Neil Boortz tells the truth

And this...

"A lot of people out there pay good lip service to the idea of personal freedom... right up to the point that someone tries to do something that they don't personally approve of."

 

This was on Neil's website. What a guy!

"We have a new "groundbreaking" study of homeless people out there ... you know, the urban outdoorsmen. It seems that about 700,000 people sought shelter nationwide during a three-month period. I guess we'll hear a lot about this study for a few days. I just wanted to plug in a thought. Not counting the children, of course; and not counting those who have suffered a physical or mental disaster --- these people are right where they are today because they put themselves there. Nobody did it to them. Drugs, alcohol ... no education, no work skills, no work ethic. They have themselves to blame. There's no problem in helping them so long as the government doesn't use its police power to transfer income .... but the blame lies with them. Deal with it"

 

Exactly the effect of the Earned Income Tax Credit.

 

Boy, that's a bag of hammers.

 

Thanks to the Earned Income Tax Credit, if you make less than $20,000 a year then most likely not only will you pay ZERO Federal income tax, you will also receive a "bonus" check from the government. Where do you think that money comes from? Hint, not from the magical government money tree. No, that money comes from people who actually pay taxes, money they have EARNED. Now we can argue the merits of such an income redistribution system till we are blue in the face, but the fact is, that if I don't pay my taxes, the government, using the threat of force, will confiscate my property to settle my tax debt. So in essence, the government is using a barrel of a gun to take money from me and to physically give it to someone else.

 

America. Love it or leave it.

 

It's called progressive taxation and, as a Republican named Oliver Wendell Holmes once put it, it's the price you pay for a free society. And the EITC is the single best anti-poverty strategem of the past 20 years, so I'm terribly sorry if there's a single itty-bitty tax break available to the woman who cleaned your last hotel room that isn't available to you, or to Ken Lay. Deal with it.

 

Well said. And no snide comments regarding people not working hard enough to make more money.

 

No it is not progressive taxation. Progressive taxation would imply taxes being paid, not checks being written. Currently 30% of the population pays ZERO Federal income taxes. As for Oliver Wendall Holmes, the top tax rate in his day was 7%. Give me that and I'll stop bellyaching.

 

Perhaps 30 percent of the population indeed does go without paying taxes. Isn't it possible, though, that it's because they make so little money?

 

If you make $30,000 a year or less you most likely pay zero. The top 50 % of earners (above $45,000 per year) pay nearly 97% of all taxes. The bottom 50 percent of earners have an average tax RATE of 3% and the top 50 percent a rate of 13.5%. (All IRS numbers for 2004)

 

That would mean something . . . if "federal income taxes" were the ONLY tax people paid.

But it's not.

It's only one of about 100 taxes we pay.

So the poor manage to avoid one lousy tax out of 100. Oh, the humanity!

Fact is, the poor see 100 percent of their income subject to sales taxes (since they cannot save anything and cannot have any of their income placed into a tax-deferred 401(k). And they pay the exact same percentage on many other taxes (gasoline, etc.) as everyone else.

There are dozens of tax breaks for the rich.

There are a couple for the poor.

And when all is said and done . . . the rich pay about 19% of their income toward ALL taxes.

And the poor pay about 18% of their income toward ALL taxes.



Seems pretty damn fair to me.