Tax-deductible morality

Took my wife and daughter to my wife's sister's house for my nephew's birthday and to check out their new McMansion in the sticks. They invited my wife's step-siblings and their kids as well. Their new house is enormous and left us feeling pretty irrelevant, at least as far as material comfort and social status goes.

During after-dinner drinks the conversation turned to politics and the recent election. I had a feeling this was going to turn out bad. The majority in the room, who are undeniably middle-middle-class, voted for Kerry. Me, being a working-class schlub on the fringe, voted for Nader. Our hosts, however, the owners of this enormous house in an upper-class neighborhood, and who own a business which they run out of their home, excused themselves from the conversation. They were clearly embarrassed in present company to say they voted for Bush.

The conversation quickly turned to less sensitive subjects but later I asked my brother-in-law if the "morality issue" had anything to do with his vote, since I know them to attend church regularly. He grinned, shook his head, and said, "No. Not really." Basically, he voted to keep his big, fat, tax break. He and his wife are good with money and voted for their economic self-interest. There's nothing wrong with that - unless they suspect their candidate is likely to harm the greater good of the country, in which case I would argue against the "morality" of their motives.

My in-laws were going to open a seperate office for their business. It would cost them more initially, but they'd be able to hire permanent employees instead of "independent contractors" (currently, two employees who work out of their own vehicles) increase their credibility as a firm, and expand their commercial opportunities. Instead, they decided that it just made more sense for them to take that $1200 a month lease payment for office space and put it towards the mortgage payment for a larger home, open another tax-deductible office downstairs with its own entrance and write it all off.
Ba-da-bing.

So for the time being, my well-to-do in-laws will be holding on to their Bush tax winfall. Perhaps someday, when they feel more comfortable, they'll get around to creating some good jobs for the rest of us schlubs.