I feel so bad for this poor woman. Obama is literally ruining her way of life, the heartless fiend!
Ellen Parnell and her husband, Donald Parnell Jr., seem like the kind of well-off couple President Barack Obama has in mind when he suggests raising taxes on families earning more than $250,000 a year. A surgeon at Fort Sanders Sevier Medical Center in Sevierville, Tenn., he drives an Infiniti. They vacation at a beach resort every year.
Yet, right now he is working seven days a week. The car is more than a decade old, the vacation home in Sandestin, Fla., comes at a moderate weekly rate because members of Ms. Parnell’s extended family own it. Her family of five would like more room than they have in their 2,500-square-foot home, yet they can’t afford anything larger. The downturn has them skittish about paying for renovations.
Just ordinary folks like you and me. Well, maybe like you. I don’t drive an Infiniti, I drive an eleven year old Toyota minivan with 110,000 miles on it. With dented bumpers I haven’t bothered to fix and a cracked tail light. Our home is about 1800 square feet and has all its original fixtures from 1980 (though back when I was still employed we did splurge to remove the old asbestos laden siding and replace it with something less — toxic). The wall paper is peeling off and so is the linoleum flooring. Our kitchen cabinets look like . . . well, like really old crappy cabinets. And I haven’t been to a beach resort since … well since I can’t remember. But I digress.
The story here isn’t about me. It is about the suffering of the poor Parnell family, and all the decent simple people like them, who will suffer if Scrooge Obama raises their taxes even just an eensy weensy bit.
It is a tricky situation in which some Americans find themselves after a long boom: They are by no means struggling, compared with the 98% of Americans who make far less, but depending on where they live and the lifestyle choices they have made, they don’t necessarily feel rich, either. Worse, in their view, they are facing the same tax rates as those making millions. Some of the expenses are self-inflicted — like private-school costs and conspicuous consumption. Others, though, are unavoidable, like child-care costs, larger health-care deductibles and education expenses, especially college.
Yes, well private school costs, that’s a necessity. Especially in places where public education isn’t, shall we say, fully funded. And paying for college is rather high, even for those of us who don’t earn $250,000 or more a year. Which is why community colleges are booming these days and some kids are forced to — gulp — live at home with their folks while going to school. And after graduating too!
So I totally understand these good people’s concerns. How can they not send Little Joe or Suzy to Harvard or Princeton or even a nice party school like Duke, but where will they find the money to pay for it? A real dilemma. I wish I could help them figure it out, but I just don’t have enough experience with their income level to be able to offer any good advice. But I can feel their pain.
For the Parnells, their perception of themselves is based on the math. The value of their house is down $60,000. Ms. Parnell says the couple’s gross income last year was about $260,000. Taxes, premiums for medical care and deductions for Social Security and their 401(k) contributions cut the gross to about $12,000 per month. The family tithes $1,300 a month at their church. Their mortgage, second mortgage and payment on land they bought is nearly $4,000 a month. Other expenses, including their family car payment, insurance and college funds, as well as basics like food, utilities and donations to charities, leave them with about $1,200 left over each month.
So let’s see here. They have money to contribute to two 401K plans, they have three mortgages for home and “other land” they bought, they have full medical benefits, they give their church over $15,00 a year, and after taxes are withheld, they buy food, make their car payments, contribute to their kids’ college funds, make other charitable donations and pay their other expenses, they are only left with $1,200 in spare change per month. Damn, that’s rough. I mean, if I had $1,200 a month to spend on anything I wanted to besides bills I can see where I wouldn’t want to give any of it up to Uncle Sam. Luckily for me I’m not in that unfortunate situation. We spend everything that comes in and then some. Some people are just blessed.
And what does that socialist liberal fascist Obama want to take away from them in additional taxes? Why he wants to make them pay $12 more a year in taxes, that’s what! The bastard should be impeached I tell ya! We won’t stand for it. Sign me up for the next round of tea parties. Sometimes you just have to take a stand for what’s right, for freedom and liberty and justice. For the Parnell’s right to keep that $12!
Here, just for you Mrs. Parnell, Susan Boyle has a song I hope you appreciate: