Horror writer Stephen King on Tuesday bashed Ronald Reagan and a number of Republicans at a Wake the State rally in Sarasota, Florida.
His main beef with conservatives is they allow him to pay too little in taxes (video follows with partial transcript and commentary):
STEPHEN KING: I'm from Maine, but I pay taxes in Florida, too. Let me tell you something: in Maine last November, three candidates ran, the Tea Party guy won by one percent. He's a minority governor. And you know what? The guy's a stone brain. And I thought to myself, "Well, that's alright. I'm a snow bird. I'm gonna go to Florida. Things will be better in Florida."
And on the way down here I drove and I heard about this guy in Wisconsin, his name was [Republican Governor Scott] Walker and apparently he wanted to stop collective bargaining. That’s supposed to balance the budget. That’s the magic bullet. So you’ve got [Republican Governor Paul] LePage in Maine, Walker in Wisconsin, you got [Republican Governor Rick] Scott in Florida. It’s Larry, Curly and Moe. That’s what we got right here.
Now you might say, "What are you doing up there? Aren’t you rich?" The answer is: thank God, yes. Because I grew up poor. I lived in a family where my mother asked donated commodities from a Republican administration and got turned down. That’s where I came from. And you know what? As a rich person I pay 28 percent tax. What I want to ask you is why am I not paying 50? Why isn’t anybody in my bracket not paying 50?
Stop the tape. King in 2010 either didn't make a lot of money or he doesn't know what today's federal income tax brackets are. According to the Internal Revenue Service, the 28 percent bracket for married couples began at $137,300 in income and ended at $209,250.
Can you imagine the kind of recession we'd have if couples making over $137,300 were taxed at 50 percent?
But the ignorance or dishonesty on display didn't end there, for the highest federal bracket is 35 percent for couples making over $373,650, which doesn't include additional "Alternative Minimum Taxes" if they apply.
As such, if King and his wife are only in the 28 percent bracket, it's either because he didn't sell a lot of books last year, or his accountant did a great job reducing their income with write-offs and expenses. If the latter, King could certainly instruct his tax advisor to not take any deductions at all thereby paying the maximum amount of tax provided in the law.
Of course, therein lies the income tax hypocrisy of most liberals: they advocate higher taxes as they do everything within their power to pay as little as possible.
Let's continue:
Well, it's not just Republicans that made this claim.
King must have been asleep or out of the country when Barack Obama and Bill Clinton stood in front of television cameras in December telling the American people that it would be devastating to the economy to not extend the Bush tax cuts. Ditto when Obama's tax plan passed the Senate 81-19 with only 13 Democrats voting "No," and when it passed the House 277-148 with 139 Democrats voting "Aye."
But idiots like King think it's only Republicans that believe higher taxes are bad for the economy.
Not surprisingly, that wasn't the last absurd comment the horror author made Tuesday:
KING: These people come from the Party of Ronald Reagan, the Great Communicator, who one year put down on his taxes that he gave $10,000 to charity. Well, my wife and I - my wife is here, right there in the Crayola shirt - we try to make up the difference, the shortfall, that 22 percent that we don’t pay, by giving it away. But you know what, I haven’t seen a lot of that going around.
Big Hollywood's John Nolte marvelously responded to this nonsense Wednesday:
Yes, his elitist, holier-than-thou and arrogantly mistaken belief that a whole lot of people in the most charitable country in the world aren’t as charitable as he is, is off-putting in the extreme. But that he’s able to give that 22% of his income not swallowed up by the blackhole of the government directly to the causes he believes in is a beautiful thing. This is exactly why raising taxes is a terrible idea. Regardless of what people do with their money, whatever they do with it is better for this economy than what the government does with it. [...]
Also, King ripping on Reagan giving “only” $10,000 to charity one year is hilarious. Even if it’s true, I’m happy to play that game. Could someone remind Mr. King that in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004, Barack Obama gave a TOTAL of just over $10,000 to charity. But please don’t remind King that Vice President Joe Biden’s charitable giving was beyond laughable, I’d hate to see a best-selling author cry.
Then there’s this. Newsflash, Stephen King: You wouldn’t be so gosh-darned alone in your awesome philanthropy if someone like Ronald Reagan was president.
Second newsflash: Conservatives give more to charity than liberals. So it looks as thought [sic] that loneliness you feel is in your own ideological backyard.
That King doesn't know any of this is not at all surprising as he has over the years made numerous public statements devoid of facts or logic.
This continually leads us at NewsBusters to recommend he stick to writing fiction - his grasp on reality is tenuous at best.
