Video: Algore proposes payroll neutrality
posted at 12:29 pm on May 23, 2007 by Ian
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Al Gore has a new solution for high gas prices — it’s called payroll neutrality. According to the former VP we should eliminate payroll taxes and make it up with “pollution taxes.” So instead of taxing your paycheck, Gore would tax the hell out of your house via the power you use to heat, cool and run it. I’m sure that would really help the poor who probably pay more heating their house in the winter than the money taxed out of their paychecks. But don’t worry, Gore says this is “revenue neutral,” which assumes an inelasticity in human behavior that doesn’t stand up to reality. Simply put, if you reduce a tax on one thing and raise it on another, you change behavior on the part of the taxpayer. No word on whether “carbon offsets” would count as a tax write-off under the Goracle’s scheme.
Envirohypocrites Laurie David and John Edwards could not be reached for comment.
(bp)
Update (Ian): I watched the full show and can’t believe I didn’t come across this gem: Larry King Asks Al Gore to Join Jimmy Carter in Slamming President Bush.
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He’s so damn smug I could smack him!
What sort of offset is that?
omnipotent on May 23, 2007 at 12:35 PM
thut the Wuck? Is this guy really that retarded?
400lb Gorilla on May 23, 2007 at 12:35 PM
He said the increased in the cost of gasoline was going to Saudi Arabia. I thought it went to line the pockets of the big bad oil companies in this country.
As for his proposal, it is the dumbest idea I have ever heard. First, people will become aware of how much tax they are paying since they will have to send it in. The govt. can’t collect it all if there is no employer in the mix to do the collecting.
And yes 400lb gorilla, he is that stupid.
bopbottle on May 23, 2007 at 12:40 PM
What a lunatic.
CP on May 23, 2007 at 12:42 PM
Isn’t LSD illegal? This dude is a bad trip man, way out there….
soulsirkus on May 23, 2007 at 12:43 PM
Another attempt at thinking outside the box. My questions, Who keeps letting him out of the box and why?
GoingThere on May 23, 2007 at 12:44 PM
Ummm.. but…
If the idea is to tax energy use, so people will use less…
When they do, don’t you have to tax somthing else to make up the shortfall?
And the real interesting part… just how does this jive with the Constitution??? You know.. that little piece of paper which protects us from the Government?
Romeo13 on May 23, 2007 at 12:44 PM
Great gig if you can get it. Sit around all day thinking up hair-brained schemes, throw them up against the “wall” of public opinion and see what sticks. But whatever you do, DON”T do an honest Cost/Benefit analysis, just keep aiming for people’s guilty feelings.
ej_pez on May 23, 2007 at 12:45 PM
When I think about how close this moron came to becoming president….
Whew.
JayHaw Phrenzie on May 23, 2007 at 12:45 PM
Wasn’t there another story today about this guy being analyized by some French shrinks?
Gotta go fire up the BBQ, start the mower, and redline the 505/V8 in the pickup. BRB.
Limerick on May 23, 2007 at 12:48 PM
Dingdingdingdin! We have a winner! PRICELESS.
tickleddragon on May 23, 2007 at 12:51 PM
I’d call him a tool…but tools are at least USEFULL.
tickleddragon on May 23, 2007 at 12:53 PM
Is there any doubt that algored is totally insane?
1sttofight on May 23, 2007 at 12:53 PM
He’s a Rovian plant (Magnificent Bastard).
No one can be this stupid, arrogant, and hypocritical, all at the same time.
Jaibones on May 23, 2007 at 12:58 PM
I had the feeling for a long time that Al Gore had really gone over the top with his global warming crap.
This proves what I have been thinking – the SOB is totally insane. Put that together with being an evil person and I think you have a really dangerous person. I hope he doesn’t have a permit to carry a weapon. I can picture some poor soul standing up at one of Gore’s brainwashing presentations and questioning his global warming theory and Al just lets him have it. I’m not accusing Gore of being a murderer but I am accusing him of being an egotistical, evil insane person who is right on the edge and definitely needs some professional help!
OBX Pete on May 23, 2007 at 1:01 PM
What about renters, Al? Is someone’s landlord gonna put a governor on their thermostat?
If there is a market for loon credits, Al will corner it soon.
