Taxes and Stupid: When Less of One Means More of the Other

Gallup Poll conducted a survey between 6-9 April, asking, "Are Americans paying Their fair share in federal taxes, paying too much or pay to little?" Here are the results, with the figure on the right representing "too little":

Middle-income People 4% (pay too little)
Lower-income people 13%
Upper-income people 63%
Corporations 73%

Okay. So that's what a survey of 1,021 adults thought (with a margin of error at +/- 3%).

Democrats ubiquitiously claim that "It's time for wealthy Americans and corporations to pay their fair share!" And - judging by this poll, anyway - it appears that they have won the case in the minds of Americans.

The only problem is that these people are completely wrong.

According to the Congressional Budget Office figures (Historical Effective Federal Tax Rates: 1979-2005, released December 2007) on "Individual Income Taxes," the:

Top 1% Pays 38.8%
Top 20% Pays 86.3%
Top 40% Pays 99.5%
Bottom 60% Pays 0.6%

The actual facts are just the opposite from what we are routinely told, aren't they? Let me put it in capital letters so you can see it better: THE WEALTHIEST 40% OF AMERICANS PAY 99.5% OF THE INCOME TAXES!!! And they're not paying their fair share? The Democrats and the media have won the case in the culture by misrepresenting the truth.

When the Bush tax cuts took effect, it threw a lot of people (in that 60% group) off the tax roles entirely, and created a new lower tax rate (people who'd been paying 15% rate paid a 10% rate, etc).

Corporations pay a 35% federal tax rate. Republican Presidential hopeful John McCain wants to reduce that to 25%. Why? He is trying to make the U.S. more competitive! The world average corporate income tax rate for industrial democracies is 24%. The 35% rate - the 2nd highest corporate tax rate in the world - makes the U.S. less competitive.

Now, the rare few Democrats who aren't entirely stupid point to the payroll taxes as evidence that the rich - in spite of what you've read above - don't pay their fair share. People who earn over $1 million pay 18% of the total federal tax bill; those between $200,000 and $1,000,000 pay 23%; and those between $100,000-$200,000 pay 25% of the total tax. But payroll taxes - which hit middle income people the hardest - are those taxes that pay into Social Security and Medicare. The wealthy are practically banned from these programs (if they use their own retirements funds, they don't qualify - and they certainly don't get more "benefit" than anyone else in these programs).

Conservatives have frequently talked about lowering the payroll taxes - which DO effect the middle class' bottom line - and who screams about it? Democrats! Because they claim (rightly) that it would hurt Social Security and Medicare.

Here's another issue: the United States currently has a 67,000 plus page tax code! Does that sound like the pathway to efficiency to anyone? We have an incredibly non-competitive and inefficient economy because of this idiocy. Democrats have done to our economy what the EPA did to our car engines in the mid-1970s.

What we need to do is to return to the 1986 Bill Bradley - Ronald Reagan Commission compromise that lowered tax rates but removed loopholes. But Democrats in the 22 years that have followed have encouraged unwise behavior by adding tax loopholes (for pet projects such as efficient cars, community colleges, ethanol, etc.). Obviously, Republicans have fed from this trough as well, but let's not be dumb as to who keeps this mindset going.

We need to return to the Bradley-Reagan mindset to eliminate these breaks and return to a competitive and efficient economy. Every time the government hands out another loophole, they are deliberately encouraging an embrace of an inefficiency. It's a way of saying that we (the government bureaucracy) want to turn something that people would not rationally do into a tax break loophole so they will do what they would not do otherwise. That's not the path to a healthy economy. It's the guaranteed path to a dysfunctional, schizophrenic economy.

Democrats and the media outlets rail at the wealthy, and blame "tax breaks that benefit the rich" for virtually every ill facing society. But stop and ask yourself, "Who gave me my job?" Was it a poor guy, or was it a rich guy? Unless you are working on straight commission for one of those guys on the city street corner who wash car windows at traffic signals, you probably got your job from a rich guy. Now, as long as that rich guy is making a sufficient profit, you have your job. But what happens if he isn't making a profit anymore? What happens if you decide to vote for people who will raise his taxes, increase his costs, and lower his profits? Congratulations: you lose your job.

