I want to take a minute and introduce my thought train to my viewers. I am myself the picture of what I think of as a middle class American. Someone who works hard at a nine to five job making decent money but still doesn't seem to make enough to be able to afford a health insurance plan for his family or a retirement plan. There is also the constant worry of an upcoming winter where there will be the added expense of the dreaded heating bill.
I think to myself everyday that there just has to be a better way. I am not asking anyone for a handout, I would just like to be treated fairly. If you look at income taxes paid on a percentage basis you will find that the middle class pays a very substantial amount more than the upper class that bring in millions a year. It seems that we are getting back to the royalty game that we were trying to get away from but a few hundred years ago. For example, if you are born into money you are very likely to yourself be wealthy in the future. I say eliminate the tax breaks for the rich and reduce taxes for the middle class.
Another subject that I will get into in more detail in the future is the ongoing health insurance debate in the US. Why is it that there is a health insurance industry that makes a substantial profit betting on whether or not someone will get sick? Health insurance premiums go up every year, quality of care goes down, and we, the middle class are left trying to fill the gap. The health and sickness of people should not be something that affects a company's bottom line. Doctors should be doctors to help people and should not have to spend ninety percent of their time trying to figure out ways to get around insurance issues. I am not saying that some aspects of the industry shouldn't be for profit such as the pharmaceutical business. I think that profits in areas such as these drive ingenuity and development of new treatments.
I hope to entertain a lively discussion on this blog and get people thinking beyond their current mindset. I also hope that along the way I will personally come to understand others ideas even if I do not agree with them. Here's to the conversation!
Amen!! Sounds great. Can't wait to read more.
ReplyDeleteGlad to chime in Dan. Have you heard of the fair tax. It is in generally regarded as the same percentage for everyone, also generally agreed to be 15%. It is wideley believed that a tax like this would generate a lot more revenue for the govt. and would level the playing field for everyone. Right now low income workers pay little or no taxes, middle income substantially more and, yes if you get right down to it the very wealthy pay less of a percentage, however, they still pay more of the total income tax revenue than anyone else. The top 10 percent of the wealthy people pay more than 50% of the total income tax collected. I speak highly of the wealthy because they are the ones that keep us employed. Them and the govt. who I do not wish to be employed by. I believe that if we tax the wealthy you will find that they will employ fewer, and streamline their operations through more automation so they will need to hire fewer workers. Realize also as I do that your employer pays 1/2 of your social security and all of your workers coompensation. I can tell you one thing, Dan, there are no easy answers, but I would be more comfortable with business running the economy than the govt. I'm pretty sure you would agree that the more money the govt. gets the more they want and the less we get. Think about this for a minute, what would happen if everyone made the same amount of money, paid the same taxes and paid the same thing for there goods and services, after all that is equal, right?
ReplyDeleteI'll leave you with that.
I'm with Becky...can't wait to read more!
ReplyDeleteDon,
ReplyDeleteI am not saying that everyone should make the same income and pay the same taxes. Sure, that would be equal but there would not be any incentive for innovation. That is not what I am saying at all. I agree with you that the tax code definitely needs work to bring revenue in line with spending. I do not believe that should be allowed to cripple the people who can't afford to pay more in taxes. Studies show that even if spending was cut dramatically right now we would still have to increase revenue in some way. Sure 15 percent sounds good at first until you look into the details. 15 percent of 10,000 dollars a year doesn't exactly leave a lot for the poorest among us to live on, while 15 percent of a million leaves $850,000 to live on. That hardly seems fair to me. If I had that kind of money I would happily pay my fair share of the tax maybe taking some of the load off from lower income brackets and allowing them to maybe save a little and start businesses of their own. It is well know that it is the small businesses that create jobs and employ the bulk of Americans, not the richest people.
I am in the process of writing an article about this subject (pros and cons) in particular so be sure to keep an eye on my blog.
From what I have read I believe the "Fair Tax" proposal is to eliminate income tax and institue a Federal sales tax between 15 and 23 percent. I strongly oppose idea as I feel it is highly regressive and unfair to the poor. It would force a single mother to pay the same high tax on a loaf of bread as a rich person would pay on a expensive car.
ReplyDeleteAs for the current tax debate I feel it would be more than fair to let the current tax breaks for the wealthiest 2% expire while extending the tax cuts for the other 98%. Letting the tax cuts for the rich expire as was intended when they were passed would still only put them back to tax levels under Clinton which were significantly less than under Regan.
Kevin,
ReplyDeleteYou should check out my new blog page were I go into further detail on this subject...very interesting stuff!
Thanks for reading and posting!
Dan
The "fair tax" proposal sounds quite wrong to me.
ReplyDelete