Instead of publishing the last post when I wrote it, i mistakenly sent a picture of it's private parts to someone i barely know. Go figure.Sorry about that.
So I am really angry about this tax nonsense. When i started my first business, years and years ago, I had to pay quarterly tax estimates on my projected income. It was just one of those things I did when I decided to be a grown up and try to make my own way in this world. To tell the truth, it gave me a great feeling inside when i wrote that check -- because I felt paying taxes was a mark of success in America. I felt my efforts were paying off, for me and for the country that gave me the freedom to be in business in the first place.
My husband and I just paid our 2010 taxes. Despite deep cuts in our personal revenue, we paid a lot more this year than usual, a fact that is completely unrelated to the current Administration, but has more to do with losing our oldest son as a dependent (the Army has him now) and our own bad decisions. As i looked over the tax return prepared for us by the absolute best accountant in the world I realized that what we pay in taxes annually is significantly lower than what I used to pay quarterly. Curious about that, I started to look some things up, and what i found out is absolutely infuriating.
What I found out is that Americans in all tax brackets pay fewer income taxes now than at any time since 1950. I found out that we pay fewer taxes than any other industrialized country. I found out that some $2.8 BILLION dollars of our national debt is due to the ten years of Bush Tax Cuts that were SUPPOSED TO stimulate the US economy after 9-11. These tax cuts DID NOT achieve this goal, and we have a decade of historic evidence that demonstrates clearly that deep cuts in revenue lead to an economic downturn. Remember the recession of 2008? Remember the automobile industry nearly cratering in 2008? That was the reason for the TARP legislation, the first economic stimulus package put out by the Bush Administration just before they all scurrried over to Fox News and began blaming the Obama Administration for the country's economic woes.
I also found out that folks who make a million dollars a year or MORE (they MAKE a million a year, not just are WORTH a million dollars, please get that distinction) pay only 35% -- that is less than the average small business owner pays on the income from his business--- what the hell is that about? And you know, because they too, have wonderful accountants, that what they actually pay is much much less. I mean, gee,
GE paid NO TAXES in 2010. The biggest corporation in the country. No taxes. Hmmmm.
I was always brought up to believe that those of us who are blessed and have been given a lot -- we have a responsibility equal to our blessings to contribute to the greater good. I don't think this is a particularly Christian idea, since my Dad is the one who drilled this expectation into me, and he was not at all religious. He was, however, extremely conservative. In fact as my mom says, his views were often "to the right of Attila the Hun." I don't think it is a Christian tenet because I don't know any of the loudmouth so-called Christian leaders such as that snotty little Ralph Reed, that hypocrite Rev. Huckabee or that stupid starstruck Sarah Palin promote any such idea.I have never heard any Christian leader, except black ones, in fact, call for us to contribute anything more than prayers for the poor. In fact, i am pretty sure, since they don't really understand what socialism is, that they would label it such anathema. And let me tell you from experience, bubba, when I was broke and a paycheck from being on the street, I certainly did not need or welcome your goddam prayers. A crisp benjamin, however, would have been appreciated.
Let me spell it out for those of you who still do not get it.
In our family, we have experienced a revenue drop. This means that since i have not had a full time job since 2009, we cannot buy the things we want and in some cases need (my microwave has been on the fritz for a year), go on vacation, spend cash on little things like restaurants, movies, clothing, doctor visits, dental appointments, and other minor matters. So we are putting less cash into the economy. Our grocery store makes less. The movie theater makes less. Our dentist makes less. And they pay fewer taxes because their revenue is less. And the economy slows down.
Now when the government cuts its own revenue by giving tax cuts to those who do not need that money to
spend in the economy (facts show that this money IS NOT INVESTED, but cached -- forgive the pun)
then it follows that the things that are needed -- healthcare, roads, schools -- those things will not get
the money they need to flourish. Keep in mind, too, that it is people -- small business people mostly -- who are providing the healthcare, building the roads and schools and teaching and caring for our children and our elderly.
We know (at least those of us who have been paying attention in addition to our taxes) that the Republican plan for cutting revenue does not stimulate the economy. Just look at the result of the Bush years. And stop blaming the black guy.
The truth is that Republicans since Reagan have tried to strangle government with this crazy nonsense about taxes. And they are succeeding. Just look at the unfounded attacks on government workers' rights.
Hey, Wisconsin' Walker and Ohio's Kasich and any other stupid governor who is paying attention-- Texas is a so-called "right to work" state (meaning state employees have no bargaining rights) and we still are in deep kimchee right now-- looking at cutting some 330,000 state workers -- my husband's park staff among them.
Reagan called it "trickle down" and his primary opponent George Bush called it, more accurately, "voodoo
economics." Clearly in 1980 Bush had not yet been inculcated into the Republican Plan. His son, however, did more to accomplish the destruction of our government than he will ever acknowledge.
Real Americans pay taxes. Because we want health care, elder care, childcare, roads, schools, fire stations, libraries, parks, museums, and a strong military. We need those things. We do not need whiny self-righteous
millionaires and billionaires complaining about their tax bills. It is time for them to step up and pay their fair share.
