More Taxes for Everyone

The Democrats are now in power. The evil George Bush is gone and now we have a president that claims that taxes will not go up for 95 percent of Americans.

Lets assume for a second that that's true. I'm not sure of the logic behind how raising taxes on the top 5 percent is going to spur the economy.

Who are the top 5 percent of wage earners in the United States? They are mostly business owners. Business owners who hire people. They invest in their business by purchasing equipment and machinery. Building new plants. Now we are going to tax them more because they are the so called rich.

Seems to me that if we wanted to stop the flow of U.S. jobs from going to other countries, that we would make it easier and cheaper for businesses to operate. Not tax them more.

Every dollar we soak out of the "rich" is a dollar that could have been spent on hiring or putting money back into the economy through business investments.

Now I realize that not all of the "rich" are business owners. But according to the National Tax Payers Union, the top 5 percent already pay up to 60 percent of Federal Personal Income taxes.

Ok, let's stop assuming that only the top 5 percent will get a tax increase and face reality. If you have been alive for the past few years, you have heard the Democrats talking about how George Bush has been giving tax breaks to the rich. Our new President has already stated that he will let the Bush tax cuts expire.

Well, that should make us all very happy. The rich are going to suffer. The problem is, it's not true. Not just the rich benefited from the Bush tax cuts.

Now, I'm no expert on taxes so I did some research on the subject. Let's take a quick look at some tax rates that we all paid under Bill Clinton and compare them with what we paid after the Bush tax cuts.

In 1999, a single person who made $30,000 paid $8,400. In 2008, after Bush cut taxes for the "rich", that same person paid $4,500.

A single person who earned $50,000 paid $14,000 under Bill Clinton. After the Bush tax cuts in 2008 he paid $12,500.

How about us married folks? Well, in 1999 a couple earning $60,000 paid $16,800. That same couple paid $9,000 in 2008.

Let's look at a couple that earned $75,000. In 1999 they paid $21,000. In 2008 it was down to $18,750.

I have been told that these numbers are not accurate because I am forgetting about child tax credits, marginal tax rates, etc. Alright, let's not forget all that. Adding all those things in, tax payers in every category of wage earning paid a higher tax rate under Bill Clinton than they did after the Bush tax cuts.

The media had perpetuated a lie that only the rich benefited from the George Bush tax cuts. We all did. I talk to people all the time that tell me they didn't get a tax cut under Bush. It's simply not true. They did. That's if they earned a paycheck.

So when our new President tells us that 95 percent of all Americans won't get a tax increase, well, I won't say that he's lying, let's just say he's not being completely honest. You see, in the mind of a Democrat, doing away with the Bush tax cuts is not a tax increase. It's simply going back to tax rates the way they were.

In my mind, if more money is coming out of my paycheck every week, I don't care how you slice it, that's a tax increase.

Just for argument's sake, forget about the Bush tax cuts for a moment. So, no tax increases for 95 percent of Americans? Democrats all over the map are calling for higher gasoline taxes. Their reasoning is that we have conserved so much gasoline lately, that they are not taking in enough revenue though gas taxes, thus, in their minds, justifying an increase.

Our new President has another novel tax idea. It's called the "Global Poverty Act" which the Democrat Senate has already passed. This act calls for billions of U.S. tax dollars to be spent as the United Nations sees fit. It also allows for the banning of handguns. Oh, and by the way. Not one penny is scheduled to be spent on U.S. poverty.

Congressional Democrats are also looking into ways to extort money form your 401k plan by illiminating tax breaks. If they succeed it means that you would be taxed on your investments as capitol gains each year and your 401k would become nothing more than a run of the mill savings account. Employers would no longer be allowed to write off matching contributions which would effectively end employer matches.

And then there is speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi's proposed Windfall Tax On Retirement Income. Her proposal would tax all profits made through stock market investments, retirement plans and 401k programs. How is this going to spur investment?

She wants to limit the amount of money the "rich" can invest and also, "work toward the goal of equalizing income in this country."

Sounds like re-distribution of wealth to me.

Ms. Pelosi was asked how the new tax money would be spent. She replied, "There is no question that these windfall profits and income created by the Bush administration need to be taxed at 100 percent. And those dollars redistributed to the poor and working class."

So on the one hand, Nancy Pelosi is admitting that the Bush policies did bring us working people more money. And on the other hand, she wants to take all of it and give it to whom she decides needs it. These are the people that I was told when I was younger are the party for the working man.

Sounds to me like they are the party of the non-working man.

Are you a hunter or gun enthusiast? The new President has something for you too. According to the Chicago Defender, Barack Obama supported a 500 percent increase in federal taxes on guns and ammunition.

Do you smoke? President Obama has signed legislation that more than doubles the federal cigarette tax. Smokes are scheduled to go up nearly a dollar a pack. Or maybe you enjoy a beer now and then. Have no fear, the Democrats haven't forgotten you either.

I live in Pennsylvania. So I took a quick look at what our Governor Ed Rendell wants to do. Let's see, where to start. Higher cigarette tax, increase tax on malt beverages. That's beer.

The Governor wants to raise the state sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent. Just like he did as mayor of Philadelphia. It backfired there because now instead of raising revenue, people who want to buy high priced items like cars and boats, go outside of Philadelphia to buy them.

Turn several of our state's highways into toll roads. Increase income tax rates for Pennsylvanians, take a look at increasing the emissions tax, increase cell phone taxes. And the best one yet. Democrats in Pennsylvania are considering mandatory GPS devices be installed in your car. Why? To tax you one quarter cent for every mile you drive! One note. President Obama has said he is not in favor of a "per mile" tax. Of course, he also said 95 percent of Americans would not have their taxes go up.

State Parks which are now free to the public will now cost you to get in. More taxes on internet based sales.

He has already raised the "Privilege To Work Tax" from $10.00 to $50.00. I love that. It's now a privilege to work.

I heard our new vice president, Joe Biden, say that it's patriotic to pay more taxes. Yet three of the first nominees to Obama's cabinet owed back taxes!

And let us not forget National Health Care. Who do you think will pay for that?

We as the U.S. working class are already working two to thee hours a day just to pay taxes. I think that's enough.

So let review. No tax increase for 95 percent of Americans. Unless you hunt or shoot, drive a car, work for a living, drink beer, smoke, travel U.S. highways, save for retirement, purchase gasoline, buy on the internet, purchase anything in Pennsylvania, visit State parks, breath the air, well, I think you get the idea.

I work for a living and I listen to liberal democrat co-workers gripe and complain constantly about our health benefits costing more, and the price of gas and on and on. Yet, for some reason, when the people they voted for want to take more out of their paycheck, they are fine with that.

I totally understand that as citizens, we have to pay taxes. When asked about paying taxes, Jesus said, "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's".

But how much is enough. There is only one group of us that they can continue to tax more. We are called the working class. They can't take more from people who don't work, can they?

You know, it used to be that as a politician, if you raised taxes, your political career suffered. Just ask President George Bush the first. Now it has become a badge of honor for liberal Democrats to do just that. Seems they have never met a tax increase they didn't like.

Cash is the most we have the least of these days. In this economy, I don't think taking more from us is the answer.