Cops and Teachers? THEY Don't Pay Taxes!

[paft.livejournal.com]

Wisconsin State Assemblyman Robin Vos lets us all know what he thinks of those taxpaying Wisconsin citizens who work in the public sector:

The reality is they haven’t had to pay for these things, they’re upset about doing it now, and the taxpayers are the ones who definitely understand this because they get it, they’ve been doing this in the private sector for years, it’s time we had the same thing happen in the public sector…The fact that my Democratic colleagues want to go back to the taxpayer and have them pay higher taxes because someone shouldn’t pay 12% towards their healthcare….We are standing with the taxpayers all across Wisconsin. It’s amazing the outpouring of support that we’ve been getting from the people outside the Capitol Square, the people who are in the reality of the world, not the place that we’re sitting.

Howard Dean does a very good job of refuting Kudlow and Vos’ fiction that the demonstrations are all about the cuts in benefits and not about the elimination of collective bargaining. The capper to this exchange, however, comes near the end of the segment, when a sign appears just over Vos’ shoulder on the right. Not the kind of thing Kudlow could choreograph.

It beautifully highlights the idiocy of Vos' fiction that the demonstrators are, in some fundamental way, less American than other Americans. Does he really think cops and teachers don't pay taxes, or “live in the reality of the world?”

Crossposted from Thoughtcrimes
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Comments

[mijopo.livejournal.com]

Here's some data on the "reality": http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2011/02/are_wisconsins_state_and_local.html

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

This is the funniest spin I think I've ever seen on this. It doesn't even pass the smell test.

[mijopo.livejournal.com]

Can you say a bit about what's smelly?

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

For starters, the existence of pensions for private workers. Almost completely not there.

Also, the point of this is missed - there are many fewer private schools, most of which are religious and most of which offer lower salaries (http://theapple.monster.com/education/articles/6191-a-comparison-of-public-and-private-school-teaching), not to mention many fewer benefits. There is no private comparison for police or fire to work with period.

Perhaps Wisconsin is one of those rare states that has, when making an apples-to-apples comparison of like jobs, the private sector doing better. That's not what's being discussed in this debate, as those jobs aren't the problem children.