Taxes and Dirty Laundry
I promise you I am talking about taxes here, but at first you may not believe it.
When my oldest girl started college, she called me one evening about six weeks into dorm life. The conversation consisted of three sentences. I can repeat them by heart. "Do you remember all those times you came in my bedroom and got mad at me because the clothes you had washed, folded and put on the bed were on the floor? Mom, I apologize for every one of those times. Love you, bye."
What does Karen's mea culpa have to do with taxes? Simple, if you're not doing the laundry, you don't care how often it gets dirty. And that, my friends is my point about taxes. If you aren't paying taxes you don't care what the tax rates are. That means that the roughly 43% of households who don't pay any Federal income taxes don't seem to have a fiscal dog in our fight--and that hurts all of us.
Now, let me make a few things brilliantly clear. I happen to think that paying taxes in this country is a privilege. America has given me a safe home, education and a chance to earn a decent living. I welcome the opportunity to pay taxes. I also like what taxes pay for--Interstate 70, the Post Office, and Seal Team 6 to name just a few. In all of this I understand and approve of the progressive structure of the Federal Income Tax, which is the subject of this blog. Unlike my Libertarian friends, I even believe in the limited benefits of redistribution of small amounts of wealth. But I also believe in the lessons of dirty laundry. You care more about the work load when you are actually doing some of the work.
Think of you and 99 other people milling around the local high school gym. To get out and go about your lives you have to pay a fee of $100. One lucky soul has $38, steps forward and puts it in the till. That leaves 99 people going through their pockets. Nine other people get together and come up with $32 and step to the side. You have now paid $70 total and 90 people still haven't coughed up a dime. Now 47 people (probably women going through their pocket books) pull together $29.96. Your group has accumulated $99.96 but as you step to the side, there are still 43 people checking the floor for 4 cents. As soon as the missing pennies are found all 100 people are allowed to leave. That is what happens with tax revenue.
Whether I went to tax resources compiled by the right, left or neutral sources the following statistics kept showing up. The top 1% of Americans pay 38% of all taxes. The richest 10% pay 70% of all taxes. That means that if you make less than $350,000, but more than $50,000 you are part of the cadre of Americans that pay the rest of the 25% of our taxes. And it means that almost 1/2 of all Americans don't pay any money. They get to drive on the highway, their mail is delivered and the military protects them for free. If someone is providing for you and you do nothing in return to earn that largesse you are either a child living at home or you are a child of entitlement.
As anyone who has raised children knows, it is not a good idea to give someone the impression that they can always take and never give. It makes the child spoiled, sullen and resentful. So I have a suggestion for those who love talking about, "taxing the rich." First of all, define rich and then get a majority to agree on it. Second, for every percentage point that you want to raise tax revenue on any income group, I would suggest--in fact I would insist--that you raise the tax burden for every American by exactly that same amount. It won't raise much money, but it might clean up a little dirty laundry, or at least make everyone a more responsible American.
Tomorrow's the weekend. I'll post again on Monday. Keep the faith.
When my oldest girl started college, she called me one evening about six weeks into dorm life. The conversation consisted of three sentences. I can repeat them by heart. "Do you remember all those times you came in my bedroom and got mad at me because the clothes you had washed, folded and put on the bed were on the floor? Mom, I apologize for every one of those times. Love you, bye."
What does Karen's mea culpa have to do with taxes? Simple, if you're not doing the laundry, you don't care how often it gets dirty. And that, my friends is my point about taxes. If you aren't paying taxes you don't care what the tax rates are. That means that the roughly 43% of households who don't pay any Federal income taxes don't seem to have a fiscal dog in our fight--and that hurts all of us.
Now, let me make a few things brilliantly clear. I happen to think that paying taxes in this country is a privilege. America has given me a safe home, education and a chance to earn a decent living. I welcome the opportunity to pay taxes. I also like what taxes pay for--Interstate 70, the Post Office, and Seal Team 6 to name just a few. In all of this I understand and approve of the progressive structure of the Federal Income Tax, which is the subject of this blog. Unlike my Libertarian friends, I even believe in the limited benefits of redistribution of small amounts of wealth. But I also believe in the lessons of dirty laundry. You care more about the work load when you are actually doing some of the work.
Think of you and 99 other people milling around the local high school gym. To get out and go about your lives you have to pay a fee of $100. One lucky soul has $38, steps forward and puts it in the till. That leaves 99 people going through their pockets. Nine other people get together and come up with $32 and step to the side. You have now paid $70 total and 90 people still haven't coughed up a dime. Now 47 people (probably women going through their pocket books) pull together $29.96. Your group has accumulated $99.96 but as you step to the side, there are still 43 people checking the floor for 4 cents. As soon as the missing pennies are found all 100 people are allowed to leave. That is what happens with tax revenue.
Whether I went to tax resources compiled by the right, left or neutral sources the following statistics kept showing up. The top 1% of Americans pay 38% of all taxes. The richest 10% pay 70% of all taxes. That means that if you make less than $350,000, but more than $50,000 you are part of the cadre of Americans that pay the rest of the 25% of our taxes. And it means that almost 1/2 of all Americans don't pay any money. They get to drive on the highway, their mail is delivered and the military protects them for free. If someone is providing for you and you do nothing in return to earn that largesse you are either a child living at home or you are a child of entitlement.
As anyone who has raised children knows, it is not a good idea to give someone the impression that they can always take and never give. It makes the child spoiled, sullen and resentful. So I have a suggestion for those who love talking about, "taxing the rich." First of all, define rich and then get a majority to agree on it. Second, for every percentage point that you want to raise tax revenue on any income group, I would suggest--in fact I would insist--that you raise the tax burden for every American by exactly that same amount. It won't raise much money, but it might clean up a little dirty laundry, or at least make everyone a more responsible American.
Tomorrow's the weekend. I'll post again on Monday. Keep the faith.
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