Taxes are a GAME?
I never understood the thought of taxes as a game.
"It's a game we play," Graham said. "Every American tries to find the way to get the most deductions they can. I see nothing wrong with playing the game because we set it up to be a game."
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)
Really? Maybe to the
super super rich; but to the working people, the middle class and the working poor, taxes are not a game at all. The working poor and the middle class have only a few deductions. And those very few deductions do not involve Off-Shore accounts and Swiss Bank accounts...nor looking for a way of including the expense of Dressage horses on our 1040EZ forms.
(more after the orange MC Escher Snoopy head---once seen, it can not be unseen)
And this:
"I pay all the taxes that are legally required and not a dollar more. I don't think you want someone as the candidate for president who pays more taxes than he owes."
Willard Mitt Romney (R-unemployed Multimillionaire)
Again, Really?
No, the American people expect you to be proud of paying taxes to this great country. That quote alone makes Romney unfit to be President. A President wants his country to be strong and succeed and thrive...and he should want to help the country in every way possible. Not just those ways that benefit him and his wealthy friends. The American people would LOVE if he paid a bit extra in these hard hard times.
Can you imagine if he said, "I am paying a 50% tax rate on my earned interest, instead of the very very low standard rate of 15%, because I know the American People need some help right now. And I know my personal wealth has been raised because of this great country and all she stands for. And giving a bit more at this time is important, and I can afford it. It will help reduce the deficit, make jobs and get US and the United States going." Would the American People think less of him? Heck no! The American People would be proud of him.
You know who would think less of him? The other super super rich people. And it is telling that Romney thinks the American People are only the other insanely wealthy people like himself.
Nobody "loves" to pay taxes. But I, and many other hard working Americans, actually like paying taxes. I don't always agree with where all the money goes, but then nobody does. But I like that some of my taxes is used so the United States has a support net for Americans less fortunate (like my mother who was raising 3 boys by herself and got help for a couple of years so she could go to college and get her teaching degree. She then gave back by being a school teacher for 22 plus years). I like to look at bridges, roads, parks and the slowly growing bicycle trails in my city and know, "Hey, my taxes helped with that."
Yes, I would like less bombs and more jobs (infrastructure needs constant help) made from my taxes. And less billions to rich oil companies. But I rejoice at the small, but hopefully growing, money going to solar and wind and to electric battery advances.
Just the other day the Senate Finance Committee voted on renewing some tax credits for electric motorcycles and bikes. The press said:
The Detroit News reports that last year about 25 million electric bikes were sold in China compared to fewer than 100,000 in the United States. The tax credit will cost $15 million over two years and will reportedly create thousands of new jobs.
A measly 15 million to help create jobs in a green, and hopefully growing field, that will help with air quality, traffic congestion and help further battery technology. A real win win you would think...and at a great price.
Yet others think:
"Do we really want to portray ourselves as members of the Finance Committee to drive over the fiscal cliff riding on the back of an electric motorcycle?"
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R. Utah)
So 15 million to help small business, supposedly the backbone of this country, making electric motorcycle is "Bad". But billions in taxpayer money to
RICH RICH FILTHY RICH oil companies is OK? Jesus Wept.
So the question becomes:
How can a man who hides his money in Swiss banks and the Cayman Islands, who actually expect us to be "proud" of him for it, also want to be President of this great country? And expect us to vote for him??
"Why would I pay more taxes?" seems to be the question he is asking. And the answer is, "Because you can. You're impossibly rich and the American People need help. The real question is, Why wouldn't you pay a bit more taxes? Or any taxes at all?"
I'm happy to pay taxes. I'm proud to pay taxes. I want this country to be strong, to move forward, to help our less fortunate brothers and sisters. To build roads and high speed trains and land on different worlds. To cure diseases, make clean water available to all people, to expand and grow and "do good deeds."
What does Romney and others like him want? More money and more power for the few elites.
Sad really.
Gavin
+++
There was a time that the rich were not much different than the working people (I'm 50 years old and I remember that time. It is a fairly new phenomenon for there to be such a HUGE divide economically in the work place. Sure there were Kings and Serfs--and we know some would love to see that back--but between boss and worker, even between owner and worker, not so much ).
When I was growing up my Grandparents lived in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Their neighbor owned a metal company and made a darn good living. He had a big house on about 20 acres of land. The owner had inherited the company from his father and had worked throughout the company when he was younger and knew all the people there. He went to work everyday at the factory. He earned probably 20 times what the factory workers made, and his house was probably 20 times nicer than the factory workers houses. But he earned that and he worked there and he knew his people and lived near "his" people.
Today the CEOs don't make 20 times the factory workers...more like 2000 times. (Much much more if they outsource the jobs to China) And they don't know the workers and don't go to the factory every day. Heck, they often "run" the company from a 1000 miles away or more....from half a planet away.
And if the Metal Factory in Southwestern PA had failed, the owner would have lost money and probably his nice house. Today, CEOs of a bankrupt or failing company often make HUGE profits and the workers worry about house payments and finding new jobs. Most left wondering, "What the hell just happened?"
Sad again.
The "culture" of the times....supposedly. But really? No, just what the super elite want you to believe.
There is always a choice. Ask Romney a simple question, "You take over a company: Are you working hard to get your workers a fair salary and a good living wage, while hoping to get a fair return for your investors, or are you trying to maximize profit for your investors?" And, if he is truthful, he would reply, "I have to maximize profits for the investors."
And it is so short sighted. Having 10 insanely wealthy investors and 1000 lower class workers is not nearly as good for the country and for business as having 10 very wealthy investors (because they will still be rich beyond any of us "common people") and 1000 middle class workers.
Think of it this way: Those 10 insanely wealthy people have 10 homes each...and each home has maybe 2 refrigerators, a couple of microwaves etc etc. So 100 homes and 200 refrigerators and 200 microwaves. The middle class people have 1000 homes and 1000 refrigerators. If your business is refrigerators you want those 1000 people buying refrigerators, microwaves etc etc. And they can do that with a working, living salary.
So business should want Middle Class citizens if they are thinking of the long term. But if they are only thinking about short term gains: Lower salaries are best, No benefits are best. And if the company fails, sell everything off at a profit (just make sure to hide that profit in the Cayman's, or in an impossibly HUGE IRA).
Gavin