SamSaid!

INCOME TAX

     Creeping senility –  or its first cousin  –  is serious business, and I get concerned when things I have taken for granted just don't seem to be right. Take Federal Income Tax for example. Over 150 years ago, the different States and the Federal Government used a variety of approaches to tax the income of citizens in order to raise funds for governmental forays such as paying for wars  –  like for example, the Civil War. But the landmark event in our tax history was the passage of the 16th Amendment to the US Constituion in 1913. That opened the door to “progressive” taxation, meaning that some citizens could be taxed at a higher percentage of their income. Hello, tax brackets!!

      Having our better-off citizens pay more taxes sounds reasonable, and over the years the big argument has been how big the tax bite should be on the wealthy  –  20%, 35%, 50%, or higher. Of course, “soaking the rich” became a political rally cry for the Legions of the Left. Even with all of this, I blithely assumed that virtually all citizens paid SOMETHING in income tax, albeit a small amount. No so. Not any more.

     It should come as a shock to all of us to realize that 40-45% of our wage earners pay ZERO income tax, while over 90% of the revenue raised by the IRS comes from a scant 5% of Americans. I am amused to hear the plaintive cries that the tax code needs to be “fair”. FAIR? Now we have a bewildering assortment of tax credits and exemptions that result in the asinine situation that some citizens receive rebates from the IRS while not paying income tax in the first place. Think of that. Pay no taxes and get a rebate. The chanpions of income re-distribution must be giddy with excitement.

     I pay my taxes and have never been audited. I firmly believe that ALL Americans should share in the tax burden  — even if the minimum tax payment is $20 bucks per wage earner. Soak the Rich only takes us so far, and the tax schedules are so skewed now that they make no sense at all. How can they be fair when such a small number of tax payers carry so much of the load?  And how can 40-45% of our citizens get concerned about the tax structure when they don't pay any income tax anyway?

     Well if you need an answer to the preceding question, just ask the Beltway Buffoon, Teddy Kennedy, who has lived for 50+ years off the wealth of his old man and hasn't worked a day in his entire life. His mentality just doesn't accept the obvious fact that tax cuts apply to people who pay the taxes. George Bush's tax cuts do not mean a great deal to me in a quantified sense. But I will not take my gains in income and stuff them in a pillow. I will invest them  — just like millions of other Americans. It is just like putting more gasoline in the tank of a car. It makes the car go faster or further. But Teddy wants my money to spend on HIS big projects. And my car sits where it was. When it comes to taxes, I think his brain in a mosquito's bladder would look like a pea in a bass drum.

     Come to think of it, creeping senility is not a big concern of mine. Not yet.