BacaDog on May 23, 2007 at 1:04 PM
I have no doubt that he’ll declare for President soon. The left wing and moderates of his party will flock to him because he won the Academy Award for that appallingly one-sided view of the environment which is (has)quickly becoming the New World Manifesto. Many public schools are now requiring that students watch Gore’s movie without opposing views tolerated….Brain-Washing 101….the new “education” for our children. The new voters in years to come.
This man is scary.
Sign me as lib_NOT (thank God!)
lib_not on May 23, 2007 at 1:05 PM
If Al Gores brains were made of gasoline, he wouldn’t have enough to drive around the inside of a Cheerio….
soulsirkus on May 23, 2007 at 1:10 PM
Sounds like AL’s been drinking the bongwater again.
Schmo on May 23, 2007 at 1:11 PM
Wait let’s ignore Al Gore said it and that it’s related to global warming…
Elimnating income taxes and instead taxing consumption…what’s so crazy about this?
Hasn’t this been a small-government/libertarian idea for decades?
JaHerer22 on May 23, 2007 at 1:17 PM
Of course, Gore would impose the pollution tax first, and then be “forced” to change his mind about eliminating payroll taxes when there was an “unexpected” revenue shortfall.
And only the selfish capitalists among you would continue to pressure him to eliminate payroll taxes under those circumstances.
Tell me I’m wrong.
saint kansas on May 23, 2007 at 1:19 PM
There’s nothing crazy about the so-called “fair tax.” What’s crazy is if you believe it will ever happen, particularly under Gore.
He was in the White House for a while, and I don’t recall him or his boss having any problem with the income tax then.
saint kansas on May 23, 2007 at 1:29 PM
He was selling these “pollution” based taxes a few months ago at HBS.
Gore All Business at HBS
We are managing the planet as if it were a business in liquidation,” former U.S. Vice President Al Gore declared to a capacity audience of 900 MBA students during a talk titled “A Change in Business Climate” presented in Burden Auditorium in December. Gore explained that the population explosion, coupled with the revolutions in science and technology, have greatly magnified the impact of humans on the earth’s ecosystem. “But the biggest challenge we face,” he said, “is changing the way we think about our relationship with the environment.” [snip]
If price tags are the only tool used to measure value, said Gore, “then things that don’t have price tags appear to have no value.” [snip]
Gore [snip], said that solving the environmental crisis represents “the greatest source of new business opportunity in the world.” [snip]
In attacking the climate crisis, Gore concluded, the rest of the world will follow if America provides leadership. “This is the only crisis that has threatened the end of human civilization,” he said, “and we are moving in the opposite direction.” [snip]
[snip] In his talk, sponsored by the School’s Leadership and Values Initiative, Gore stated that in an ideal world, employment-based taxes would be replaced by levies on pollution, which is by definition an indicator of waste and inefficiency [snip]
Gore and David Blood (MBA ’85) are founding partners of Generation Investment Management, a firm that makes long-term investments in companies adhering to sustainability principles.
TheBigOldDog on May 23, 2007 at 1:31 PM
Jaherrer, he’s not really proposing a consumption tax…it’s a pollution tax. Huge difference—which penalizes the poor—that the dems claim they love so much—that can’t afford new hybrids.
Use your clout, Al, and campaign for nuclear energy. Cheap, clean, virtually endless supply of energy.
jdpaz on May 23, 2007 at 1:31 PM
And sipping some of of that Tennessee whiskey.
How about eliminating taxes on gas altogether?
Go here and here to see just how much the government is raking in just on gas taxes.
Kini on May 23, 2007 at 1:34 PM
Sorry Al, I don’t have a sugar daddy like Occidental to give me my money. I’m still trying to earn mine and I’d like to be able to keep some of it.
What is it with these smug pompous a**es proposing taxes which they either can afford to pay or will never pay, yet joe taxpayer takes it in the end every time?
rbb on May 23, 2007 at 1:35 PM
Imagine this: no more IRS.
Imagine this: an even more intrusive agency with the power to track everything you spend your money on. Better keep those receipts. Oh, and you FLEW to Mexico for your vaction? There’s no flight permit authorization attached to your return, sir.
