Merit Pay For Millionaires!

How else to explain Christie's insane proposed tax cuts for the wealthy? Deborah Howlett elaborates:

The state income tax for all but the very wealthiest wage earners in New Jersey is lower than it would be in New York — and, yes, Pennsylvania....

New Jersey’s income tax advantage over Pennsylvania extends all the way up to households with incomes of up to $180,000, according to an analysis by New Jersey Policy Perspective research director Mary E. Forsberg. While individual taxes are as varied as those who pay them, that translates to lower taxes for more than 80 percent of New Jersey filers.

And that means a tax cut is most likely to be aimed at the uppermost echelon, especially the top 1 percent of income earners in New Jersey — those for whom fallout from the worst recession since the Great Depression means a dent in their stock portfolios rather than sleepless nights wondering how to cover the mortgage. They are the same high-earners who got a tax break this year when Christie vetoed the "millionaire’s tax."

Yeah, but see, those at the top of the income ladder are superior people; we can tell this because they make so much money. So we have to reward them for being so awesome.

On the other hand, we need to cut pensions and health care and pay for cops and teachers and firefighters and social workers because, well, they just don't deserve it as much as the rich. If they did deserve it, they would be rich, too. But they aren't, which means they aren't so awesome, and we can't reward that.

See how it works?