Most of us have heard the statistics about how rich folks pay most of the country's taxes, right? According to an article by Ari Fleischer titled "The Taxpaying Minority," the top 1% of income earners pay 37% of the nation's tax bill. The top 10% pay 40% and the bottom 40%, middle class pay less than 5%, and the bottom 40% of workers pay absolutely nothing. Heck, with the "earned" income tax credit the very bottom even gets paid by the federal government simply for the sake of existing.
For a free democracy to exist into perpetuity it must endow its citizenry with a sense of responsibility for the stewardship of State. The only way to do so is to levy taxes upon everyone who has any say in government. Everyone who can vote must be required to pay taxes, no matter how little the amount. Allowing a large, and growing, segment of the population to evade paying anything into the system, yet to keep their power to vote and influence policy is a recipe for disaster.
If 60% of the voting public can force 40% to pay the bills, what's to stop 90% of people in a democracy from making 10% pay it all? Or why not let 99% of the country off the hook, as long as the remaining 1% picks up the tab?
As English historian, Alexander Tyler, stated in his analysis of the decline of Greek civilization, "A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority will always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by dictatorship."
A basic rule of economics is that when something is free there is no incentive to curb consumption. When you don't pay taxes there is no reason for you to favor conservative fiscal policy. Starting a war or launching a fiscally-destructive social program lacks meaning unless you are directly responsible for the ensuing consequences.
I hope America can get its act together and fix one of the only safeguards to ensuring our Democracy doesn't devolve into apathetic, dependent, serfdom. The rich should pay more taxes since they derive greater benefit from government, but the middle class and poor also derive benefits for which they must pay their proportionate share. Pandering to these majority voting blocks by promising to stick it to the rich even more sounds great from a podium, but has only one inevitable outcome.
About the Author:
Robert Viglione is a writer, manages a hedge fund, and real estate broker. A former military officer, he is passionate about promoting a free society in America. Check out more of his work on The Freedom Factory.
Ten years and counting | Happy BirthDay Google | What would you ask Senators McCain and Obama? | Announcing the Android 1.0 SDK, release 1
Ten years and counting | Happy BirthDay Google | What would you ask Senators McCain and Obama? | Announcing the Android 1.0 SDK, release 1
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