Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton caused a stir with her comments about how she and her husband "struggled" financially after leaving the White House. Financing the purchase of two multi-million dollar mansions, for example, was, in Hillary’s telling, "not easy."
Clinton deflected criticism of the former first couple’s voracious moneymaking spree by noting that she and Bill "had to make double the money, because of, obviously, taxes, and then pay off the debts and get us houses and take care of family members."
Paying taxes, obviously, is something the general public is more likely to relate to than "getting houses," plural. Clinton said this, presumably, in an effort to invite sympathy. And who among us does not feel sympathy for the public figure making the "hard choice" to charge $200,000 for a one-hour speech instead of $100,000, you know, because of all the taxes.
How thoughtful of Clinton to remind us that even super rich people "work hard" and deserve our sympathy. Sometimes they have to make hard choices and make extra money due to confiscatory tax rates.
Fortunately for the Clintons, much of their fortune has been taxed at the lower rates introduced under President George W. Bush, who rolled back many of the Clinton tax hikes. Imagine the struggle of trying to buy two mansions under the previous tax regime.