I will cheat with this blog and pass on words that are much more 'thought out' than my own. I ask you to remember, as you read this opinion, that I believe the foundation of everything Obama-ish is multi-culturalism. Having rejected the existence of absolute truth, multi-culturalism adopts group truth. In Obama's case, group-truth involves class envy, class warfare, and socialist economics. He does not believe it is fair for there to be a rich class or a poor class. The money earned by the rich is owed to the poor. Those that advocate such are generally elected to office on the wings of a large class of people who have either grown accustomed to the free ride, or believe that the government is their one hand up. Those of us who believe government is the problem and not the answer, who believe that hard work and humility are the only way to get ahead, are deeply disturbed by what seems to be coming around the corner. I can describe it in one word (though I am sure there are more...) RUINATION! Read on oh concerned one! This makes a ton of sense. (Thanks Dave, for passing it along.)
Debate Prep: Let's Talk Tax Fairness
If you were starting from scratch to design a new income tax system for America , how much would you have different income levels pay? Fairness is often mentioned as a goal. That sounds good - I'm for that. So what's fair?
Is there a minimum everyone should pay? After all, everyone receives some basic benefits and services such as roads, K-12 education, national defense, etc. Is it fair to pay nothing? Well, according to the IRS, around 40% of Americans pay zero today. If you split the country down the middle by income (which it appears some are trying to do, by the way), the lower 50% pays just 3% of all income taxes.
What should people with the highest incomes pay? Hopefully we can agree that no one should have to pay 100% in taxes - unless you believe in a government mandated "maximum wage". Most people believe that higher incomes should and can afford to pay a higher percentage, and they do. Again according to the IRS, the top 1% pays about 40% of all income taxes, the top 10% pays 70%, and the top half pays 97%. 97%! This includes all the loopholes and tax shelters that the tax accountants can find for their rich clients. And yet Senator Biden says wealthier Americans should "step up and get into the game" - that it would be "patriotic" for them to pay more, that they need to pay their "fair share".
Senator Obama says it would be "neighborly" for higher income people to pay more, that it's better to "spread the wealth around". He says that he doesn't want to penalize success; he just wants to make sure that "the people behind you have a chance at success as well". Well, there's always someone behind you, right? Does he mean that those people can't succeed without government assistance? Does he mean that the half of America earning less can't succeed in a free society where the other half already pays for 97% of government? Would it really make things fairer if they paid 98% or 99%?
Perhaps we could discuss more of Senator Obama's core beliefs in the final debate tonight. I'd like to understand this better.
Roger Merryfield
Midwest Voices 2008
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