Politicians in both parties (and many of my colleagues at this magazine) speak constantly of defending the interests of the middle class, but it is precisely the middle class that will have to see higher taxes or lower benefits or both if the country is to remain solvent. We could tax the rich at 100 percent and still fail to balance the budget, and the Bush tax cuts for the $200,000-and-up set are dwarfed by the Bush tax cuts for the middle class. Meanwhile, more than two-thirds of federal transfer payments go to the non-poor, mainly to the middle class. It is the middle class, not the wealthy, that enjoys relatively light taxation.The country might also take a big step toward solvency if the middle class saw its economic prospects improve. And it's worth noting that a considerable portion of "federal transfer payments" are Social Security payments, and that many middle class people have paid into Social Security their whole lives in order to have access to these payments.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Kevin D. Williamson says that the middle class will have to give up more: