Today I was talking with a friend of mine who is both very generous and very financially successful.t
I brought up the idea that all of our taxes might go up in a week or so. His response was that it wouldn't really impact him if he paid what he estimates at $15,000 more in federal income taxes each year.
I asked him what he would do with the money if it weren't confiscated by the government and redistributed or wasted. He understood my question immediately and without delay replied that he would create jobs by spending his money at the boat store and other places
In that brief conversation, though, both of us missed the real point: My friend works very hard for the money he earns. His family sacrifices time with him. He invests immense amounts of intellectual capital and emotional energy in leading his company to success and prosperity despite the general economic malaise in which we find our nation.
Nature gave him the unalienable right to private property and the United States' Constitution ensures that no government will take that property from him.
That money is his private property. The idea that anyone except him and his family has any right - any moral right - to that money is preposterous and patently false. Of course we all - ALL - have an obligation to contribute to the support of our government as it executes its constitutional duties of protecting us from foreign powers, ensuring peace between the states and promoting (not ensuring or providing for) the general welfare of all Americans.
Far from being an anti-tax nut, I believe firmly that every single American needs to be invested in the maintenance of this great country by paying his or her fair share. And a fair share of one's income is an equal share. Let's say it's 15%. And let's say that we all pay it. If I make $10,000 a year working at the movie theater during my Junior year of high school, then I pay $1,500 to the federal government in taxes.
And if I make a million dollars a year sacrificing my health and my family on the altar of corporate success, then I pay $150,000 in federal income tax.
Period. Fair. No one is disenfranchised.
We also missed another point, less esoteric than the first. His contribution of $15,000 next year will be the equivalent of peeing on a forest fire. The entire effect of the tax increases proposed by President Obama will result in enough revenue to run our government operations for fewer than 9 days. Speaker Boehner has proposed a more conservative plan that will raise taxes on only 0.2% of the country and generate even less money.
It's a measure that fails to address the real problems we have of unfunded liabilities and uncontrolled spending.
I brought up the idea that all of our taxes might go up in a week or so. His response was that it wouldn't really impact him if he paid what he estimates at $15,000 more in federal income taxes each year.
I asked him what he would do with the money if it weren't confiscated by the government and redistributed or wasted. He understood my question immediately and without delay replied that he would create jobs by spending his money at the boat store and other places
In that brief conversation, though, both of us missed the real point: My friend works very hard for the money he earns. His family sacrifices time with him. He invests immense amounts of intellectual capital and emotional energy in leading his company to success and prosperity despite the general economic malaise in which we find our nation.
Nature gave him the unalienable right to private property and the United States' Constitution ensures that no government will take that property from him.
That money is his private property. The idea that anyone except him and his family has any right - any moral right - to that money is preposterous and patently false. Of course we all - ALL - have an obligation to contribute to the support of our government as it executes its constitutional duties of protecting us from foreign powers, ensuring peace between the states and promoting (not ensuring or providing for) the general welfare of all Americans.
Far from being an anti-tax nut, I believe firmly that every single American needs to be invested in the maintenance of this great country by paying his or her fair share. And a fair share of one's income is an equal share. Let's say it's 15%. And let's say that we all pay it. If I make $10,000 a year working at the movie theater during my Junior year of high school, then I pay $1,500 to the federal government in taxes.
And if I make a million dollars a year sacrificing my health and my family on the altar of corporate success, then I pay $150,000 in federal income tax.
Period. Fair. No one is disenfranchised.
We also missed another point, less esoteric than the first. His contribution of $15,000 next year will be the equivalent of peeing on a forest fire. The entire effect of the tax increases proposed by President Obama will result in enough revenue to run our government operations for fewer than 9 days. Speaker Boehner has proposed a more conservative plan that will raise taxes on only 0.2% of the country and generate even less money.
It's a measure that fails to address the real problems we have of unfunded liabilities and uncontrolled spending.
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2 comments:
I think your generous friend didn't quite finish his thought...If (and this is a big, unrealistic "if"), every dollar of that $15,000 went to paying down the debt, and somehow avoided being spent on additional entitlements or social engineering efforts, he probably would not mind paying the money...
With the current spending levels, we could take 100% of the top 2%'s money and not even cover a third of the current operating deficit...
I agree with you, Friend.
IF our government could assure me that my additional taxes paid would go directly to reducing the debt AND that every Department of Redundancy Department would be pared back AND that Congress would stop spending like money was going out of style AND pass a budget, THEN even I might be okay with what is going to happen tonight at midnight.
But, as you state, our deficit spending and our current debt - not to mention unfunded liabilities - makes any tax rate increase or any other attempt at revenue generation look like a little boy peeing on a wildfire.
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