Common Ground
A homeowner in Waukesha for 20 years, Steve is president of the Waukesha Dog Parks Organization and enjoys motorcycling, fishing and staying on top of politics.
The Yearly Tax Rant
It has been determined that in the recently years, less and less people pay personal income tax. It is now that 47% of the population no longer pay income taxes. Does that mean we’ve become a poorer nation? No. It is the result of tax credits and continued loopholes that allow a person living very well to pay no taxes, besides those with little income and meager resources.
It has correctly been pointed out that everyone still pays taxes. Everyone buys things that have the sales tax. Every property owner pays property tax and renters pay for that through their rent. So, nobody has a completely free ride.
However, there are some things that don’t make sense. If the government is going to pay out money, why take some back as taxes? Social security income is taxable. How about the many that are on unemployment? That is taxable. What happens when they have to pay tax on it and there is no money to pay it?
Many people pay more than their so called fair share of taxes. If you owe money, you may have to pay with a credit card. Unlike businesses that absorb the 3% to 5% fee, the government wants ALL of you money due so they charge for that credit card fee. Now the person pays their taxes over time and incurs finance fees which in effect makes their tax burden higher than what it could be.
What it could be is no income tax at all. Replace it with a national sales tax, often called a flat tax or fair tax, and everybody would contribute. It would be a pay as you go plan. The IRS would no longer be needed. People enjoying loopholes will now pay their share of the tax burden. People with more money buy more products and services so they will pay more in taxes.
Opponents have argued that the tax would add so much to the price of goods and services that purchasing would go down and the economy would suffer. Would it?
President Obama said Thursday that he has ordered his economic advisors to explore ways to simplify the tax system. Hopefully (there’s that hope and change again) that wasn’t just another crumb to cause us to scatter and divert attention from other things. Or a, “I’ll get back to you on that” which is only meant to buy time until the issue is forgotten for another year.
Judging from the size of Tea Party gatherings around the country, people are fed up with many things. A tax system that the head of the Treasury Department can’t even understand is among them.
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