Taxation

The modern world is awash in what some call "dog whistles," secret little signals that only certain people can hear. Here's one: Taxes. No discussion on taxes make any sense to anybody other than a rapacious few. Tax talk is usually incoherent. Tax cuts for the rich? Well, it's tough to cut taxes for the poor. Tax a corporation instead of an individual?  Corporations are made-up legal entities: People pay taxes. Taxes are good for the country? I certainly would rather Hillary Clinton spend my money for me than have me do it myself; politicians know us well and have our best interests at heart. And they are smarter and more honest than we are.

Here are some illuminating numbers:

45 percent of American households, nearly 78 million individuals, have no federal income tax obligation. Zero. Taxes--as a burden to them--do not apply. They are on the receiving end of taxes. They are a special interest group. And their interests as receivers are not necessarily the interests of the nation.

The Tax Foundation reports that the top 1 percent of earners made about 21 percent of the nation’s income, but their share of federal income taxes was 39 percent. They paid more in income taxes than the bottom 90 percent, who paid 29.4 percent of federal income taxes. I have no particular interest in the financial success of the top 1% but, on the basis of these numbers, I sure do want them to stay here.

In 2015, the top 50 percent of taxpayers paid 97.2 percent of all individual income taxes. Also, the top 1 percent had an income tax rate of 27 percent, while the bottom 50 percent had a tax rate of less than 4 percent. It turns out that 892,420 households — out of roughly 34 million total households — paid 39 percent of federal taxes that year. So, when we talk about taxes, we are talking about a relatively small group of people who are responsible for the financial support of the State. That is probably a bad idea in a number of ways.

Only people pay taxes. If a tax is levied on a corporation, it will have one or more of the following responses in order to remain in business. It will raise the price of its product, lower its dividends to shareholders, cut its expenses and/or lay off workers. Thus, only flesh-and-blood people pay taxes.

Hard-working people support this country with their work and with their taxes. Pitting the producers against the receivers is a bad idea too.