Tom Coburn Flips Out Again-- But In A Good Way

Republican Tom Coburn of Oklahoma is, at best, a crackpot. Usually his reactionary core is more powerful than his crackpot nature. But not always; sometimes the crackpot in him wins out and, on rare occasion, he strays from the GOP corporate line and goes wandering off on his own. That just happened again. You may recall he got into a tiff with Grover Norquist a couple months ago over the no taxes pledge the Republicans all sign every two years. Now Coburn, who doesn't face the nation's most ignorant electorate for another 3 years, is borrowing a line of attack from progressives to whine about tax breaks his party has championed for millionaires. He issued a report for the SuperCommittee detailing unfair tax breaks to the SuperRich.

The report found millionaires enjoy about $30 billion worth of “tax giveaways” and federal grants every year-- almost twice NASA’s budget, the report notes.

“From tax write-offs for gambling losses, vacation homes and luxury yachts to subsidies for their ranches and estates, the government is subsidizing the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Multimillionaires are even receiving government checks for not working,” Coburn said in a statement Monday. 
 
The report is significant because Coburn is one of the Senate’s outspoken conservatives and has spent over a year working intensely on a bipartisan grand bargain to reduce the deficit.

...Coburn has identified billions of dollars in tax breaks reaped by millionaires that Democrats could be quick to target, as Republicans might suffer political damage by defending these special breaks. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has centered the 2012 Democratic campaign message on the theme that Republicans favor the interests of millionaires and billionaires over the middle class.
 
It also could set off another clash between Coburn and Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, who argues that Congress should not raise taxes unless they are offset by other tax cuts.

Among Coburn's findings were some doozies: "millionaires received $74 million worth of unemployment checks from 2005 to 2009; $316 million in farm subsidies from 2003 to 2009; $89 million for the preservation of lands on ranches and estates in 2009 and 2010; and $7.5 million to compensate for property damages caused by disaster. And 1,500 millionaires who didn't pay any income tax at all. There were also 18 folks earning more than $10 million a year who received around $12,000 in unemployment benefits and 74 people earning between $5 million and $10 million received $18,000 in benefits. In all 2,840 millionaires received unemployment benefits.

“This welfare for the well-off — costing billions of dollars a year — is being paid for with the taxes of the less fortunate, many who are working two jobs just to make ends meet, and IOUs to be paid off by future generations. We should never demonize those who are successful. Nor should we pamper them with unnecessary welfare to create an appearance everyone is benefiting from federal programs,” Coburn said.
 
Coburn’s report found that from 2006 to 2009, millionaires claimed $27.7 billion in mortgage interest tax deductions, $64.3 billion in rental expense deductions and $21 billion in deductions for gambling losses. During that time, millionaires also deducted $607.7 million for business entertainment expenses, according to Coburn.
 
The average annual amount of tax breaks claimed by millionaires is $28.5 billion, Corburn’s report found.

Predictably, Norquist went after Coburn yesterday for targeting “legitimate business expenses,” such as rental expense deductions, in his report. He said it “seems” as though Coburn is “trying to get on [President] Obama’s losing class-warfare argument.”

But not to worry-- if you're a millionaire, ole John Boehner took care of you by putting the heir to the Whirlpool fortune on the SuperCommittee, Michigan plutocrat Fred Upton, whose sole function in Congress has been to protect the interests of the self-styled American "aristocracy." He'll never let anything pass that takes even a nickel from the 1%. Blue America is seeking to right that travesty this cycle by helping blue collar Democrat John Waltz -- a firm advocate of the New Deal-- defeat Upton for the seat he's treated as a feudal estate. Chip in? You can do it here at the Blue America ActBlue page. Defeating Fred Upton is nearly as important to progress in our country as defeating Paul Ryan. And Obama won both of their congressional districts. These two races are winnable.