Beatle slavery:
"If you drive a car, I'll tax the street.
If you drive to city, I'll tax your seat.
If you get too cold, I'll tax the heat.
If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet,"
– George Harrison, Beatles' "Taxman," 1966.
"'Taxman' was when I first realized that even though we had started earning money, we were actually giving most of it away in taxes," said the late George Harrison, the Beatles guitarist. "It was and still is typical."
For their chief competitors, the Rolling Stones, the crushing taxation in the UK in the 1970s forced the band to leave their homeland, England, to seek refuge in France and record the aptly titled "Exile on Main Street." Like Napoleon Bonaparte on Elba, the Stones were forced into Mediterranean exile.
The history of the Beatles and the Stones relative to taxation has direct bearing on the modern-day open debate on just how government is too much government and exactly how much taxation is too much taxation. The leader of the free world has called upon the rich to pay their "fair share," but what exactly is the definition of fair share? And what constitutes "rich" in Obama's America? The devil is in the details.
Is 98 percent fair? "Preposterous" you say? Not if you review the history of the United Kingdom prior to the rise of Margaret Thatcher.
The "progressive" tax regime of former UK Prime Minister Harold Wilson was simply staggering, a top rate for income tax of 83 percent + a 15 percent surcharge on "un-earned income" (investments and dividends), bringing the marginal rate of 98 percent (no typo). Reportedly, 750,000 British taxpayers were liable for a 98 percent tax rate in 1974. Is there a fine line between taxation and almost total confiscation, and when is that line crossed?
No one will ever accuse the members of the Beatles and the Stones of being conservative warriors for limited government and Lafferite low taxation to jump-start economic growth. The Stones in particular proved that the real wealthy or the so-called wealthy have options. They can move to lower tax states (e.g. Texas and Florida come immediately to mind) or even to other nations. They may not want to do it, but again they may not have any other choice.
Let me tell you how it will be
There's one for you,
nineteen for me
'Cause I'm the taxman
Yeah, I'm the taxman
Should five percent appear too small
Be thankful I don't take it all
'Cause I'm the taxman
Yeah, I'm the taxman
Now my advice for those who die
(Taxman)
Declare the pennies on your eyes
(Taxman)
'Cause I'm the taxman Yeah,
I'm the taxman And you're working for no one but me
(Taxman)
If it sounds a bit like slavery
Be thankful I don't take it all
I'm the taxman And you're working for no one but me
(Taxman)
And you can't just walk away:
Chicago mulls tax -- on sneakers!
Edited by Rogerdodger, 04 February 2013 - 10:12 PM.