It's astonishing that Republicans stumble to defend cutting taxes on the wealthy, given that the top 10 percent of earners in the U.S. pay more than 45 percent of all taxes, Phil Gramm wrote in a column for The Wall Street Journal.
The former Texas lawmaker and noted economist says that same group of earners pay 71 percent of all federal income taxes, begging the question — "when did America become so hostile to the successful?"
"Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison, Sam Walton and Bill Gates all became rich by producing goods and services we chose to buy because they enriched our lives. They received only a small share of the bounty that their drive and genius created. Come to think of it, when was the last time you were hired by somebody poorer than you?" Gramm wrote.
Ronald Reagan cut taxes across the board, economic growth ensued; Barack Obama raised taxes on the wealthiest in this country, economic growth declined, Gramm writes.
Why are Republicans having such a hard time selling that point? Gramm asks.
"What is astonishing, however, is the difficulty advocates of tax reform seem to have in defending their proposal against the attack that it benefits the rich," Gramm writes.
"Republicans should let the Democrats keep their monopoly on redistributing wealth and seize the monopoly on creating it," Gramm writes.
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