Whose Money Is It Anyway?

You think you get up each day and go to work to provide for your family. Not yet. This year you will be working for the government until April 16th. Tax Freedom Day, the day you have paid your “fair share”, has crept up through the years. In 1900, the average family paid 5.9% in taxes and Tax Freedom Day was January 22.

 

The average family today pays more in taxes than it spends on food, clothing and housing combined. 

 

Any conversation discussing “tax cuts” is usually followed by “for the rich.” Proponents never specify who is “rich.” Well, lets look at who feeds the tax monster.

 

In 2017 the top 1% of taxpayers paid 38.47% of all federal income tax according to the IRS. The top 5% of income earners in America paid 59.14% of all taxes. The top 10% paid 70.8% and the top 25% paid 86.10% of all taxes collected. This “fair share” has been rising for years.   

 

The original income tax enacted back in 1913 was only a pittance compared to our tax system of today.  Only half of 1% of the population was affected by the tax. The top rate was only 7%.  Lawmakers lulled the masses by having the tax only apply to the super wealthy.  We know the rest of the story.  As soon as that camel’s nose was under the tent, the monster wanted more.

 

Compare our situation to the plight of the medieval serfs.  They only had to give the lord of the manor one third of their output. According to the Tax Foundation, taxes now consume 38% of the average family’s budget.  How can the middle class get by?

 

The original tax code was only 14 pages long and the tax return was only 2 pages.  Now this monster has ballooned to 17,000 pages and the return has mushroomed to 569 pages.  Bracket creep has affected almost everyone.  An annual income that is considered wealthy by today’s standard will eventually affect the middle class as inflation causes incomes to rise.  This has worked for many years.  Attack the “rich” and make them pick up the tab, but remember, you are probably “the rich.” You have probably been duped into thinking that is someone else, not you.

 

The top 50% of income earners paid 97% of all taxes. The bottom 50% paid 3%. Half of the population is paying almost nothing. By the way, $41,740 income per year puts you in that top 50%.  Does that qualify as rich?

 

High taxes equate to power and big government. Every tax represents a transfer of power from the people to the government. Some believe that the money will be spent better by the government than by the people who earned it. How else will we pay for pork barrel waste? (One of my favorites is the nearly $1 million dollars that the federal government paid for a brown snake eradication program. These snakes are native to northern Australia, Indonesia and islands in Melanesia. Can you think of any better way to spend American taxpayers’ money?)

 

In the North Carolina General Assembly, many of us believe its your money and you know best how to spend it. We advocated returning over-collected funds back to those who earned it. The Governor and his colleagues pitched a “hissy fit”. Of course, it resulted in a veto and no tax refund for those to whom it belonged.

 

They cannot imagine giving money back to families. Rivers will dry up, mountains will crumble and God will swoop up his children and take us home before liberal Democrats will ever agree to returning money to taxpayers. Taxing and spending prudently is not in their political DNA.

 

Wanting someone else’s money is NEED, wanting to keep more of your own money is GREED and there is always an official willing to handle the transfer. In any other situation, it is a crime to take from someone that he does not give freely. When Uncle Sam does it, it’s considered “fairness.”

 

Americans have become complacent.  Life is good for most of us.  Most of us love our country and do give freely to make the world a better place and to help those who are less fortunate.

 

This old tax monster is just getting stronger with age.  No chance that it will ever just die off.  As the monster gains strength, the people become weaker. Your mother told you, monsters are never friends. We need to be on the battle lines slaying this evil monster.