.

Myers is supposed to be the reasonable Democratic candidate, as opposed to Bryce, who is a pig.

As for the federal Democrats, Ryan Ellis lists how Democrats pledge to increase federal taxes should they get control of Congress after the Nov. 6 elections:

Increase the top marginal income tax rate from 37 percent to 39.6 percent. This nearly 3 percentage point increase in the top personal rate is not only a hike in the top bracket levy, but it’s also a direct tax increase on small and mid-sized businesses. The 30 million companies which are organized as sole proprietorships, partnerships, Subchapter-S corporations, and LLCs pay their business taxes on their owners’ 1040 personal tax returns. Hiking the top tax rate is a small business tax increase.

Increasing personal income taxes would be particularly unfortunate since workers are now seeing the results of lower rates in their paychecks. Thanks to the new IRS withholding tables, in February of this year over 90 percent of workers saw higher take home pay in the form of fatter direct deposits (for a humorous spectacle of the New York Times desperately trying to get people to down-talk their bigger paychecks, click here). They will continue to see those bigger paydays for as long as the tax rates in law remain in effect. This higher tax home pay is a down payment on a lower tax liability. Typical families of four should see their federal income tax decline from $2000 to $4000, depending on their income level and number of children.

Increase the corporate income tax rate from 21 percent to 25 percent. Up until this year, the United States labored under the highest corporate income tax rate in the developed world. As a result, jobs and capital were fleeing America for more normal tax rates that could be found in tax havens like France and China (saracasm font very much activated). Finally, after many years of bipartisan consensus that the U.S. corporate rate had become an impediment to attracting new jobs and investment, Congress cut the rate all the way from 35 to 21 percent. Even doing that only puts us in the middle of the pack of developed nations, but that’s a heck of a lot better than dead last.

As a result of this change, companies like Fiat Chrysler, Amgen, and Amicus Therapeutics (among many others) have announced new factories and jobs would be built in America, not in other countries. Americans for Tax Reform keeps a running list of tax cut bonuses, raises, 401(k) match increases, and other benefits companies are passing along to workers as a result of this tax cut. The current number as of this writing is 431 companies and over 4 million workers. Just yesterday, Cox Enterprises announced bonuses of up to $2000 for 55,000 of their workers. Walmart and Wells Fargo have announced permanent wage hikes for all employees, notably those on the lowest rung of the ladder. Electric and other utility bills are going down in states all across the country.

Not content to endanger all that good news, the Democratic tax increase goes on to call for the following:

Bring back the alternative minimum tax (AMT) for 4 million families. Up until this year, 4 million upper middle class families had to calculate their income taxes two different ways, and then pay the higher result. This was due to a provision of the law known as the “alternative minimum tax” or AMT. Millions more had to at least pay a tax preparer to run the calculation, even if they didn’t end up paying the AMT. The new tax law all but repealed the AMT for 99 percent of these families thanks to a higher AMT “standard deduction.” Congressional Democrats would bring back the dreaded AMT, which especially hit hard two-income white collar families with kids in New York, New Jersey, and California.

Cut the “death tax” standard deduction in half. Over the past few decades, no tax has proven more unpopular in every single poll than the death tax, the federal tax on estates. 60 to 70 percent of poll respondents consistently call for its full repeal. The new tax law didn’t repeal the death tax, but it did the next best thing–it doubled the death tax’s “standard deduction” from $5.5 million to $11 million (and twice that for surviving spouses). As a result, far fewer family businesses and farms will be subject to the death tax, and many smaller firms can shed the costly insurance, legal, and actuarial costs of avoiding the death tax. Like the top personal rate, the death tax is not something that really affects the rich, who have plenty of resources to avoid the levy. Rather, it hits hardest those companies profitable enough to worry about it but not profitable enough to not worry about, if you catch my meaning. Democrats have never understood this, which is why it’s not surprising they want to reduce the death tax’s standard deduction back down to what it was before.

All of this is very confusing given that the new tax law is supported by a plurality of the American people (the New York Times reports it’s actually a majority) and is growing in popularity. A good chunk of people haven’t even yet realized they’ve received a tax cut, so the favorable numbers should continue to grow. Maybe that’s why a Democratic pollster and strategist recently wrote:

Since the passage of the Republicans’ tax bill, and even before it, Democrats have been losing the messaging war. Now that many Americans are seeing the results in their paystubs, it’s even harder for Democrats to make this a winning issue. Voters are seeing the bill’s positive impact and are not likely to oppose it because we tell them they’re not benefiting, and many voters who aren’t seeing the impact still support the bill. If Democrats want to continue using this bill as a major issue for November, we need a new messaging strategy.

Sarah Hoyt writes to worshipers of both The Donald and his predecessor:

The President is not your daddy. Do I really have to say this? To supposed adults? To people qualified to vote in a democratic republic? There are two items I came across this week that seem to indicate that indeed I do. No one ever taught these people to reason their way out of a paper bag, or even told them why they should.

Instead, they were given a set of beliefs that define “good people” and if they stop believing in those things, they are “bad people.”

I’d say these are not adults in any sense of the word, but that’s not exactly true.  Throughout most of the history of our species, adults had a set of beliefs it was best not to question, whether it be “our tribe is better than the next tribe” or “we have to eliminate all the suede-eaters” or even “this is how we tie our glurk and display our brek” because humans are tribal, and displaying your tribal loyalty has been way more important than actually being, you know, rational and asking if things really work that way for… most of history.

The problem is that we’re not in a society (or societies if you extend this to all of Western civilization) that can survive this kind of quasi-religious denial of logical thought.  We’re not in a society (or societies) that can hold on tight to the idea that all cultures are the same, when, say, the Oktoberfest is being cancelled throughout many cities in Germany because migrants can’t get it across their heads that a woman not covered like a sofa is NOT, in fact, asking to be raped. We’re not in a society that can survive voters being misinformed by the high priests of the leftist religion on the nature of good and evil either, or the nature of the presidency. But that is the society we live in and misinformation is rife.

See, when you remove rationality and true research and information as a way of forming your opinion, and instead you know in your heart of hearts you have to believe a set of precepts to be a “good person,” you are not fit to live in a representative republic, or to have your vote counted.

But in our society, your vote does count. And chances are you’re not shy about displaying your infantilization on Twitter either.  Note this, with name not removed because this person tweeted it for all the world to see.

Note this person has 495 retweets and 1858 likes for something that’s not just absolutely nonsensical but ridiculous and should be shameful for any free and thinking adult to proclaim.

This person thinks Obama was her father? Why? First of all, she could not have lit on a worse person than the child-president, himself forever ready to act like a peevish adolescent to be her “daddy.” Second, seriously  You want the president to be your father? Why? He’s the executive of the republic at the federal level, a level that should be remote enough from your everyday life that you really have very little contact with him. (Yeah, sure, the feds have been getting their noses in everything. But they’re not supposed to.)  Third, sure thing, some of the functions of the president, like the power to direct the military, are supposed to be protective and therefore “father like” but then again, Obama was remarkably reluctant to protect anyone, so why this attachment to him as “daddy?”

The last time I was on Wisconsin Public Radio, my opponent kept referring to her favored politicians by their first name. The only time I would ever refer to a politician by his or her first name is because I was speaking to them directly.