The Taxation State - the modern form of an opressive regime
Writing by abuhatem on Sunday, 18 of November , 2007 at 9:41 pm
America is a free country. Or at least we are told.  Why is it then, that the economic freedom in the U.S., while much better than many European countries - is extremely low, and possibly lowering.
Case-in-point: taxes. In the U.S. if I give you a gift of over $12,000 dollars a year, even if you are my immediate family member (although not my spouse), then I will be taxed at an extremely high rate. Why don’t you work for the money? Well, you will be charged payroll taxes from the government. How about my selling you goods for $12,000? Well, then there is a 7% sales tax.  And if you die with a substantial amount of money there is always the death tax.
Use the phone? There is a phone tax, which although small, does end up costing a few dollars. Drive on the roads? Well turnpikes charge $1.25 toll taxes. Watch the TV? Well, there is a cable tax. And oh, did I forget to state that Congress might even be thinking about taxing the internet.
All of this points to what economists call and measure “fiscal freedom.” It seems like no matter where we go we are being taxed. And instead of this money going anywhere that matters - it goes to paying an extremely huge defense budget, foreign aid to Israel and Egypt, pork-barrel projects by Congress, and more and more big government. Spend, spend, and spend some more.
Ron Paul wrote a very interesting column last week about Charlie Rangel’s proposed tax overhaul, which would again raise taxes on Americans. Paul stated a few things that the people in Congress don’t want to hear:
The founding fathers never saw taxation as a method to direct social behavior or enforce equality. Equality to them was equality under the law, not equality of outcome, or income.  It was not the founding fathers’ job to manage the economy, or make American businesses competitive. That was up to the free market and American businesses.  The founders sought to provide only protection of property and civil liberties such that job creation could happen naturally and peacefully in a stable, prosperous environment.  They never sought to take from the rich to give to the poor, or rob Peter to pay Paul. But today, the top 5% of earners in this country pay over half of all income taxes collected, but only bring in a third of the income.  One third of Americans pay nothing or receive subsidies from government.
 Paul concludes stating that because both sides of the government - the Administration and the Congress - are up to no good, that we can only hope for gridlock. Because a “do-nothing,” Congress is better than a “do bad,” Congress. I would have to agree here. With the President wanting to spend more and more on an expensive war, and the Congress throwing more and more money away at pork-barrel projects and increasing taxes, we can only hope for a do-nothing Congress.
Category: American Politics, Economics
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