Flat Tax Scheme An Outrage

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Sunday's Janesville Gazette contained an article by Cagle Cartoon writer Tom Purcell titled,”This tax scheme might be too clever” in which he carries on a conversation with an imaginary individual who thinks the tax code is so unfair it discourages the will for many to earn more money. The story's intentions are purely humorous and need to be understood in that way, but it does mix in some statistics in an attempt to prove that the rich pay too much tax as it is.

JG Excerpt:
According to the New York Times, the top 20 percent of income earners paid 67.1 percent of all federal taxes. But families in the bottom 40 percent paid no federal income tax – yet they still received money back from the government.”

What is completely omitted here is the percentage of the total national income the top 20 percent collected. In 2000 the top 20 percent income earners collected more than 58.7 percent of all the income earned in the entire country. Seven years later under Bush, it may even be closer to that 67 percent mark. So if you’re in the bracket earning 75 percent of all the income, your bracket should pay 75 percent of all the taxes required by government to pay its bills. Of course, as an individual you’re not paying 75% of your income in taxes.

Remember, you are not taxed on an individual basis, nor are you taxed on profit margins. Tax formulas are all about dollars, nothing else. Imagine if you earned 100% of all the income in the country – guess what? You would pay 100% of ALL the taxes. It’s not rocket science.

An Unequal exchange
Make a mere statement of fact-say, for example, that the top 20 percent of households in the United States hold 85% of the marketable wealth.

Purcell’s imaginary friend concludes then that the only way to pay less tax is to earn less income and finally explains that his dream is to eventually earn nothing. Boatloads of common sense here. Again, this article is written jokingly and the only thing clever about it is the message buried within – that the top 20 percent wealthiest, hardly your average Janesville Gazette reader, are being robbed of their wealth and only a flat tax rate can save them.

There is another implication of unfairness towards the 80% poorest in this article. That because the cost of health benefits, pensions and workers comp are taken for granted by employees, ungrateful workers don’t realize the total cost of employing them is really 30% higher than their paycheck shows. Not if Bush can help it. Part of the President's healthcare plan unveiled during his State of the Union message included the provision that employer-paid healthcare benefits will be considered as non-taxable income for the employees. Talk about a scheme. What better way to hand out a tax cut and a raise at the same time and still not have an extra penny to show for. The lower 80 apparently are not paying their fair share in taxes, but lets give the wealthy more tax cuts and make them permanent.

This article appeared on page 9 in today’s main section of the Gazette and probably would have made sense to some gullible people had the Gazette not printed an unavoidable piece of reality on page 3. Here the McClatchy-Tribune reported that the poor grew by 26 percent from 2000 to ’05 and that record numbers are living in poverty. That this comes on the heels of the Bush tax cuts to the wealthiest is merely a coincidence? Think again. It must be enlightening to Purcell’s imaginary friend that record numbers are living the life he dreams of and wants to make living in poverty his goal, just because he doesn’t want to pay taxes.

JG Excerpt:
Democrats in Congress will surely raise taxes -- they'll encourage me to work even less!"

I’ve got a better idea, if you got rich in America despite of the Democrats or don’t want to work and earn more money out of the fear of taxes – find your dreamland somewhere else and leave the country.