Tax Day

Politics
'tis that time of year. When the overtaxed American citizen takes a look at his 1040 form, curses, and cuts a check to Uncle Sam. The problem is, we don't take enough of a look at the 1040 form. Most of us only take a look at the amount we owe (or are getting back) and don't consider the amount of money the government has confiscated from us. Do yourself a favor. Take a look at the total amount you paid in taxes this year. It'll surprise you. If you earned $100,000, more than likely, you paid upwards of $20k in taxes. $20,000. That's enough to purchase an inexpensive car. Or enough to put as a down payment on a decent house (in most livable areas anyway). Even people who only earn $30-50k are paying several thousands in taxes. Don't you think that taxing the American people based upon their production and not on their consumption is an archaic idea? It punishes achievement. Someone who works hard, advances themselves up the corporate ladder is forced to subsidize the people who don't.
And don't believe the hype about how the 'middle-class' is paying all the taxes. That's 100% wrong. Take a look at the figures from the IRS and the Congressional Budget Office for the truth. The top 50% of earners pay 96% of the taxes. Not only that, but the top 5% earners pay 53% of the taxes. Top 10% pay 65% of the taxes.

And the Democrats whine about FAIR taxes? Are you kidding me? There's nothing fair about our current tax system. The only people that are helped by our current tax system are the CPA firms that make incredible amounts of money doing taxes for people, because it's too complex to do ourselves.

The time has come for a flat or a consumption tax. Grassfire.org has an interesting article about a consumption tax . Now I'm not sure a $23 tax/$100 spent is a great thing, but considering we'd be able to keep our entire paycheck, including the wasteful social security/medicaid taxes, I'm coming around to it. I haven't researched the numbers in depth, but it's something worth considering.