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

[geezer-also.livejournal.com]

Really....
Do we compare public school teachers salaries with private? Police with "rent a cops"? USPS clerks with people who who work in private postal annexes.

It's not across the board.

[paft.livejournal.com]

First of all, cops are not being affected by the limits on collective bargaining in Wisconsin, probably because, along with firefighters and unlike school teachers' unions, they are largely a Republican demographic. It is to their credit that many cops (and firefighters) are joining in the demonstrations and expressing support for the demonstrators. Public school teachers on average make a bit more than those teaching in private schools, but their jobs tend to be much tougher. They tend to have much larger classes and a higher number of troublesome students.

On average the vast majority of public sector employees who are demonstrating make less than those in the private sector.

[geezer-also.livejournal.com]

Actually we may be comparing apples to oranges, and that's my fault.
My generalities are based mostly of my knowlege of the way things are in California. While it varies from school to school the vast majority of private schools pay, on average, considerably less than public schools, and the benefits are no where near.
On the other side of it most of the teachers I know (and I concede anecdotal) would trade pay raises for improvements in conditions and expectations. It appears to me that the teacher unions concede those for increases in pay. LAUSD is a nightmare and it is not because the teachers are paid poorly, since in reality they are not, but that is a legitimate argument either way.