Past Twilight the back story
Fall 2011
Fair Share
Tax
Twitter Point: I believe that everyone
should pay their fair share of taxes. If some politicians tell you something different, then you have to ask who is
paying for their elections and who is going to benefit from their elections.
Fair Share Tax is what the words mean. Everyone in this county, whether rich or poor should pay
their fair share of the taxes, we need to run this country. This means that all the many exemptions the rich have
garnered through smart lobbying efforts would be gone. This also means that all the various middle class exemptions
would also be gone. And finally, giving the poor money from tax funds for not paying taxes would also be gone.
I believe fairness is the key way to lower tax rates because the money to run our government
has to come from somewhere. If specific groups of people get special tax breaks, the great majority of people
who don't get tax breaks always pay more. If they don't pay more a lot of good government programs that
people depend on will be cut. This is what the 2012 elections are going to be about.
If the government decides that some groups or people need extra help, then create some
programs to help them. And don't create these programs in secret, let the American people see what you are
doing.
A fair tax needs to be bolstered by a general federal sales tax on all items deemed non-essential.
If you want that big-screen TV, then you are going to have to pay some extra tax on it. If you want plenty of beer,
wine and fatty potato chips, then you are going to have to pay extra tax for it. If granny needs a walker than she
shouldn't have to pay extra tax for it. I realize that what is considered essential or non-essential leaves plenty
of room for argument. Eventually, if enough discussion takes place, I believe the American people will come up with
something that most people consider fair.
I remembered years ago, and maybe today, there were many levels of tax on income in this country. I
believe they called that the progressive tax system. I even heard on TV that the highest tax bracket in 1953 was
92% of their income in taxes during the Eisenhower administration. Today, the highest tax bracket is 35%. Sounds
like Eisenhower was a socialist, wow, talk about real re-distribution of wealth. Maybe that is a stretch, but he
did spend a lot of money building the national highway system in this country. Hard to believe he was a
Republican.
Of course the rich and even the semi-rich don't pay 35% of their income for taxes. That's why
they hire smart tax lawyers and sneaky lobbyists to find loopholes in the law and when they can't they persuade
lawmakers to create new laws with plenty of loopholes.
One of our leading presidential contenders that likes to tout his
business experience paid less than 15% on his 2011 taxes. During his time running a vulture
capitalist investment firm his firm was able to lobby certain members of Congress to get rid of the
onerous provisions that would have made him and his corporation pay their fair share
of taxes. His 2011 tax form was 500 pages long. The question is should he become president will he
try to change the constitution so that rich corporations always pay much lower taxes. After all rich
corporations and rich people are people too. Already as of Super Tuesday this candidate has racked up
double digit wins in most of the previous primary races among voters making $200,000 and over. He has
found his base and they are voting for him as if their life depended on him making it to the White
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Thanks to the media everyday you get to find out that I am not telling you anything new. Companies
like General Electric and the various energy companies not only don't pay their fair share, they want subsidies
also. Big companies lay off their workers and move their operations overseas and expect and get tax breaks for
increasing our unemployment rate. It doesn't matter if Democrats or Republicans are in control, money runs our tax
system. If they don't get their money, they hint that economic Armageddon is coming. Even those guys on wall
street who made billions and helped cause the economic collapse in this country, not only didn't pay their fair
share of taxes, didn't get arrested, and had the nerve to complain that they were do obscene bonuses for what they
had done to this country.
We still have the progressive tax system in this country, but it has been so distorted by special
interests, that the people who created this system would have to rethink ever creating this system in the first
place. I propose that we need to cut down the number of income tax brackets we have. Especially at the higher
ends. Charging the very rich an income tax of 35% of their income is a good starting point for a debate. The
important point is that they pay every cent of what they owe. Every American should pay their fair share of what
they owe the government. For too long the rich have been the model for getting over on the government. Once the
rich get straitened out the rest of us will have to get with the program. Our government does a lot of things for a
lot of people. If you want that to continue, then you have to pay up.
What should the very rich pay in income tax? I haven't the slightest idea. The answer is far beyond
my ability to find out. I will say that we need to know how much it will cost to run this country each year, have
an emergency fund and pay off our dept's each year and most importantly end having to extend our dept limit over
and over again. What combination of income, business and sales tax will give us what we need. As I said before
every citizen has to pay their fair share. I say let us find out how much we are going to pay in taxes as opposed
to how much we pay now. If It shouldn't be that hard to get some estimates based on the aggravate of what people
make(yes, bond, stock holders, hedge fund managers, we want you to) and an estimate of the amount of non-essential
items people may buy in a year.
One problem is that my idea is going to cause a loss of jobs in certain industries. For example,
the IRS is going to need a lot less people in processing tax returns and looking for tax cheats. However, now that
they don't have to worry about taxpayers who cheat they can spend their time going after people who never pay
taxes. You know who these people are. They are always bragging how they beat the system every year. Also this
country is filled with illegal aliens who don't pay taxes. The government can deport them, but get the taxes before
you let them go. Of course, there is a huge private industry built on our tax system. A simple tax system would
mean that most of these people will be out of a job. If I had to decide about some people being out of a job
against a faulty tax system that rewards the few against the many. I'm going for change and hoping for the
best.
Will the average citizen pay the same or less taxes? Will the average business pay the same or less
taxes, but do better because their big boy competitors aren't getting more breaks in taxes and the little
businesses don't have to spend a lot of money for people to handle their taxes? I don't know the answer
to those questions. But I believe that if is important for this country to find out?
Everyone knows our entitlement programs are going to bankrupt this country. Medicare, Medicaid
takes a lot of money. So far, neither side of the political parties has enacted legislation designed to make these
programs more efficient and accountable. Why did both parties vote for legislation that would reward drug companies
for overcharging by subsidizing Medicare drug payments? Why do we pay more for drugs than other countries like
Canada? Especially since most of the drugs patients take are developed and manufactured in this country.
The point is that we must make these programs run more efficient, make sure everyone pays
their fair share of taxes before we start to take away the benefits people have spent a life time paying for. Maybe
the government should have taken a bigger chunk out of my social security and Medicare payments. Once someone
figured out we were going to have a lot of baby boomers someone should have asked the question - how are we
going to pay for that at the current rate? Republicans are committed to their pledge to a lobbyist for
the rich(Grover Norquest) that they are never going to raise taxes. Well what about my entitlements?
If I started receiving less social security money and Medicare benefits, each year because of your cuts,
what is the difference between that and a tax increase? The only difference that I can see is that a small
group of rich people will benefits from my misfortune. Some politicians think that is the way the world should
work. Those pol' s will never get my vote - how about you?
Please let your elected officials know how you feel. Copy and paste
your Comments on to their web pages.
http://www.house.gov/representatives/
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
If you have a web site please list your site's url. It is a good way to improve your SEO
via links from other sites. Also if people like your content they may click on your site and like your site's
content. If you are a author, maybe they might even buy a copy of your novel.
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