There are noticeable pangs of desperation in Wednesday's anti-tax Tea (Taxed Enough Already) Party. Although ostensibly dubbed a grassroots uprising, the event is probably more accurately described as a coordinated and concerted partisan campaign. The Republican National Committee's website allows for creating send-a-tea-bag postcards. An entire cable news channel (guess which one) has been actively promoting the day of protest, and the main website for the Tax Day Tea Party event is funded by conservative groups.
Involved in Wednesday's protest events were FreedomWorks, a conservative group founded by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, Americans for Prosperity and Newt Gingrich's American Solutions for Winning the Future (along with his poignant YouTube hit, ""Invitation to the April 15th Tea Party""). Although early reports claimed crowds contained anywhere from 2,000 to 5,000 protesters turning out in 300 cities in seven states, past immigration reform protests annually held May 1 since 2006 have drawn spontaneous crowds in the hundreds of thousands in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York.
The over-the-top antics are somewhat telling of the state of the Republican Party. Fewer voters identify themselves as Republicans now than at any other time during the last 16 years, creating a base supportive of an increased number of conservative approaches to problems. A March NBC/Wall Street Journal poll put Republican popularity at near-historic lows: Just 26 percent viewed the party positively, compared with 68 percent for President Obama. When the poll asked which party is best positioned to end the recession, Republicans trailed by more than a 30-point margin. Additionally, Gallup's annual April poll on taxes found that 48 percent of Americans said the amount of federal income tax they pay is ""about right,"" 3 percent say it is ""too low"" and 46 percent say it is ""too high."" The poll also found 61 percent of Americans ""regard the income taxes they have to pay this year as fair."" Republicans are losing their identity, and less and less of the public is buying their political goods. If they lose ""no new taxes"" as their main rallying cry, what will the party have left?
The political ramifications of the current Republican outré are somewhat disconcerting. The tax debate is too important to let it continue to be a conservative shibboleth. James Madison, in his remarkable Federalist Paper #10, outlined—for eternity—this debate: ""But the most common and durable source of factions has been the various and unequal distribution of property. Those who hold and those who are without property have ever formed distinct interests in society ... Those who are creditors, and those who are debtors, fall under a like discrimination. The regulation of these various and interfering interests forms the principal task of modern legislation and involves the spirit of the party and faction in the necessary and ordinary operations of the government.""
There are interests on both sides that need hearing. For much of the recent century, the conservative base has championed lower taxes for ""creditors."" It is not as if this faction does not need a voice. They do. But the current voice being lent is a 20th-century voice. It is being led by defunct Republican baby boomers looking for one last twirl. Our tax code needs to be viewed in relation to the social problems and inequities currently plaguing our nation. Research has shown the benefits of investing $1 into public infrastructure over $1 of tax relief. A recent study argued that almost every societal problem stemmed from one cause: inequality. Richard Wilkinson, one of the researchers in the study, explained, ""It became clear that countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Portugal, where the top 20 percent earn seven, eight or nine times more than the lowest 20 percent, scored noticeably higher on all social problems at every level of society than in countries such as Sweden and Japan, where the differential is only two or three times higher at the top.""
Very little research supports the old ideas that a higher tax reduces the incentives for ""producers"" while giving charity to the ""parasites."" In 1995, the top 1 percent earned around $500,000, and the bottom 20 percent earned around $50,000. In 2005, the top 1 percent earned almost $1.2 million, and the bottom 20 percent held constant at right around $50,000. Taxes on the top 1 percent also decreased considerably over this time.
Yet today we find ourselves facing enormous social challenges. Are we any better off? Faux Tea Party protests are not getting any closer to the regulation that Madison prescribes. They are not leading us closer to ""the principal task of modern legislation."" Our current tax debates demand 21st-century thinking and collaboration. The only thing the Republican Party seems to be offering is a 20th-century masquerade of an 18th-century uprising.
Joseph Koss is a junior majoring in secondary education in social studies. Please send responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
