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"Imagine If You Did Chores for your Grandma"

"Imagine If You Did Chores for your Grandma"

Updated Jan 16, 2019 at 09:35PM EST by 3kole5.

Added Jan 16, 2019 at 03:24PM EST by Matt.

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About

Imagine If You Did Chores for Your Grandma is a phrasal template inspired by a tweet by former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker in which he mischaracterizes tax law.

Origin

On January 15th, 2019, former Governor Scott Walker tweeted,[1] "Explaining tax rates before Reagan to 5th graders: 'Imagine if you did chores for your grandma and she gave you $10. When you got home, your parents took $7 from you.' The students said: 'That’s not fair!' Even 5th graders get it." The tweet received more than 4,000 retweets, 20,000 likes and 18,000 comments.


Scott Walker ) SoottWalker Explaining tax rates before Reagan to 5th graders: "Imagine if you did chores for your grandma and she gave you $10. When you got home, your parents took $7 from you." The students said: "That's not fair" Even 5th graders get it.

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The tweet was widely mocked online as many noted Walker's lack of understanding of the tax rate. Author Michael Shermer tweeted,[2] "This is NOT how pre-Reagan progressive tax rate works @ScottWalker I can't believe you made it this far thinking that, for example, a 70% tax rate means someone making $1000 a month takes home only $300." The tweet received more than 360 retweets and 1,700 likes in 24 hours (shown below, left).

Others used the introductory clause "imagine if you did chores for your grandma" as a means of criticizing Walker's claim. Twitter[3] user @wes_chu tweeted, "Imagine if you did your chores for your grandma and she gave you $10,000,010. When you got home your parents took $7 from you. (assuming you pay the regular tax rate for the first $10M)." The tweet received more than 525 retweets and 2,700 likes in 24 hours (shown below, center).

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted,[4] "Explaining marginal taxes to a far-right former Governor: Imagine if you did chores for abuela & she gave you $10. When you got home, you got to keep it, because it’s only $10. Then we taxed the billionaire in town because he’s making tons of money underpaying the townspeople." The tweet received more than 40,000 retweets and 173,000 likes in 24 hours (shown below, right).


Michael Shermer @michaelshermer This is NOT how pre-Reagan progressive tax rate works @Scott Walker I can't believe you made it this far thinking that, for example, a 70% tax rate means someone making $1000 a month takes home only $300. IRS explains it here: apps.irs.gov/app/understand Oppose it, ok, but understand! Scott Walker @ScottWalker Explaining tax rates before Reagan to 5th graders: "Imagine if you did chores for your grandma and she gave you $10. When you got home, your parents took $7 from you." The students said: "That's not fair!" Even 5th graders get it. Imagine if you did your chores for your grandma and she gave you $10,000,010 When you got home your parents took $7 from you. (assuming you pay the regular tax rate for the first $10M). Scott Walker@ScottWalker Explaining tax rates before Reagan to 5th graders: "Imagine if you did chores for your grandma and she gave you $10. When you got home, your parents took $7 from you." The students said: "That's not fair!" Even 5th graders get it. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @AOC Explaining marginal taxes to a far-right former Governor: gave you $10. When you got home, you got to keep it, because it's only $10. Then we taxed the billionaire in town because he's making tons of money underpaying the townspeople Scott Walker@ScottWalker Explaining tax rates before Reagan to 5th graders: "lmagine if you did chores for your grandma and she gave you $10. When you got home, your parents took $7 from you." The students said: "That's not fair!" Even 5th graders get it.

Twitter[5] user @dianneanderson explained the 70% tax rate in a series of tweets. They wrote, "okay so a lot of (rich, white) folks are freaking out about what a 70% tax rate on the wealthy would look like and they’re scared about it and shit (even though it’s literally what rich baby boomers already dealt with)." The introductory tweet received more than 34,000 retweets and 80,000 likes (thread below).

Twitter[6] published a Moments page on the debate.


Dianna E. Anderson @diannaeanderson Jan 4 okay so a lot of (rich, white) folks are freaking out about what a 70% tax rate on the wealthy would look like and they're scared about it and s--- (even though it's literally what rich baby boomers already dealt with). SO LET'S DO THE MATHH 1.6K 34K 80K Dianna E. Anderson @diannaeanderson Jan 4 Post WWII, the tax rate peaked at 94% on annual income over $200,000 ($3mil in 2018 dollars). In the decades following, it dropped to a marginal tax rate of 70% of all income over 200k/annually (again, 2-3mil in today's dollars, depending on year). Dianna E. Anderson-Φ @diannaeanderson , Jan 4 Here's a thing a lot of folks don't understand: we have a tax system in the US that only taxes money above the "bracket." So, say the cut off for a particular percentage is 250k and you made 254k last year. The entire thing wouldn't be taxed at the higher rate. Just the 4k. 146 t 5.3K 19K Dianna E. Anderson @diannaeanderson Jan 4 So this doesn't mean that all rich people would suddenly have to give up 70% of their income. Thanks to the way tax brackets work, they would only be taxed at the rate for the money above the cut off. So it isn't a 70% flat tax-which the GOP are depending on you misunderstanding.

Various Examples


Replying to @ScottWalker Why not explain it properly: "imagine if you did chores for your grandma and she gave you $10, and your parents took none of it, then the rich a------ down the street made $10 million, and the government let them keep several million, but kept some to build schools and roads" Replying to @ScottWalker Explaining taxes rates to less stupid people: ,,Imagine if you did chores for your grandma and she gave you $10. When you get home your parents ask for $7 to buy you school supplies, get you food and support your sick little brother" The student said: ,,That sounds reasonable" C0 1/2 How about this way: "lmagine if you did chores for your grandma and she gave you $10. When you got home, your parents took $3.50 from you. In exchange, they give you a place to live, food, and medical care."
2) Here, I corrected it: "Imagine if you did chores for your grandma & she gave you $10. When you got home, your parents took $0 from you because you only made $10, you're not taxed! Once you made $1m, you'd be taxed at 70% for every dollar OVER $1m. But you'd be a millionaire!" Replying to @ScottWalker Corrected: "Imagine if you did chores for your grandma. She had previously given you $10M and she gave you another $10. When you got home, your parents took $7 from you." Replying to @ScottWalker Next time you meet with the 5th graders, try this one: "Imagine if you did chores for your grandma and she gave you $10. And on the way home, you secretly meet with a Russian spy who gives you $1000..."

Search Interest

External References

[1] Twitter – @ScottWalker's Tweet

[2] Twitter – @michaelshermer's Tweet

[3] Twitter – @wes_chu's Tweet

[4] Twitter – @AOC's Tweet

[5] Twitter – @diannaeanderson's Tweet

[6] Twitter – Former governor Scott Walker and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have got people talking about income tax

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I have zero sympathy for the rich. They've nearly all done their part in draining the world and its people dry, accumulating all the money for themselves, then using it for nothing save making even more money and maybe drugs. They are leeches, parasites, completely detached from reality. They don't want to give a penny of it all back to the country and the world that helped them to get to this point to begin with.

And this tweet, no matter how it's masking itself to look like a middle-class problem and get the middle-class's side, is really only talking about the rich. Scott doesn't care about how much you are taxed, just how much he and his investors and lobbyists are. He's whining like a child so that they could keep all of their money, even though they don't need a bit of it, even though they deserve so very little of it.

Tax them dry, I say. Force them to give back a little.

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