Listening to the Voices on Taxes

I enjoy listening to the voices that are out there. They help me decide what I think when it comes to certain issues.


The voices in Washington DC that say we have to raise taxes to pay for all the programs that we think we should be funding.

The voices in Washington DC that say that we should cut taxes to stimulate the economy.

The voices of the people who just want to go to work and not depend on some of those programs.

The voices of the Political Action Committees and special action advocates who make a good case for why everyone except their clients should help with the mess we’re in.

The voices of the people who write into the newspaper or call into radio talk shows out of frustration with what’s going on in the country that we love.

The voices of the letter to the editor writer who pointed out that CEOs of big companies get a salary for the job they do. Taxing that salary doesn’t eliminate jobs, exempting that salary doesn’t create jobs. CEOs of big corporations don’t write personal checks to pay the employees’ salaries.

The voices of two young women overheard in a fast food joint, comparing notes on their tax returns. How much they’re ‘getting back’. In quotes because they’re both apparently stay at home moms with several children and the tax credits amounted to several thousand dollars more that their tax liability. In my opinion, you only ‘get it back’ if you gave it in the first place. Besides, they’re more than happy to tell you that they can’t work or they would lose out on WIC and CHIP and food stamps – lots of “in Kind” each month that isn’t taxed.

The voices that remind us that only about half of US families are paying the National Income Tax. And it seems like most of them are middle class. The lower class doesn’t make enough to have much of a liability, and the upper class has the credits, exemptions, deductions and can afford the lawyers to find the loopholes.

So I listen to the voices, and get sick to my stomach, then I worry about the future of my son and the next few generations.

And I add my own voice in case the people who represent me in Washington DC are listening.

Make some tough decisions:

Maybe a flat tax, that everybody pays.

Eliminate all the deductions and exemptions. Yeah that means that I get dinged, but so will everybody else.

The tax credits should zero out. Carry over the excess for a year if you need to since hopefully things will change and the employment situation will get better. But no more getting back more than you paid in. If you make more by not working than you do working, then why work.

There’s lots of voices out there. Too bad we’re not all singing the same song