Clinton wants rich to pay more taxes, but she took all her deductions

By Kay B. Day

The majestic Iguazu Falls on the Argentine-Brazil border. The falls are part of a nearly virgin jungle ecosystem surrounded by national parks on both sides of the cascades. Beautiful country, Brazil, where the murder rate is more than 4 times that of the US, a fact US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton overlooked recently. [Photo from CIA World Fact Book]Sec. of State Hillary Clinton recently talked to an audience about national security at the Brookings Institute in Washington.

But instead of sticking with national security, she ventured into the realm of taxation. Clinton said the rich in America aren’t paying their “fair share”—she actually applied that statement to any country “facing the kind of employment issues” we’re seeing in the US. And then she praised Brazil for  “growing like crazy” despite the fact Brazil has the “highest tax to GDP rate in the Western Hemisphere.”

Clinton not only is guilty of supplying insufficient information about a country she's praising. She's also guilty of hypocrisy when it comes to taxes.

We already knew how much Clinton loved taxes—she told Pakistani leaders that in the US, we “tax everything that moves and doesn’t move.”

What she didn’t tell them is that we do that because politicos like Clinton view US wealth as theirs to distribute, or not. Politicos like Clinton have a congenital defect when it comes to understanding the impact of runaway, mindless crony spending exemplified by our current Congress and President Barack Obama’s administration.

It is a bit troubling that our secretary of state would praise a country for progress based on a single criterion. Because Clinton might love the Brazilian tax code, but the CIA points to a couple other matters of interest about Brazil—“Highly unequal income distribution and crime remain pressing problems.”

And the US Dept. of State sums up the crime situation for travelers very clearly: “Crime throughout Brazil has reached very high levels.  The Brazilian police and the Brazilian press report that the rate of crime continues to rise, especially in the major urban centers – though it is also spreading in rural areas.  Brazil’s murder rate is more than four times higher than that of the U.S.  Rates for other crimes are similarly high.  The majority of crimes are not solved.  There were rapes reported by American citizens in 2008.”

There’s a long list of other cautions for travelers to Brazil—among them  the matter of identity papers. What with all the emphasis on Arizona’s alien law, it’s useful to point out advice regarding Brazil: “Travelers are advised to keep a copy of their passport on them when in public and, where possible, to keep their passport in a hotel safe or other secure place.  Besides a copy of their passport, U.S. citizen travelers are advised to carry proof of whatever health insurance they may have.”

Obviously Clinton didn’t place her praise in context.

But there’s another matter too, and it has nothing to do with Brazil.

Clinton could have paid far more in taxes. Since she’s such a big fan, we thought we’d share this with her and with other ‘Big Tax’ proponents.

Anyone can voluntarily pay more in taxes. Just don’t take any of your deductions. Pop in your income onto the IRS form, go to the tax tables and have at it.

Sec. of State Clinton took big deductions for charitable gifts. We suspect she utilized every deduction and credit at her disposal.

So if Clinton is such a big fan of taxing so-called “rich people,” she should set an example. Actually all the Democrat ‘Tax and Spendthrifters’ should. Just don’t claim any credits or deductions—you can actually implement your own personal tax increase.

So will we see Democrats lining up to amend their tax forms and send the US government a voluntary windfall?

Big media reported Clinton's tax remarks at Brookings. Not a single reporter thought to take a look at Clinton's own tax returns and ask her why she doesn't put her own money where her mouth is.