The media is filled with stories about how the Democrats want to tax the rich when the rich already pay a disproportionate amount of our nation’s tax revenue. The stories occasionally will imply that these higher tax burdens will drive wealthy Americans into financial ruin.
If we think about this objectively, we know that the people who would be taxed more heavily are wealthy and will continue to be wealthy if the new taxes are adopted. What will change is the rate at which these individuals will continue to get wealthier. In fact, the relative ranking of wealthy individuals in America will remain about the same.
We do have a spending problem, but I don’t hear any of the elected leaders talking about how much of our government is considered excess. After all, if we are spending too much, our government is too large. Where should we be trimming?
Social Security is funded by payroll taxes deposited into a trust fund. Social Security is currently solvent so why are we even mentioning Social Security as part of the fiscal cliff negotiations? Doesn’t the inclusion of Social Security only complicate the discussion?
Wouldn’t it be good to freeze all hiring by the federal government and let attrition start to solve our spending problem? Do we really need to spend so mightily on defense programs or could we ease up just a bit? Wouldn’t it be great to hear a debate in the House of Representatives about what is meant by “general welfare” and just how we should be “promoting” it?
Instead of spending all their time trying to win political points for their ideology, it would be nice if they would move the discussions to topics that are more American in flavor.
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