Tax cuts for the rich. That’s what those government officials who think they know how to spend your money better than you do are screaming about now.
The new Bush tax plan is horrible. It takes money from the poor and gives it to the rich.
What is rich? Well if you have a household income of $83,500 then you are considered as rich. That’s right. If you and your spouse both earn $40,250, then you are in the top 20 percent of the richest Americans. To some people in power, you have way more money than you need. The top 50 percent of wage earners pay more than 90 percent of the taxes. They are the individuals or couples who together earned $26,000 or more in 1999.
Imagine you live in an apartment where you split rent evenly between five other tenants. If the group said you had to pay one-third of the rent, how long would you stay? You probably wouldn’t stick around very long. Yet this is the very situation American taxpayers endure.
Americans are actually punished for succeeding. The more you make the more you’re taxed and the less eligible you are to receive services from government programs.
If you work for one year, four months of your annual income goes to taxes. April 17 is National Tax Freedom Day. This day is when Americans stop working for the government and start putting money into their own pockets.
If the tax cuts are not made permanent, Americans will see a return to the trend of Tax Freedom Day getting pushed further and further back ever year.
The money you earn is yours and you have the right to keep what you earn. Every year the government grows larger and larger, but never earns money. All their money is confiscated from taxpayers like you.
Every year the top 50 percent of wage earners are relieved from the responsibility of having to pay taxes. The burden of funding the government is placed upon the shoulders of the bottom 50 percent of wage earners.
In Medieval Europe serfs paid an effective tax rate of 33.3 percent and were considered slaves.
Today, the average American family pays about 40 percent in state and federal taxes. How much of your income goes to the government? Next time you do your taxes add it up.
Are you a serf?
Daniel Watkins, 19, is a sophomore CIS student from Augusta, Ga. He can be reached at caharin17@yahoo.com