April 15 is almost here. For many of us this date has no real significance. To me it has a profound impact on my perspective of what America has become. It marks a day where 47 percent of our citizenship will literally pay nothing in federal income taxes.
That’s right, we all get the benefits but only those deemed worthy will pay the price. You have heard the statistics, the top earners (those over $366,000 income) will pay 73 percent of all income tax revenues. I don’t earn that much, but I detest the fact that others pay for any benefit I receive in such a lop-sided way. I earn income from many of those in that bracket that take risks, and create jobs for me and others like me. To penalize them is to penalize me in a indirect fashion.
I don’t know of many people employed by low-income people. Do you? French political thinker and historian Alexis de Tocqueville warned us about this over 150 years ago. In his book “Democracy in America” he warned that our great experiment in representative government and the rule of law would be over when the people of America figured out that they could use their votes to take stuff away from their fellow Americans.
Our president has pushed tax cuts for low- and middle-income families and tax increases for the wealthy, arguing that wealthier taxpayers fared well in the past decade, so “it’s time to pay up.” The Bush tax cuts were nothing more than a favor to the wealthy who dare to earn more money. Instead, doesn’t that money belong to the wealthy people who earn it? Why is it “time to pay up” when the top 10 percent of earners already pay 73 percent in income taxes?
Don Thompson
Lake Stevens
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