Patriots, pay your taxes!
The Truth Hurts. Now go put a bandage on it.
So I am really angry about this tax nonsense. When i started my first business, years and years ago, I had to pay quarterly tax estimates on my projected income. It was just one of those things I did when I decided to be a grown up and try to make my own way in this world. To tell the truth, it gave me a great feeling inside when i wrote that check -- because I felt paying taxes was a mark of success in America. I felt my efforts were paying off, for me and for the country that gave me the freedom to be in business in the first place.
My husband and I just paid our 2010 taxes. Despite deep cuts in our personal revenue, we paid a lot more this year than usual, a fact that is completely unrelated to the current Administration, but has more to do with losing our oldest son as a dependent (the Army has him now) and our own bad decisions. As i looked over the tax return prepared for us by the absolute best accountant in the world I realized that what we pay in taxes annually is significantly lower than what I used to pay quarterly. Curious about that, I started to look some things up, and what i found out is absolutely infuriating.
What I found out is that Americans in all tax brackets pay fewer income taxes now than at any time since 1950. I found out that we pay fewer taxes than any other industrialized country. I found out that some $2.8 BILLION dollars of our national debt is due to the ten years of Bush Tax Cuts that were SUPPOSED TO stimulate the US economy after 9-11. These tax cuts DID NOT achieve this goal, and we have a decade of historic evidence that demonstrates clearly that deep cuts in revenue lead to an economic downturn. Remember the recession of 2008? Remember the automobile industry nearly cratering in 2008? That was the reason for the TARP legislation, the first economic stimulus package put out by the Bush Administration just before they all scurrried over to Fox News and began blaming the Obama Administration for the country's economic woes.
I also found out that folks who make a million dollars a year or MORE (they MAKE a million a year, not just are WORTH a million dollars, please get that distinction) pay only 35% -- that is less than the average small business owner pays on the income from his business--- what the hell is that about? And you know, because they too, have wonderful accountants, that what they actually pay is much much less. I mean, gee,
GE paid NO TAXES in 2010. The biggest corporation in the country. No taxes. Hmmmm.
I was always brought up to believe that those of us who are blessed and have been given a lot -- we have a responsibility equal to our blessings to contribute to the greater good. I don't think this is a particularly Christian idea, since my Dad is the one who drilled this expectation into me, and he was not at all religious. He was, however, extremely conservative. In fact as my mom says, his views were often "to the right of Attila the Hun." I don't think it is a Christian tenet because I don't know any of the loudmouth so-called Christian leaders such as that snotty little Ralph Reed, that hypocrite Rev. Huckabee or that stupid starstruck Sarah Palin promote any such idea.I have never heard any Christian leader, except black ones, in fact, call for us to contribute anything more than prayers for the poor. In fact, i am pretty sure, since they don't really understand what socialism is, that they would label it such anathema. And let me tell you from experience, bubba, when I was broke and a paycheck from being on the street, I certainly did not need or welcome your goddam prayers. A crisp benjamin, however, would have been appreciated.
Let me spell it out for those of you who still do not get it.
In our family, we have experienced a revenue drop. This means that since i have not had a full time job since 2009, we cannot buy the things we want and in some cases need (my microwave has been on the fritz for a year), go on vacation, spend cash on little things like restaurants, movies, clothing, doctor visits, dental appointments, and other minor matters. So we are putting less cash into the economy. Our grocery store makes less. The movie theater makes less. Our dentist makes less. And they pay fewer taxes because their revenue is less. And the economy slows down.
Now when the government cuts its own revenue by giving tax cuts to those who do not need that money to
spend in the economy (facts show that this money IS NOT INVESTED, but cached -- forgive the pun)
then it follows that the things that are needed -- healthcare, roads, schools -- those things will not get
the money they need to flourish. Keep in mind, too, that it is people -- small business people mostly -- who are providing the healthcare, building the roads and schools and teaching and caring for our children and our elderly.
We know (at least those of us who have been paying attention in addition to our taxes) that the Republican plan for cutting revenue does not stimulate the economy. Just look at the result of the Bush years. And stop blaming the black guy.
The truth is that Republicans since Reagan have tried to strangle government with this crazy nonsense about taxes. And they are succeeding. Just look at the unfounded attacks on government workers' rights.
Hey, Wisconsin' Walker and Ohio's Kasich and any other stupid governor who is paying attention-- Texas is a so-called "right to work" state (meaning state employees have no bargaining rights) and we still are in deep kimchee right now-- looking at cutting some 330,000 state workers -- my husband's park staff among them.
Reagan called it "trickle down" and his primary opponent George Bush called it, more accurately, "voodoo
economics." Clearly in 1980 Bush had not yet been inculcated into the Republican Plan. His son, however, did more to accomplish the destruction of our government than he will ever acknowledge.
Real Americans pay taxes. Because we want health care, elder care, childcare, roads, schools, fire stations, libraries, parks, museums, and a strong military. We need those things. We do not need whiny self-righteous
millionaires and billionaires complaining about their tax bills. It is time for them to step up and pay their fair share.
Patriots, pay your taxes!
The Truth Hurts. Now go put a bandage on it.
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