Guest Editorial
BY GLENN MOLLETTE | APRIL 10, 2013
Taxes! Enough is enough
I wish we could abolish the Internal Revenue Service and eliminate all taxes for every American. It's a nice dream. I think we are stuck with taxes but we should not give up the dream of cutting taxes and continuing to be creative in looking for taxes that we can eliminate. As long as we have Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid we will have taxes to pay.
I am opposed to increasing taxes on any group in America, poor, middle class or the wealthy. Everybody is harnessed with way too much payroll tax. People work their heads off every week and then when their paycheck is issued there is not enough to buy a tank of gasoline. The payroll tax is like a cancer devouring Americans' paychecks. We need a decrease in taxes across the board. A thriving American economy can only occur by people paying less tax. The poor working class suffers from taxation. A person making only $20,000 still has payroll taxes as well as state and local taxes, even if the individual pays very little federal income tax. Let's say this person works at a local fast food restaurant. Consider how much of their paycheck goes to buy gasoline. This depends on the state but there could be a federal excise tax, state excise tax, state sales tax, city tax, the dealer markup and then the state sales tax on the dealer markup. Sound crazy? It is. It's a lot of tax for the hardworking American.
Americans pay taxes on other goods and services depending on the state. I don't know them all. We pay telephone federal excise taxes and telephone state and local charges. We pay school taxes, state income taxes, toll road taxes, toll tunnel taxes, utility taxes, vehicle license registration taxes, vehicle sales taxes, watercraft registration taxes, recreational vehicle tax, traffic fines, capital gains taxes, cigarette taxes, dog license taxes, fishing license taxes, hunting taxes, inheritance taxes and IRS penalties, (taxes upon top of taxes). There are liquor taxes, luxury taxes, food license taxes, building permit taxes, federal unemployment taxes, federal income taxes, road usage taxes on truckers and sales taxes. The list goes on and on it seems.
We need to reduce the percentage of taxes that people pay across the board. Limit tax deductions to charity, health care savings, educational expense, retirement savings, home mortgage interest and business deductions. If we reduce the overall taxes that people pay then there isn't the need to have to scramble all year to figure out ways to lessen our taxes.
We should limit capital gains taxes to no more than 15 percent to encourage financial investment and growth.
It is time abolish the death taxes. Why tax a grieving family on money and property that someone else spent their entire lives paying taxes on?
Eliminate taxes on tips that are earned by college students and graduate students. Eliminate taxes on tips earned by seniors 65 and older.
Eliminate the requirement that seniors have to include Social Security benefits in their gross income at tax time.
Eliminate taxes on all military service men and women their first year of service. Eliminate taxes on all service people their first year after leaving the military. This will help our Veterans as they rebuild their lives.
Reduce taxes for companies that will bring the majority of America's jobs home (this means at least 70 percent of their employees are Americans). Also, for foreign corporations who want to come to America and hire 70 percent of their employees in America, offer them the same tax rate of 15 percent. Again, this is a long way south of what corporations are paying now and will not likely happen in one or two years. The goal is to bring the tax rate lower for corporations that are helping America.
Corporations who want to move most of their operations and employees to Mexico and China should pay the current high corporate tax rates.
A lower tax rate will make it more meaningful for people to work jobs. It's unfair for people who want to work and make money to pay it all in taxes. Currently we reward people to not work. For example if a family is not working or underemployed we will pay for their children to go to college. How much is this worth - $25,000 or more a year? Plus we reward them with medical care, food stamps and welfare.
In the meantime we have a neighbor who is working his socks off to scrape up $45,000 a year. He has to pay his health care, buy food and pay for college for his children. On top of this he has to pay taxes. The more he works, the more he makes, the greater percentage he pays in taxes. People are very discouraged to work 50 or 60 hours a week and then pay 35 percent to 45 percent of what they make in taxes. We want to encourage people to work and take care of themselves. We should not penalize people for working hard. A lower and fairer tax rate will encourage people to work. If people are making money they will spend more money, which will only help our economy.
Corporations will bring jobs back to America if there is a fair tax rate deal.
I am also in favor of the right to work. Unions have their place. My dad was a member of the United Mine Workers of America. People should have the freedom to make that decision about joining without harassment.
Unions must be realistic in their attitude toward employers. The Union that demands more and more from a corporation that may already be struggling will push that corporation to either close or leave the country. There must be balance.
My father was a coal miner. He would never work in a coal mine unless it was affiliated with the United Mine Workers of America. That was his personal decision and it was good for him. I had other family members who chose to work at mines that were not union affiliated. Their decision had nothing to do with whether they had a union or not. They needed jobs and where they worked treated them fairly.
Asking Americans to pay more taxes is like asking someone who is dying from bleeding to give more blood.
Glenn Mollette is the author of American Issues: Every American Has An Opinion. He is the author of other books and hundreds of articles. He was in Inez, Kentucky in 1964 as a child when Lyndon B Johnson began his campaign on poverty. You can hear him each Sunday night on XM radio 131 at 8 EST. Email [email protected]
