NOW PLAYING: Tax Rant 17 April, 2001 Those few of us left in this country that actually do pay taxes are paying way too damned much. Check this out:
For us tax slaves, it now takes over 5 months to pay off our tax bill. 123 days. "Tax Freedom Day" won't come until May 3 this year -- it gets later every year. Of course, that's just an average; the unfortunate people of New York don't finish paying their "fair share" until nearly the end of May. Which brings us to the question of just what, exactly, might someone's "fair share" of tax be? Hmmmm? Any Lefties still with me here probably feel that the Evil Rich People don't need all their money! They should pay lots of taxes! Well, bunky -- guess what? They do. Watch out now, here come some numbers, and if you're a Liberal that might hurt your head. In 1993, according to statistics from the Tax Foundation and the IRS, the top 1% of income earners were paying 28.7% of all taxes. But they earned only 13.8% of all income. Oops! sounds like they were paying a bit more than their "fair share," doesn't it? Okay then, what about the top 10%? They were paying 58.5% of the income taxes but earning just 39% of the income. The top 50%? Paying 95.2% of the taxes, earning 85% of the income. The bottom 50%? Earning only 15% of the income but paying just 4.8% of the income taxes. Make sure you note that last bit: half the people are paying only 4.8% of the income taxes. The other half of the people are paying 95.2% of the income taxes. What's wrong with this picture?! That figure, by the way, keeps increasing year after year -- more and more of the taxes are paid by a small minority of higher income earners while the middle and lower income earners pay less and less. Tell me what happens when we get to the point where ALL the taxes are paid by a small minority of people? C'mon, even a Liberal with a skull full of mush should be able to figure that one out ... It's bad enough that "withholding" means that most people don't have any idea how much of their money the government is stealing as "income tax" -- all they know is the "take home pay." But there are hidden taxes everywhere else, too. Say you want to call Mom. Well, when you get the bill for that telephone call, you can feel all warm and fuzzy knowing that the government takes 50% of what you'll pay for chatting with Mom. Take a look at the bill: You've got your federal excise tax, state and local sales taxes, city excise tax, perhaps a state gross receipts surcharge, a franchise charge, the FCC Charge for Interstate Toll Access, a Telecommunications Access System Act Surcharge, Emergency 911 charge and a county manhole fee. But wait! there's more! When the phone company gets the money you pay them, the phone company has to pay to the government its federal income taxes, state taxes, federal payroll taxes, unimployment insurance taxes, workman's comp taxes, franchise taxes, local property taxes and any local income taxes. Add together the taxes you pay directly to the government on your phone bill and the taxes the phone company pays, and it adds up to half of the actual cost of the telephone service. Americans for Tax Reform has a page of Tax Bites with all sorts of eye-opening stuff like this. I bet you didn't know that about 30% of the price of a loaf of bread went to the government. Or that 54% of the price of a gallon of gasoline is taxes (see, it's not just those "greedy oil companies" screwing you at the gas pump -- it's the government!). So ... what to do? Slash the size and scope of government, of course. There isn't very much that the Federal Government needs to be doing anyway (check the Constitution to see what it should be doing instead). Restore most of that power back to the several states and leave people the hell alone! Fat chance, I know...
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