What?!!!
He's talking about relieving the middle class's "economic anxiety" and wonders how important it is for people to keep the money they earn???
Last time I checked, it's very important.
Not only is taxing legalized theft, it can hurt the people Mr. Leonhardt seems to be concerned for: the people who need the money.
He talks about how the tax rates on the rich have been falling in recent history... but he even points out that they pay (all together) at a tax rate of 30%. Yes, you can say "well they don't need it," but I stand by my statement that taxing (read: taking money from one person to give it to another) is legalized theft.
Don't get me wrong- I know we need taxes for the country to survive... especially for things, such as defense, that benefit everyone. However, I think it's a ridiculous argument to say that we are spending too much on the war and not enough on social programs. This is based entirely on the fact that the defense of this country (ex: the war- whether you agree with it or not) benefits everyone. (I know many of you will want to bring up stories of soldiers and Iraqi citizens dying because of an "illegal" war- which it is not, but that's for another day, however- you may be forgetting that Pres. Bush has probably stopped many attacks on this country... attacks we don't know about for our own sake). So, like or not, President Bush is our commander-in-chief and therefore he gets to decide what is best for our country in terms of defense (which, I emphasize, benefits everyone). You may not think he knows what he's doing and you may even think that he is crazy, but he's still the re-elected President. However, federal funding for social programs only benefits a certain segment of the population.
Mr. Leonhardt claims that the Medicare budget is a "much bigger" problem than social security. Granted, Medicare is facing financial a huge financial crisis, but doesn't he know that the SS "money" is actually a bunch of IOU's in a warehouse? The Social Security system faces a $13.4 trillion shortfall- a number that can only grow larger because of the "pay as you go" system. Basically- my generation will most likely never see what the government has taken out of our paychecks for social security. So we're paying for other people to retire yet we have no help from the government. Great. (I could go on and on... but I'll stop here) He also says that the Medicare budget problem "could be held in check if the government figured out how to say no to some expensive medical procedures." Umm... isn't it the "expensive medical procedures" that most people need help paying for?
Just to clarify- I'm not against helping people. I myself give blood very often, I've volunteered with the United Cerebral Palsy organization, I've volunteered for Meals-on-Wheels over summers and on Thanksgiving, and the list can continue. I just don't think the government has the right to dictate what cause my money helps to further. Not to mention that most of the federal social programs have serious problems.
In an ideal world- social government programs would help the people that really, desperately need help. In the real world, the people who need the help don't get it or they abuse the system. (Trust me, I have many stories of this- like people with children spending the money they are given by social programs to fix their un-livable houses to go on trips to Disney World. So basically- the money that is taken from our pockets is given to people who blow it on stuff they DON'T need and then expect more money from us ... does this sound right to you?)
Oh, and this would be a good time to say that I don't like the FairTax idea.
I like this one.
