For the Purposes of Fairness 

Thank the Lord Chris Christie is running the show in New Jersey, otherwise the state would be poised to make another major fiscal blunder (if that's possible to imagine). It seems the Garden State is blessed with a state senator .. a Democrat .. by the name of Shirley Turner. Senator Shirley thinks that she has this budget thing all figured out. Shirley has THE solution that is going to solve all of New Jersey's financial woes. It's just this easy. All you have to do is increase taxes on the millionaires! And why does Shirley want to increase taxes on the filthy, disgusting rich. All together now .... for the purposes of fairness! Shirley says, "It's really about fairness. This governor has coddled the wealthy, but they need to pay their fair share." It's not about raising needed revenue ... it's about fairness.

Seriously, folks, isn't the "fairness" thing getting a little old and predictable by now? The fact of the matter is that millionaire taxes are consistent in one thing: they drive away rich residents. I've chronicled this phenomenon for a while now - New York, Maryland, Rhode Island, Connecticut - Shirley Turner is clearly not concerned about revenue and the budget. She's riding this "social justice" swayback all the way to the bankruptcy starting gate.

Sadly, she is not alone. There are some in New Jersey supporting this tax. Take for instance this column in the Trentonian by Jeff Edelstein. He describes himself as "the Great American Center ... Why? Because, he says: "I'm a registered Republican who wants to tax the rich until their eyes bleed diamonds." His pithy article filled with generalizations rather than facts and logic ends with these words of brilliance: "So yeah. Tax the rich. It's the only way to get their money."

There you have it, folks. "It's the only way to get their money."

"It is true that democracy undermines freedom when voters believe they can live off of others' productivity, when they modify the commandment: 'Thou shalt not steal, except by majority vote.' The politics of plunder is no doubt destructive of both morality and the division of labor." - Gary North