Posted by
Playful Walrus on Wednesday, February 02, 2011 7:33:03 PM
Someone by the name of Mary Kidwell wrote in to the
Orange County Register to say that that federal income taxes were a bargain, and she didn't know why people think they are taxed enough already. She doubted others paid more than seven percent of their income in taxes.
The readers didn’t disappoint with their responses. I'll highlight some.
Here's one from Breck Rowell of Placentia:
According to the 2009 Tax Tables, Mary Kidwell should have paid between $11,631 and $15,699; depending on how she filed rather than the $5,000 she claims to have paid [“Paying taxes is a good U.S. investment,” Jan 31]. Regarding the list of benefits she says she received for her investment, only military protection falls under the Constitutional responsibility of the Federal Government (see The 10th Amendment).
Perhaps if she continues to underpay on her taxes, she can get a job as treasury secretary just like Timothy Geithner.
Zing!
The rest were
printed separately.
Steve Benke of La Mirada:
I guess that Mary has forgotten that we are also required to pay state income taxes, property taxes, local and state sales taxes, gasoline taxes, utilities taxes, social security taxes, and Medicare taxes. There are also taxes disguised as “fees” and the cruelest tax of all, inflation, which continually eats away at the savings of every American whether they are eating, sleeping, vacationing or working. It is ultimately caused by government and government alone. Mary should also consider one other aspect of taxation. Every time she hires a plumber, electrician, painter or carpet layer she is paying them so that they can pay their tax obligations which are normally rolled up into a single statement and rarely broken down so that the customer can get an idea of how much less their bill would be if all of the above taxes were reduced or eliminated.
Tim Streit of Coto de Caza:
Mary Kidwell’s confusion as to which demographic supports the Tea Party movement is bad enough, but her lack of knowledge about how much she and the rest of the population are taxed is truly mind numbing. Talk about a mindset that is “scary and inexplicable.”
So Mary Kidwell of La Habra pays $5,000 in taxes on $77,000 in income and feels she is paying her fair share. How quaint. I have been blessed in many ways and make considerably north of $77,000 while paying 39 percent tax to the federal government, 11 percent to the state and numerous additional property, sales, utility taxes and other hidden “fees” along the way.
I’d like to hear Mary rationalize how her 6.5 percent tax rate is fair compared to my more than 50 percent tax rate. Fair taxation would be if I paid twice as much as Mary while making twice as much as Mary, not paying nearly nine times as much. So stop with the “tax cuts for the rich” garbage Mary.
The
Orange County Register letters are often superior to the letters found in a more famous Southern California daily.
As far as taxes, I am convinced more than ever that we do need to have a system in which if anyone is directly taxed, virtually everyone is directly taxed. This will give more people more incentive to care about keeping government spending responsible. And it needs to be structured in a way where it isn't common to pay the taxes through a system of automatic payroll deductions, once-a-year filing, and then get a singular may-or-may-not-be-a-rebate. Too many people think they are actually getting money back. Let people be reminded weekly or monthly exactly what they are really paying directly in taxes, and where the money is going. No more gimmicks.