The 2 party system. In a nutshell.
Posted on 07/01/2003 3:49:49 PM PDT by Principled
It’s July 1st. The First of July. A rather major (and increasingly meaningless) holiday is just three days away.
Today marks the anniversary of withholding taxes from your paycheck. Withholding started on July 1, 1943. That’s 60 years ago. The politicial class needed an excuse to move to the withholding, and World War II served that purpose nicely. We were told it was all about cash flow. The government didn’t have the luxury of waiting to get its share of your income. Don’t worry, though. We will all go back to the normal routine of paying our taxes yearly when the war is over. Again … that was 60 years ago, and about 58 years since the end of World War II.
Why is withholding so bad? Because is effectively masks the amount of income taxes American workers pay. Tax withholding introduced a new phrase into the American lexicon: “Take home pay.”
Today the average American has no idea how much they actually make, let alone how much they pay in income taxes. Ask them what they make and they will tell you what they “take home.” Ask them what they paid in taxes last year and they will tell you only what they had to pay, or how much they “got back” on April 15th.
The only time the average American is ever really aware of the impact of income taxes on their actual wages is when they are given a bonus. The boss will tell them “You’re going to get a $10,000 bonus on your next paycheck.” Instantly the employee creates this image of $10,000. That’s 100 C-Notes! Wow! This euphoria lasts right up until the magic moment that bonus check is pulled out of the envelope. Suddenly, reality sets in. The check isn’t for $10,000. It’s for about $5,200! You get about one-half of what you thought was coming! TAXES! Social Security, Medicare, Federal income, state taxes!
This is an outrage that is simply not felt when those bi-weekly paychecks arrive. That’s because you’re conditioned – conditioned by withholding – to think only in terms of your “take home.” It’s as if the rest of that paycheck, that portion seized by government, never existed at all.
How wonderful this all is for the political class! They manage to plunder your paycheck to fund their grand vote-buying schemes, and you barely notice.
Today’s the day, folks. The day that led to the dumbing-down of the American wage earner.
We need to make taxes visible whenever possible.
The short answer is that We the People are asleep at the switch.
The longer answer is that we have been hornswoggled. I refer you to the politician joke Dick Bachert sent us this morning that I posted here.
Fundamental government spending reform is the hope to solveing America's troubles.
I have often wondered where this "need to legislate" is going to END. Everyday they go into session and everyday they have to write new laws. Laws cost MONEY! When will it end?
I'm ready. When do we start?
I think they should meet about twice a year to decide if there are any laws that should be rescinded to improve the economy or the quality of our lives...
LIBERTY FIRST, It is what made America great!
I'm ready. When do we start?
Right now or look FAQ on a national retail sales tax already in Congress with 32 cosponsors.
This is my point. The idea is to REPEAL the entire income tax code and replace it with a visible tax. THe idea is NOT to simply add laws. Indeed the NRST I support is quite short. It can be found here by entering "HR25".
Eliminating the entire income tax code and the IRS would seem to appeal to an individual who wants less legislation.
Just another lie the government tells us about our money. There may be honor among thieves, but not among congressmen. The other great joke is "temporary tax." Honey, they ain't no sech animal!
They could pay for a meager defense department with fees and tariffs. Give the planes and tanks to the various states for real defense. Legislators should be paid a small expense account, and allowed one term each. This would clean out the entrenched rats and hustlers. Only patriotic Americans would even apply for the job. Anyone who thinks this would be inadequate to run the "government" could send in their money to a special fund. All voluntary, like the taxes are SUPPOSED to be.
BIG GOVERNMENT SOCIALISTS: GET OFF OUR BACKS.
I think the whole mess starts here when applying to college and expecting someone else to pay your way, demean yourself by filling out every form about you, your family, race, assets, family education, spending patterns of your parents, and of course those student loans.
What a scam! If you were to identify or quantify the increased empowerment by disbanding all social vote buying programs and tax to provide for defense, infrastructure, public works which will repay themselves, and to fund the three branches of federal government in a greatly limited configuration, we would most likely be a manufacturing giant busting with employment, control of our destiny, and laugh at government handouts as the third world counterproductive inefficiencies that they are.
AND OUT OF OUR POCKETS!
I agree.
They got so bad when the politicians realized that they were dealing with basically greedy Americans, i.e. those who wouldn't dare ask their neighbors to take care of their every whim, but they found a political class that would do it for them.
And, we have passed the point of no return.
"Taxes are the price we pay for living in a civilized society" - Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes
That one is plastered all over federal buildings. The only glitch to that apologists jabber is that at the time he said it, the tax rate was three percent on wealth, not fifty percent of wages earned. A law should be passed requiring additional text of the fiscal dynamics at the time the great justice opened his mouth to finish his words off..
See my post on the subject of politicians here.
I think you and many other FReepers will appreciate its humor and scary resemblance to real life.
The 2 party system. In a nutshell.
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