Class envy disguised as tax policy on the Colorado ballot

GAWD, I hate the rich.

The top hats. The monocles. The dinner jackets. The way they twirl their mustaches while evicting orphans.

Before we drag them into the public square, though, we should probably define “rich.”

Amendment 87, the temporary “graduated” income tax, defines rich as earning $500,000 a year.

And yes, it is temporary. Unlike the federal income tax brackets, 87’s brackets aren’t indexed for inflation, meaning over time all of us will creep into the new top 8.4% tax rate.

Clever scam. Con Coloradans who aren’t good at math that they’re getting a tax cut and then let inflation do the mugging.

Sell a tax increase on working families as a tax cut. You can almost hear the maniacal laughter.

Rich bastardsBut back to punishing the rich — those trophy-wife-collecting, umbrella-drink-swilling bastards.

Why should they drive Maseratis while I putter around in my 2010 Nissan Altima?

Sure, we use the same roads, sit in the same traffic and can reach the same destinations. But that’s hardly the point. His cup holder has Italian stitching.

Henry Ford democratized the automobile. Before mass production, cars belonged only to the wealthy. Now ordinary people can live where they can afford a home and work where they can earn a living.

Unfortunately, Ford became rich in the process. Would we have been happier if he hadn’t? Of course we would have! We’d still be stuck in tenements, but he would have been poorer. Totally worth it.