President Bush today asked again that
his tax cuts of 2001 be made permanent. In a game of one-upmanship
John Kerry said the Democrats were thinking of abolishing the income
tax altogether. They simply want all your income.
When the Republicans and Democrats try to decide between two new
taxes, its like a woman deciding between two new dresses---------She
usually decides to take both!
What I’d like to talk about is the premise that we are not taxed
enough, that President Bush’s tax cuts were too deep and we are
suffering the consequences of his cuts as written in dozens of
articles and Letters To The Editor. I want to talk about who pays
taxes and give you a short list of taxes of which perhaps you are
unaware.
Adam Smith wrote of the Invisible Hand of the free market. Thomas
Paine wrote of another hand, the all too intrusive and overarching
Greedy hand of government, thrusting itself into every corner and
crevice of industry.
We are told that government can’t afford Bush’s tax cuts, that the
government could spend the money more wisely and create more jobs if
the tax cuts were simply reinstated.
First of all, government does not create wealth -- it consumes wealth.
The government does not have any money of its own that it does not
first take from you and me. For each job the government creates it
must destroy a job. This is the seen and the unseen. When people are
taxed they have less money to spend for housing, food, health care and
education and the jobs that would be created as a result of that
spending.
Progressive taxation is not a tax on the wealthy; it’s a tax on
becoming wealthy. Only two kinds of people complain about excessive
taxes - men and women. It’s important to understand however, that
government is not a necessary evil. Government is not evil at all.
Government is absolutely essential, when properly constituted and
constrained, to making the free market work. (Mises)
The government takes your tax dollars and among other things, gives
$79 million each to the Republican Party Convention and the Democrat
Party Convention for music makers, balloons, confetti and other
hoopla. Two conventions, where the nominees are already known, paid in
part by millions of taxpayers who are neither Republicans nor
Democrats. According to the Libertarian Party, George Bush and John
Kerry are the two biggest welfare queens in the U.S. Additionally,
there are 80,000 registered lobbyists in Washington also asking for
your tax dollars everyday hoping to become welfare queens.
The federal government is like a newborn infant: A ravenous appetite
on one end and no sense of responsibility at the other! In 2001
President Bush proposed a tax cut of $1.6 trillion. It sounds like a
lot but since it spans 10 years it only comes to $160 billion per
year, less than President Kennedy’s tax cut and President Reagan’s tax
cut. Additionally, 60% of the cuts passed in 2001 do not begin to take
effect until this year and are phased in between 2005 and 2010. This
so-called humongous tax cut is less than 6% of projected government
revenues. How hard is it for you to cut $6 of spending for every $100
you take in?
Nonetheless, the cry to Tax the Rich goes unabated. SHOW OF HANDS! Who
are the rich? Those in the top 50% of income earners? Top 25%? Top
10%? Top 1%?
The top 1% pays 34% of all personal taxes collected
The top 10%, those earning over $92,700, pay 67%.
40 million tax filers pay no tax and many of these get earned income
tax credit checks.
Are these the people who when polled, say those who are taxed aren’t
taxed enough?
When people say taxes are too low they are in effect saying I have too
much freedom, too much freedom to spend the money I earn in a way I
freely choose.
The total U.S. tax burden is equal to 40% of annual personal
consumption spending. This is akin to 40% of your freedom, on average,
being taken away. If the government took 100% of your income you would
call it slavery, so what do you call it when the government only takes
40% of your income?
Still, people say that Americans are not taxed enough. The politicians
have been listening.
In additional to imposing the Federal Income Tax they enacted:
Corporate Income taxes, after Japan, the second highest taxes in the
industrialized world.
Now every politician knows that corporations don't pay taxes. The
taxes are paid by
the consumers who buy the products produced by the corporations. But
the politicians
do know that corporations don't vote. They have enacted:
Federal Unemployment taxes
Capital Gains taxes and
Inheritance taxes.
Accounts Receivable tax
Inventory tax
Still people said we were not taxed enough so they enacted:
Drivers License tax
Cigarette tax and
Dog license tax
Fishing License tax
Fuel permits tax
Food tax
Still they heard that taxes were too low so they enacted the
Gas tax
Hunting license tax
Liquor taxes
Luxury taxes
Marriage license tax
Medicare tax
Property Tax
Documentary stamp tax
Not taxed enough?
Septic tank permit tax
Social Security taxes
Road usage taxes for truckers
Sales taxes
RV vehicle tax
Road Toll Booth taxes
School taxes
Still Not enough Taxes?
State Unemployment tax
Telephone tax
Traffic fines (indirect taxes)
Trailer Registration tax
Mobile home tax
Utility taxes
Vehicle license tax
Vehicle sales tax
Watercraft registration tax
Well permit tax and
Workers Compensation Tax
Pound for pound American taxpayers are the strongest creatures on
earth. For many years they have been carrying Washington and a
considerable portion of the world on their shoulders. It has been
suggested that we have a new postage stamp bearing the picture of a
weeping taxpayer.
In 1904 taxes amounted to 3% to 5% of the people’s income. Today it’s
over 40%. How much is enough? Most of the major religions of the world
ask their members to tithe only 10% of their member's income. If God
only needs 10%, why does the government need 40%?
Where does all this tax money go? I have a document showing a cost of
$9 million to relocate 8 pair of birds in Santee, least Bells Vireos.
Millions are spent on trolleys that take people where they don’t want
to go and the government builds housing that costs over twice as much
as housing built by the private market.
Additionally, for beginners, there are 38 pages of feckless spending
itemized in Citizens Against Government Waste Annual Pig Book.
Politicians are like diapers: they need to be changed regularly......
and for the same reason.
Again, by a show of hands! How many of you feel we are not taxed
enough?
Fred Schnaubelt
2728 Adams Avenue
San Diego, Ca. 92116
(619) 280-2082
