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anti-tax politicians, class warfare, elizabeth warren quote, mark shields, michele bachmann no taxes quote, minnesota public radio, moveon.org, republicans, taxes are government revenue, the rich don't have to pay taxes
Michele Bachmann provides plenty of food for thought whenever she opens her mouth. Her latest statements of mental fodder had to do with businesses and wage earners keeping all of the money they make, without paying any taxes.
If Bachmann and other anti-tax politicians really want to do away with taxes, then they ought to be willing to volunteer their time to run our government. After all, what they’re supposed to be doing is providing a public service. What better way to show their anti-tax, smaller government intentions than by going without a paycheck? (Or healthcare or pension or per diems, etc.?)
I’m trying to figure out where Bachmann thinks the money comes from for her paycheck. Taxes are the government’s form of revenue. It’s a basic economic concept, yet anti-tax politicians seem to have forgotten this – or are blindly ignoring the fact in order to sound good to the electorate. (They don’t sound good to me; they sound like they lack a firm grasp on reality.)
On MPR this morning political commentator Mark Shields wondered when a Republican politician is going to propose that rich people (those making over $250,000) no longer have to pay any taxes. Indeed, when? Why do most anti-tax politicians think that only the rich shouldn’t have to contribute to the American way of life … and then have the gall to whine that others who disagree with them are engaging in class warfare?
I’m going to leave my questions with the Elizabeth Warren quote currently making the rounds online via MoveOn.org:
There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there — good for you!
But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that maurauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did. Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea — God bless. Keep a big hunk of it.
But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.
If you do a search for that quote online, what you’ll find is a whole lotta anti-tax people responding to it with vehemence, ripping it apart rather than truly empathizing with the spirit of what Warren said. How very sad that our country has become infested with selfishness.
Who exactly are the “us” that Elizabeth Warren asserts pay for roads, education, police, firefighters and whatnot? She seems to imply that the “us” are other than the rich. Hence the taxes of those who are other than the rich, are paying for the things which the rich get the benefit of.
Given that in today’s America the top 1% of income-earners account for more than 20% of the total national earnings; and that the top 10% of income-earners account for 50% of the total national earnings, it’s reasonable to conclude that at least half, and more likely more than half, of tax revenues come directly from this top 10%.
Hence most of the monies spent on roads, education, police, firefighters and whatnot, would be from taxes paid by this top 10% of income-earners.
Even allowing that when most of the roads were built, and when most of the workers were educated, the top 10% of income earners accounted for a significantly lesser percentage of the national earnings (ie when America wasn’t as unequal as today), tax rates on the rich were higher then than now. For instance in the Age of Eisenhower, the top tax rate was 91%. Compare this with today’s top rate of 35%.
So, even in the Age of Eisenhower, when America was more equal than now, it’s likely that taxes from the rich paid for most of the public amenities which Americans, whether rich or poor, still enjoy today.
I can guarantee that the vast majority of the residents in my community are NOT in the top 10%. Considering that local police and fire services are funded, to a great extent, at the local level, it is reasonable to conclude that the top 10% paid squat to cover the costs of roads, police, fire, etc. in my community. And yet, goods are transported on city streets, streets policed by local cops paid for by my tax dollars.
Ms. Warren is right.