The only reason Al Gore wants to do this is so he can use the force of government through coercive taxation to force you to do what he wants to force you to do. Barring being laughed off the world stage, he should at least be tarred, feathered, and ridden out of the country on a rail. And good riddance.
Kevin R on May 23, 2007 at 1:37 PM
He sounds more like Beelzebub (the dung god) everyday
abinitioadinfinitum on May 23, 2007 at 1:45 PM
Great, then you need to support the opening of ANWR, renewed drilling in U.S. coastal waters, and production of new nuclear power plants. Next.
What that really Al Gore there saying that payroll taxes discourage jobs? Of course, you have to be careful here when a soc*alist uses the term payroll taxes. One minute they’re talking about Social Security, so they can say that payroll taxes are regressive, and the next they use it to mean federal withholding taxes, to claim that cuts only help the wealthiest.
So, in places where the gas is being bought by people who don’t pay income taxes, give them relief. How to pay for that? Higher gas taxes on those who don’t get relief, of course. Income redistribution 101.
It’s almost comical how this proposal could be confused witih the FairTax plan, except of course that Gore’s plan would have exemptions and specials and discounts and reliefs, all the things that soc*alists love to use to buy power from “the poor” while hammering “bug business capitalists”.
So no, JeHerer, it isn’t anything like the fair minded consumption tax proposals, because Al would, as usual, include ways to make the tax UNFAIR, by assessing it not on everyone who consumes, but only those MOST able to pay, giving those who don’t produce an income a free ride on the backs of those who do.
Freelancer on May 23, 2007 at 1:45 PM
FairTax? One more reason I effing can’t stand Bush. He toyed with it just long enough to get my vote and then in a heartbeat acted like he’d never heard of it.
Editor on May 23, 2007 at 1:50 PM
Now now… I’m all for getting rid of payroll (what happened to “income”?) taxes and going to a “sin” based system and I’ll give Al credit for at least starting to think on the right track…
But the other posters are right. With gas prices going higher, people are cutting back on driving and cities and states have had to look elsewhere to support the funding of roads because they’re not getting enough from the gas taxes.
Same stupid thing was passed here in Indy too. They wanted to beef up the medical insurance support so they put a humongous tax on… cigarettes to pay for it.
And b’sides… I’m sure Al’s got it all worked out where if you pay for your carbon offsets you get tax credits…
Skywise on May 23, 2007 at 1:55 PM
Yes, and an egomaniac to boot
darwin on May 23, 2007 at 2:00 PM
I really want this guy to put his hat in the ring for the Democratic nomination.
I suppose there’s always a chance this guy could win the Presidency, but this stuff is HYSTERICAL!
asc85 on May 23, 2007 at 2:01 PM
Good idear. Also, I’m in the mood for a good ol’ tire burning. Pile ‘em up nice and high, and watch that black smoke rise. Nothing like the smell of smoldering tires – it’s enough to make a grown man cry.
Rick on May 23, 2007 at 2:05 PM
He doesn’t like the oil money going to Saudi Arabia? I guess that means he wants more oil drilling in US territories (Alaska, Gulf of MExico, etc.) by US-based oil companies. I’m sure he’s thought what he said all the way through and that is what he means.
Mig on May 23, 2007 at 2:07 PM
One man’s pollution is another man’s offset.
bloggless on May 23, 2007 at 2:14 PM
Is there some confusion here about what the lunatic is proposing?
Does he want to eliminate the payroll tax (social security tax) or the income tax? Two different things!!
OBX Pete on May 23, 2007 at 2:15 PM
I don’t think payroll taxes are even Constitutional but can you say…Cahhmmmuuunniiiissssttt.
A little totalitarian too.
Speakup on May 23, 2007 at 2:19 PM
That lock box should have only one purpose – to lock up super conceited arsholes.
Entelechy on May 23, 2007 at 2:20 PM
Put Al Gore into that ‘lock box’ immediately along with social security!
digitalintrigue on May 23, 2007 at 2:21 PM
He is talking about doing away with payroll taxes, not income taxes. Correct me if I am wrong, but payroll taxes refer to Social Security and Medicare taxes only.
bopbottle on May 23, 2007 at 2:31 PM
How about a tax cut? Forget about neutrality!
