How much they make is irrelevant. The point is, they don't pay their own taxes, but they want to raise mine.
Its irrelevant what they want since Obama campaigned on raising taxes for those making over 250k before he came into office and Obama is paying the top tax bracket with his 6 million income effectively raising taxes on himself. http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2010/04/obama_income_for_2009_is_55054.html
And the real issue is not "taxes are too low". It's government overspends. Unless that is brought under control, America's days are numbered.
Forty-one members of Obama's staff believe they are exempt from the rules. They want people like me to pay high taxes while they fail to pay their own. Don't you see even the slightest problem with that?
I am saying these are not the people who decide what taxes you pay, those who campaigned and who are making the decisions are paying higher rates - what the 'aides' want you to do is irrelevant since they had no say in the matter.
You're right. White House staff, hired by the man who wants to raise my taxes, should be exempt from paying taxes. Who else should be allowed to get away without paying taxes? How about Charlie Rangle, former head of the House Ways and Means Committee (that sets tax policy), who strongly supported tax increases on others, but failed to pay his own taxes? Who else should be allowed to break the law and not pay their taxes owed?
I am not defending Rangel or other corrupt low-lifes, what I am saying is that the article title is misleading since those who are paying higher taxes are advocating higher taxes on themselves along with the fact that 'aides' pay lower taxes under the new administration policies.
White House aides support Obama's policies and advocate for them in Congress and throughout governmental agencies. Therefore, they advocate higher taxes on other people while failing to pay their own taxes. Unless you're saying that the aides don't support Obama on this issue.
There are hypocrites everywhere, just like people who are preaching family values while humping their aides wives, but that doesn't translate into 'People who advocate family values want you to hump your neighbors wife'.
Those raw numbers alone are not huge, though they are of course above the median income of the entire population (wage suppression, anyone?). We need rates to understand the magnitude of the problem. Hell, I supposedly owe $50k in back taxes, according to faulty accounting by the IRS, an error which they are correcting at roughly the speed of the drifting continents.