I would like for you to think about this. Wal-Mart pays its regular associates from minimum to about two dollars an hour above minimum, depending on length of time with the company and evaluations by maybe less-than-competent management.

It also hires many as part-time in order to avoid paying benefits due to full-time employees. These part-time people are normally high-school students. Rather than hiring one full-time employee, the company will hire two part-timers.

These people are well below the poverty level and qualify for welfare benefits. Thus, taxpayers pick up the slack and provide the support that their jobs should provide. In other words, even though the people may work full-time for a company that has billions of dollars of net profit each year, the employees live in or near to poverty.

As you know, there are hundreds of examples of businesses that wallow in wealth while the employees barely subsist. Taxpayers who barely make it themselves then must provide additional income to those who qualify for welfare programs and tax breaks such as earned income.

Many politicians, especially Republicans, are quick to bring up things such as deductibility of property interest, long-term capital gains, and education savings or private school tuitions as beneficial.

Yes, they are beneficial - but not to the people who are the backbone of this country, those making less than the average poverty level, which is at least 60 percent of the people. And many of those who do make more are in areas of higher costs of living. Thus, effectively in poverty.

How many people do you know who are financially able to send their children to private schools?

How many do you know who have enough left over to save for a college education for their children?

How many do you know that have investments to the degree that they need worry about long-term capital gains benefits?

I would think that if you are in a community of 25,000 or less, the majority of the communities in this country, that you may know of a few but the reality is at least 90 percent of the people you know don’t have to worry about the long form and, even if they do have deductions, it isn’t hardly worthwhile to go to the trouble.

Now, think about this. If a single person pays the maximum taxes on the amount of income based on $6 per hour, a 40-hour work week and 51 weeks a work a year, personal income taxes due will be $814 or about 7 percnet of his income.

That leaves the person with 93 percent to live on. However, of that, also paid out is in other forms of taxes is another 40-plus percent. The end result is that this person has roughly $6,000 live on.

Compare this to the business owner you work for that makes in the billions, millions, or hundreds of thousands each year - it doesn’t really matter.

When a business owner has a net income of just a million a year, 50 percent paid out in taxes would leave $500,000 to live on. His share to support his own employees who must rely on welfare is no greater than yours percentage wise. He can pay employees less depending on the rest of taxpayers to pick up the load.

In other words, every taxpayer, including near-minimum wage earners, help him financially support the very employees that get him his million dollar a year gross income. In a sense, each is paying part of the income that he should be paying.

And, yet, he has hundreds of thousands left to live on while the person earning $6 per hour has $6000. But, without his empoloyees who live in or near poverty, his income would drop to no more than what he could make based on his own work.

Lending to the problem is that nearly every tax advantage for the last 40 years have gone to the higher incomes. Lowering capital gains taxes, estate taxes, maximum taxation - all have helped the wealthy, not the lawer incomes.

Furthermore, any allowances for deductions have also helped the wealthy, not those in middle-middle to all lower incomes.

Maybe it is time to simplify the tax structure and take into account the amount one needs to live on and not worry about those that are soaking in the gravy while the working poor depend on tax-based hand-outs.

Simplifying taxes is easy, especially when you keep in mind that at least 6o percent of the people in this nation don’t have deductions. So, forget the politicians who bring that up. Also, forget about capital gains benefits; it just simply doesnt apply to most Americans.

First, no American who served his country for 20 years or more in the military should have his retirement income taxed.

Second, no family earning less than the national average (about $36,000) should have to pay any federal or state income taxes.

From $36,000 to $60,000 should pay only 5 percent of gross income in income taxes.

From $60,000 to $100,000 should pay 7.5 percent of gross income in income taxes.

From $100,000 to $250,000 should pay 10.0 percent of gross income in income taxes.

From $250,000 to $500,000 should pay 12 percent of gross income in income taxes.

From $500,000 to $1,000,000 should pay 15 percent of gross income in income taxes.

From $1,000,000 to $5,000,000 should pay 20 percent of gross income in income

taxes. From $5,000,000 to $10,000,000 should pay 25 percent of gross income in income taxes.

From $10,000,000 to $20,000,000 should pay 30 percent of gross income in income taxes.

From 20,000,000 to $50,000,000 should pay 35 percent of gross income in income taxes.

From $50,000,000 on up, 40 percent of gross income should be paid in income taxes.

Forget long-term capital gains - any capital gains would simply be part of the gross income.

Forget estate taxes. The families deserve any income from a person’s estate.

Forget deductions and get rid of the loop holes for the wealthy once and for all.

The result would be that the people who rely on the backbone people of this nation would be supporting the nation that has allowed them to accummulate tremendous wealth.

And if they did pay out 10 billion and only had 30 billion left to live, isn’t that more than enough to get by on?