Give it back
By Page W. H. Brousseau IV
TIMES STAFF WRITER
Suppose you walked into Sears, took a pair of jeans from the shelf to the cashier to have her ring them up. With tax, the total comes to $21, you give her $25 and she then refuses to give you your change, declaring it was now considered the store's surplus.
I assume you would be appalled at the suggestion that you would willingly comply with this and then demand that they give it back. However, this is exactly what the Federal government is doing with p every man, woman and child in this country who pays income taxes.
President Bush has proposed a $1.6 trillion tax cut to be phased in over ten years. It moves the bottom tax rate from 15-percent to 10-percent, with million cut off the tax rolls altogether. The top rate falls from 39.6-percent to 33-percent.
President Bush's proposal gives lower income payers immediate relief by retroactively implementing the tax cut to January 1, as opposed to President Clinton who retroactively implemented his tax increase to before he was president. Those fortunate enough to have nearly 40 % of their income taken by the
Federal government will have their rates dropped over the course of ten years.
This is where it gets complicated. Democrats argue that this plan is tilted towards the rich.
As proof of this, Senator Daschle and Representative Gephardt held a news conference standing next to a $40,000 Lexus and a $100 muffler.
The Lexus is what the rich could afford after their taxes are cut and the muffler is what the working stiffs of this country will be able to afford.
I am forced to ask a question which none of the reporters present that day did not: Why a Lexus? Why not a Cadillac or a Jeep? Why a car at all? With
$40,000 Puff Daddy could hire another bodyguard. Or some other millionaire could hire someone to wash his car. paint his house or even give that $40,000 to charity.
The dirty secret in America is that rich people spending money is what keeps half of us employed, the other half are employed by the desire to become rich or richer. The muffler may be a slap in the face to the rest of us unless we need one, or need a month's groceries or school clothes for our kids.
The Democratic charge that this is unfair usually includes the reference that
there are millions who fail to make enough to pay Federal income taxes but still pay FICA taxes. Their solution is not to lower those taxes for the poor, but keep taxes high for the rich.
Another amendment, which some members of Congress are trying to attach to the tax-cut bill, involves a trigger. This means that if the surpluses do not materialize over the ten years then the trigger is pulled and tax cuts are withheld.
This has the logic of going to your boss and saying you want a raise, but "only if I get my car paid off, my rent goes down and I get that full scholarship I've been applying for." Totally ludicrous. When the economy is in a downturn the best way to correct it is to spend money.
The real fear for Democrats, and unfortunately some Republicans, is the loss of revenue for the Federal government. But with $5.6 trillion in surpluses over ten years, President Bush is right to ask for a refund on our behalf, because we are, indeed, being overcharged.
The one undeniable fact in all this is that money in Washington is money spent.
Politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, both liberals and conservatives love to spend money, and why shouldn't they, its not their money, its yours, mine and yes, the rich guy down the street.
If we leave the surplus in Washington it will be spent like it has been. $400,000 for a Dr. Seuss museum in Massachusetts. $150 billion for the "war" in Kosovo. a million dollars to move a lighthouse in North Carolina a half mile further inland.
This is like any of the spending bills Congressmen and women are eager to vote for just to show their constituents the benefits of having them as their representative in Washington.
I personally believe the tax cut does not go far enough. With modest cuts in spending. or even spending growth, the tax cut could be enlarged and skewed towards more immediate relief for everyone.
It has been said that, 'the power to tax is the power to destroy."
When we tax income it affects those trying to improve their own income. Just as when tobacco, guns or yachts are taxed the numbers which are sold are affected so true is it with income.
Those in the lower and middle classes are most affected when taxed.
Under President Bush's plan the "rich", even with a cut in their taxes, will pay a higher percentage to the government than they do currently.
Liberals believe taxes should be levied on the basis of ability to pay, conservatives believe that taxes should be based on the government's need to raise revenue.
This is where we are at in America, at the same crossroads which we have been before. It is time to say to Congress, "Give it back!"
© The Michigan Times 2001
