Shmuely on the run - The Jewish Standard

Regarding Rabbi Shmuely Boteach’s thoughts on his possible run for Congress, the first thing I asked myself is why we’d want another wealthy Republican in the House of Representatives. Republicans in the House, after shellacking the Democrats in 2010 on promises of job creation, presented not one bill to create jobs. They went after Planned Parenthood, NPR, and now contraception – none of which has to do with creating jobs. Does the rabbi really want to be part of this crowd?

Yet he’s already beginning the misinformation campaign. He says taxes are too high for the “barely haves.” Actually, rabbi, taxes are the lowest they’ve been in 50 years and “barely haves” don’t pay federal income tax. Your flat tax plan, however, would change all that. A flat tax of say 10 percent would be a boon to the wealthy, bringing their taxes down tremendously, and would force the “barely haves” and the “just-getting-bys” to pay taxes they can’t afford.

And what would we have to cut in the budget to have this work? The rabbi says he’s in favor of the social safety net, but he’d be in the minority among his fellow Republicans who would love to do away with Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and privatize them. There is nothing like making a profit on another’s misfortunes. Lots of people, I’m sure, including myself, would rather just keep reading your column in The Jewish Standard.

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