Coburn Targets Tax Breaks For The ‘Well-Heeled’
U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn targets tax breaks for the ‘well-heeled’
by Chris Casteel
WASHINGTON — As he roots out waste and laments misguided spending priorities, U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn often has a special target: the wealthy. Coburn refers to members of that group as “the well-heeled and the well-connected.”
Earlier this year, he said the architects of a particular proposal in the farm bill were “trying to protect the well-heeled and the well-connected in agriculture.”
In a debate over pork barrel projects in 2007, he admonished his colleagues, “Your duty is to the country as a whole, not to the well-heeled special interests who are the beneficiaries.”
Coburn released a report in 2011 called “Subsidies of the Rich and Famous” that cataloged the numerous federal programs, payments and provisions benefiting the well-heeled.
“The government’s social safety net, which has long existed to catch those who are down and help them get back up, is now being used as a hammock by some millionaires, some who are paying less taxes than average middle-class families,” Coburn wrote in the report.