posted August 26, 2008
As Americans we have a common quest. A vision of how, after following a certain path, our country would look. When we get sick we want the expertise of a doctor and the right medicine or procedure to make us well. When we are through with school and ready to go to work we want the freedom to pursue the career of our choosing and an economy that is strong enough to create the demand for our chosen path. We want those who need help to receive it. The list goes on.
As I listened to Michelle Obama tonight, I realized that there are so many dreams that all Americans share. Our differences are not about where we want to go. It's all about how we're going to get there. There are huge differences in the direction we take as a country with one political party as opposed to the other.
One side believes in a sort of collectivism where everyone contributes to the government and our leaders decide how to distribute the resources. If you make more, you pay more to the government. If you don't make a lot, you pay very little or nothing at all. Isn't that kinda what we have right now. The top 5% of wage earners in 2007 paid around 40% of the income taxes. The bottom 50% paid about 3% of the income taxes. Through the earned income tax credit, many got back more than they paid in.
The other side believes that we fund the opportunities and services by utilizing the free enterprise system, or capitalism. We don't really know how well this system might work if tried because we've never separated ourselves from the collectivist, redistribution of wealth form of taxation described in the previous paragraph. Don't get me wrong. Those who make more should contribute more. We would all agree that 20% of 1,000,000 is much more than 20% of 40,000. Why should a person who achieves more be required to pay a higher percentage of their earnings. If the income tax side of the equation were more fair there would probably be no argument about paying a higher social security, or payroll tax.
God even knows this. He asks for 10% from everybody. You might say this was the original flat tax.
Mike Thompson
mikethompson@catt.com
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