National Media’s Dishonesty on Taxes
I am beginning to think there is simply no other way to describe the misdirection and obfuscation seen in so much of the reporting on alternatives to our current income tax system than to call it fabrication and con artistry.
Case in point: The left-leaning media’s rabid insistence that income tax rates need to be raised so that billionaires like Warren Buffett can “pay their fair share.” Hell, even Buffett himself has sounded off on the notion, saying that he is all for it.
How many times have you heard or read that Buffett is paying a small percentage of his overall income in taxes compared to the relatively higher percentages paid by his 60k a year secretary? Hundreds of times?
New York Times 10-15-2011: “When Warren Buffett pointed out that the American tax system was so egregiously rigged that he paid a smaller share of his income in taxes than his secretary, very few of his peers chimed in. It was so quiet that one might have thought Mr. Buffett’s case was a fluke. It wasn’t.”
Associated Press 9-20-2011: “Warren Buffett’s secretary shouldn’t pay a higher tax rate than Warren Buffett. There is no justification for it,” (President) Obama said as he announced his deficit-reduction plan this week.”
Wall Street Journal 9-27-2011: “Warren Buffett has forcefully injected himself into the U.S. political debate, with President Obama using the billionaire’s anecdote that he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary as a bludgeon in favor of raising taxes on millions of other Americans.”
Of course as soon as it is explained that Buffett collects his millions of dollars a year of income through capital gains and not through tasks that are taxed and documented via an employer’s W-2 form, there is a collective chorus of “d’uh” that would make Homer Simpson proud.
So why not just go ahead and include all income in the same tax rate system that us salaried schmucks participate in and just be done with it?
Because it is the opinion of virtually every economist and financial guru alive that it would cripple capital investment and expansion in America, and bring what is left of a once vibrant national economy to a screeching halt.
So it is ludicrous, laughable and, yes, inherently dishonest to compare rates of taxation between ordinary wage earners and the industrial capitalists whose investments and innovation we depend on for innovation, enterprise and scientific development.
Yet the comparisons are made all the time. And to top it all off, the national media refuses to tell you that America has over obligated itself so severely when it comes to future medical and retirement benefits (Medicare and Social Security entitlements), that it could permanently confiscate 100 percent of the wealth of the top one percent of the country and the accumulated booty would still fall woefully short of covering the government budget for even one year’s operation.
What does this mean?
It means that the American income tax system that we have had in place for all of our lives cannot and will not cover the expenses of our country in the short term, and certainly not over the long haul.
To continue to debate tax rates and who gets hit hardest is akin to asking how many wishes it will take to get to the planet Mars. There is no way to define that number and no mechanism to make such a scheme work.
So what are the options?
Nothing less than a full commitment to a pure consumption (national sales) tax is the only way to fix the problem. Further assistance would come through abolishing cash (paper money and coin) and going to a straight electronic debit system where every purchase could be tracked and virtually every off the books financial transaction documented.
That little trick has the side benefit of running every illegal alien out of the workforce, and putting every drug dealer, prostitute and gangster on the tax rolls.
It is a beautiful thing.
So the next time you read about the inherent unfairness of how Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Donald Trump skate on paying their fair share, ask yourself how many off the books wage earners do the same thing, only at a much greater pace, which leaves the average real taxpayer (you and me) holding the bag for even higher wage confiscation.
Oh… and tell the national media to tell the rest of the damn story on who is getting away with what when it comes to taxation.It is the only honest way to tell the story.You Might Also Like:
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