I heard a radio consumer champion (who shall remain unnamed here) expressing amazement this morning over the results of a USAToday poll. It seems that about 50% of the people in this country don?t think our taxes are too high. The commentator squealed ?I was shocked!?
Shocked? How could anyone who actually knows beans about our income tax structure be shocked that 50% of Americans don?t think their taxes are too high? That?s because about 50% of Americans don?t pay income taxes! How could anyone miss the fact that over 96% of the entire federal income tax burden in this country is being paid by the top 50% of income earners? It?s actually worse than that. The top 40% of income earners pay over 80% of the taxes.
Our consumer champion was right about one thing. With poll numbers like this it is no wonder that there?s no groundswell of support for lower income taxes, and this is exactly the way our politicians have designed it. Politicians, especially Democrats, have taking certain definitive steps to insure that there will always be enough money around for them to buy the votes they need to keep their positions of privilege and power.
1) Convince the public that this is a country governed by majority rule, not by the rule of law. Controlling the education process through a system of government schools can be especially helpful in this regard.
2) After you?ve convinced the great unwashed that it?s the will of the majority that counts, relieve the majority of most of the burden for the payment of federal income taxes.
3) Once you have the bulk of federal income taxes being paid by a minority of wage earner, take some polls to see if people think their taxes are too high.
4) When the results come in showing that a majority of Americans aren?t concerned about how much federal income tax they pay, cite this poll as evidence that taxes really aren?t too high --- after all, the majority says so --- and the Congress needs to move on to other things.
A great plan. And when it fools a great consumer champion, it must be working quite well.
Shocked? How could anyone who actually knows beans about our income tax structure be shocked that 50% of Americans don?t think their taxes are too high? That?s because about 50% of Americans don?t pay income taxes! How could anyone miss the fact that over 96% of the entire federal income tax burden in this country is being paid by the top 50% of income earners? It?s actually worse than that. The top 40% of income earners pay over 80% of the taxes.
Our consumer champion was right about one thing. With poll numbers like this it is no wonder that there?s no groundswell of support for lower income taxes, and this is exactly the way our politicians have designed it. Politicians, especially Democrats, have taking certain definitive steps to insure that there will always be enough money around for them to buy the votes they need to keep their positions of privilege and power.
1) Convince the public that this is a country governed by majority rule, not by the rule of law. Controlling the education process through a system of government schools can be especially helpful in this regard.
2) After you?ve convinced the great unwashed that it?s the will of the majority that counts, relieve the majority of most of the burden for the payment of federal income taxes.
3) Once you have the bulk of federal income taxes being paid by a minority of wage earner, take some polls to see if people think their taxes are too high.
4) When the results come in showing that a majority of Americans aren?t concerned about how much federal income tax they pay, cite this poll as evidence that taxes really aren?t too high --- after all, the majority says so --- and the Congress needs to move on to other things.
A great plan. And when it fools a great consumer champion, it must be working quite well.
