Liberal bloggers are seizing on a Republican congressman?s comment that he makes only $400,000 as the sort of attitude that illustrates why President Barack Obama?s plan to raise taxes on millionaires is a good idea.
Rep. John Fleming (R-La.) appeared on MSNBC?s Jansing and Company on Monday to talk about Obama?s deficit reduction plan.
Continue ReadingWhen host Chris Jansing asked Fleming, who owns Subway sandwich shops and UPS stores, about his businesses? $6.3 million in gross earnings, Fleming said that that his actual income was a ?mere fraction of that,? and that the figure did not include the cost of employees, rent, equipment and reinvestment in his business. His income was closer to $600,000, he said, and ?by the time I feed my family, I have maybe $400,000 left over.?
?You do understand, Congressman, that the average person out there - who is making $40,000, $50,000, $60,000 - when they hear that you only have $400,000 left over, it?s not exactly a sympathetic position,? replied Jansing.
?Class warfare has never created a job,? responded Fleming.
His comments ignited to a wave of outrage in the liberal blogosphere.
?Excuse me if I don?t weep for him paying a bit more in taxes,? said Crooks and Liars? blogger Karoli. ?Rep. Fleming just unwittingly made himself the poster child for tax reform. Between his creative corporate structuring? and his disingenuous claim to only have a fraction of that available for reinvestment in jobs and business while his disclosures clearly say otherwise, he?s proven just how much we need tax reform right now.?
On Monday, Obama said that millionaires must pay their ?fair share? and proposed that they pay more taxes, but the president didn?t lay out any specifics.
?How dare this guy complain about ?only? making 400K per year when families of 4 are living on $12,000 a year?? exclaimed blogger ABL at the liberal blog Balloon Juice.
Another liberal blogger said that the Fleming?s comments were insensitive to those who made significantly less than him. ?You?re complaining that you have only eight times the median salary for American households? Boo. Frakking. Hoo,? said AddictingInfo blogger Justin Rosario. ?Are you going to stand in front of a group of children that have no home and have the balls to say that you don?t feel comfortable paying a few extra thousand a year to keep them fed and off the streets??
Daily Kos bloggers did a few calculations to tease out the implications of Fleming?s rough estimates. Laura Clawson did the back-of-the-napkin-math to determine that Fleming?s figures mean that he pays employees less than $11,400 a year. ?Obviously the real number is much lower, which points to a whole lot of part-time, minimum wage jobs. So, Rep. Fleming? If you really wanted to be a noble job-creator, you?d give more of your employees something close to full-time work at something over minimum wage,? Clawson said.
Another Daily Kos blogger points out that Fleming?s family includes four adult children between the age of 21 and 32. ?So, that means he?s basically budgeting approximately $200K a year for what? Dinners out with his wife?? said Ubiquitous A.
A call to Fleming?s office was not returned.
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