Oxybeles on May 23, 2007 at 2:41 PM
Why, that sounds like a great idea, presidential candidate Al Gore. Oh wait, did I say that out loud?
Seixon on May 23, 2007 at 3:10 PM
Bye bye presidential hopes!
Dread Pirate Roberts VI on May 23, 2007 at 3:12 PM
Looks like the GlobalWarming religion just got it’s Madonna…..http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,275035,00.html.
Limerick on May 23, 2007 at 3:59 PM
What a mah-roon.
How about if we tax him for every time he opens his yap and says something really stupid?
Hening on May 23, 2007 at 4:44 PM
I’m really starting to think this loon is just plain crazy evil.
infidel4life on May 23, 2007 at 4:47 PM
If payroll taxes != income taxes than I take back what I said. If he’s not man enough to say “Let’s fund Social Security with pollution taxes” he’s obviously just playing political spin doctoring.
Skywise on May 23, 2007 at 5:20 PM
Huh?….. I don’t get it, maybe I should go back and listen to that again. It’s painful watching him talk though.
4shoes on May 23, 2007 at 5:30 PM
He lost me when he claimed that Love Story was about him and Tipper.
Labamigo on May 23, 2007 at 7:09 PM
Will this mean his taxes will shoot through the roof as his carbon footprint expands?
h0mi on May 23, 2007 at 7:15 PM
THE REAL INCONVENIENT TRUTH IS THAT WE WERE ATTACHED ON 9/11 AND HAD TO UNITE AS A COUNTRY AGAINST A REAL ENEMY. Gore and his psyco bable eco-tecno talk bullshit is designed toward a pre Katrina mentality. We all have seen first hand what government control does to produce the helpless poor frakin me mentality that this A-Hole Gore is depending on. We are men here AG, American working class males. Screw you and your whole communist demagoguery. Open up the oil rich Alaskan frontier and the offshore resources off the coast of Florida. George Bush has new coal burning technology, lets at least take a look at it. Florida’s Governor anounced today we have our first hydrogen fuel station open here in Orlando, with more to come. Gore you are an insult to my intellegence. You are trying to make a liar out of Abraham Lincoln when he stated his famous quote about “You can fool some of the people all of the time. You can fool all of the people some of the time.BUT you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.” Take your tripe to the third world cause your stinkin up the place!
sonnyspats1 on May 23, 2007 at 7:54 PM
As idiotic as this idea is, I would support any shakeup of the IRS/income tax just so that we can begin a discussion of something better, possibly the Fair Tax.
Resolute on May 23, 2007 at 8:20 PM
Algore evidently thinks we’re intellect neutral with this shell game tax shuffle that he’s trying to sell us.
What a jago**.
Teddy on May 23, 2007 at 10:53 PM
If you like breathing I wouldn’t be too quick to jump on Al Gore’s taxing pollution idea. You see the Goracle thinks Carbon dioxide is a pollutant. While carbon dioxide is actually an essential building block of life, and is what plants breath, and is totally beneficial to the atmosphere… what’s more important to understand is that carbon dioxide is what you exhale. If Al Gore gets his tax on “pollution” you may wake up one day to find you can no longer afford to breath.
And on a sidenote: Why is it every time I see Al Gore that I imagine him with pointy ears and horns and a spear-like serpentine tail ?
Maxx on May 23, 2007 at 11:17 PM
Payroll tax IS social security/medicare. However, listen very carefully when liberals use the term, because they will use it “flexibly”. You’ll rarely hear a liberal refer directly to withholding taxes, they’ll always use the term payroll taxes. Sometimes they mean withholding taxes, sometimes they mean social security. It depends on who they are trying to snowball.
“Payroll taxes are regressive, placing an undue burden on the poor.” is a common statement referring to the SS/Medicare contributions. Regressive in their mind because it is applied with a fixed percentage to every penny of earned income, so the poor get no relief from paying it. Now watch the shell closely. Social Security is not really a tax, if you ask a liberal. It’s a savings account for your old age. So who would rightly complain about it being regressive, when the more one pays in, the more one gets out?
But it sure is a nice vehicle for those caring liberals to display their compassion for the poor, and their vitriol for the “wealthy”.
Freelancer on May 24, 2007 at 7:08 AM
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