Is Joe the Plumber going to become the catalyst symbol of the average joe? I don't think so

Just a quick thought on this Joe the Plumber story and I will be more consistent in tying legal thoughts to some of these rather juicy legal news bits as of late.

When I heard the Joe the Plumber story break, I thought Obama's choice of phrasing was a little off. People love throwing around "socialism" and "communism" and "robin hood" without really understanding the concepts, so I am giving him a pass on this one.

The concept of fairness and this so-called wealth distribution, in some respects, is quite misleading with those terms. It isn't so much the question of why the richest should pay more taxes, it's a question of why should the richest only pay the social security tax only up to a certain point. Isn't it everyone's burden? I appreciate the idea of social security being more of a flat tax than some sort of regressive tax, and I also appreciate, from a financially greedy perspective, having it cut-off at some point. But if Obama wants to move up the cut-off point for the social security tax to double what it is now as an effort to balance the social security budget, so be it. Now, moving that number up will obviously affect all businesses, so maybe there needs to be some further tweaking, but that can be given in the form of other tax breaks and incentives. I don't know enough about it to speak more about it than this at this point. Now with regular income taxes, that's another story for another time. Flat tax = semi bad.

But not with social security did this phraseology capture the media's attention, but only in the limited respect with a presumed small business owner's concern with why should his taxes be raised because his business is doing better than someone else's. Certainly it's a fair question, and the answer, I agree, was worded quite poorly. Had Obama said, it's to help pay in part programs like this $700 billion+ bailout plan, that may have been more realistic. He just needs a stock response that doesn't sound too distant or political. Regardless...

The fact that it came up in the debate, multiple times, in the way that it came up, was surprising. I can understand McCain attempting to turn "Joe the Plumber" into some sort of icon to turn the larger conversation to tax policy and perspective. The problem with doing this is that you have to make sure your icon actually stands for what you are purporting him to be. I remember thinking as the debate was going on that it would be funny if Joe the Plumber wasn't even a plumber. And, as it turns out, I was semi-right. At least the 24/7 media had something new to report about.

According to the USA Today article, and about every other valid article written on the subject, Joe the Plumber turns out to not be the sad story he purports to be. In many respects, it is totally irrelevant that he isn't really a plumber, but aspires to be one, has not completed his Ohio apprenticeship to be licensed, and has a lien on his house for failing to pay state income taxes. It's no wonder Joe the Plumber doesn't want the government to get involved with the average Joe (or him), he owes them money!

So maybe Joe isn't the best representative of the average Joe or small business owner. Maybe, in some respects, his thoughts are indicative of a greater concern with paying higher taxes. But it's conjecture and speculation. Further, it doesn't even effect him since his taxes will remain the same under either candidate. I appreciate the concern, but the fact he was trying to speak on behalf of a constituency he was not part of merely demonstrates that the media (and this time, the RNC) picked the wrong horse to hang their hat on. Had they done a minimum amount of research before giving their candidate a green light to use him to attempt to martyr the other side's tax plan, the debaters certainly would not have spent as much time as they did glorifying this guy, who turns out to be a tax evader.

So, was Joe the plumber the real winner? If by the fact you mean that the government of the State of Ohio will get their money, then yes. He's certainly getting his 15 minutes of fame, whether he likes it or not. But he shouldn't blame anyone on this unwanted spotlight other than the media (in part) and McCain, for bringing it up in the debate the way he did.

Tags: joe the plumber not a plumber, joe the plumber