This demagoguery has got to stop. The wealthy create jobs by investing in markets that supply funds, by starting businesses themselves, and by managing their assets wisely. The Democrats - who routinely divide people into groups according to race, gender, and sexual orientation - want to play their Ace card and divide people into economic classes as well. Realize that's already been tried by Karl Marx, and it didn't turn out too well.

President Bush Honors Fallen SEAL With Medal of Honor

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/04/20080408-3.html

President Bush noticably teared up as he honored Petty Officer George Monsoor for sacrificing his life for his Teammates. At one point he clearly could not speak. Not nearly as much of a "warmonger" as he's frequently credited with being, I suppose.

Master of Arms Second Class Michael Monsoor was providing rear security for two snipers on a rooftop when an insurgent's grenade was tossed at them. The grenade struck Monsoor in the chest and rolled toward his Teammates. Monsoor screamed "Grenade!" and threw himself on the explosive, sacrificing himself. He alone had a clear path of escape; he chose to save his teammates at the cost of his own life.

As President Bush said, "On Saint Michael's Day — September 29, 2006 — Michael Monsoor would make the ultimate sacrifice. Mike and two teammates had taken position on the outcropping of a rooftop when an insurgent grenade bounced off Mike's chest and landed on the roof. Mike had a clear chance to escape, but he realized that the other two SEALs did not. In that terrible moment, he had two options — to save himself, or to save his friends. For Mike, this was no choice at all. He threw himself onto the grenade, and absorbed the blast with his body. One of the survivors puts it this way: "Mikey looked death in the face that day and said, 'You cannot take my brothers. I will go in their stead.'"

The words from Jesus in John 15:13 come to mind. "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends."

President Bush's words are far better than any I can offer. He continued:

"Perhaps the greatest tribute to Mike's life is the way different service
members all across the world responded to his death. Army soldiers in Ramadi
hosted a memorial service for the valiant man who had fought beside them. Iraqi
Army scouts — whom Mike helped train — lowered their flag, and sent it to his
parents. Nearly every SEAL on the West Coast turned out for Mike's funeral in
California. As the SEALs filed past the casket, they removed their golden
tridents from their uniforms, pressed them onto the walls of the coffin. The
procession went on nearly half an hour. And when it was all over, the simple
wooden coffin had become a gold-plated memorial to a hero who will never be
forgotten.

For his valor, Michael Monsoor becomes the fourth Medal of Honor
recipient in the war on terror. Like the three men who came before him, Mike
left us far too early. But time will not diminish his legacy. We see his legacy
in the SEALs whose lives he saved. We see his legacy in the city of Ramadi,
which has gone from one of the most dangerous places in Iraq to one of the most
safest. We see his legacy in the family that stands before us filled with grief,
but also with everlasting pride.

Mr. and Mrs. Monsoor: America owes you a debt that can never be repaid.
This nation will always cherish the memory of your son. We will not let his life
go in vain. And this nation will always honor the sacrifice he made. May God
comfort you. May God bless America."

President Abraham Lincoln's Nov 21, 1864 letter to a mother who lost five sons fighting for the Union are worthy of mention here.

"I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the
Adjutant-General of Massachusetts, that you are the mother of five sons who have
died gloriously on the field of battle.

I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should
attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot
refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of
the Republic they died to save.

I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your
bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and
the solemn pride that must be yours, to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the
altar of Freedom. Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,

Abraham Lincoln

Master At Arms Second Class Michael A. Monsoor, today your country honors your life and your sacrifice for laying your own life upon that hallowed alter. May your family and your Teammates overcome their grief at your loss and cherish your memory and your example. May all of us in some small way become better people, more willing to think of others more than we think of ourselves, because of what you did that day on 29 Sep 2006.

And we honor our Navy SEALs and all of our magnificent warriors in the combat zones, who sacrifice themselves for us every single day by volunteering to serve in a dirty, difficult, and dangerous environment. May your sacrifices ultimately be rewarded with a stronger America and a better world.