Fair tax?
Aug 23, 2012 | 684 views | 0 0 comments | 3 3 recommendations | email to a friend | print
I have been doing some research and here is information I retrieved from the Internet worth considering (all these figures are approximate):

The U.S.A. population is 313 million. The number of millionaires in the U.S. is 8.4 million (2.6 percent).

The number of U.S. citizens not paying federal tax in 2009 was 151.7 million (49.5 percent) I am sure it has gone up in three years. (In 1984, it was only 34.8 million, or 15 percent).

Eight percent of the citizens in the U.S. are on welfare

As of May, 2011 over 45 million citizens were on food stamps. This number has increased in 2012. These figures do not include other government entitlements like unemployment benefits, social security, medicare, housing, etc., etc.

So, I have three questions that maybe someone can answer for me.

1. How long do you think the 8.4 million millionaires paying taxes can sustain the 151.7 million who do not?

2. How many of the 8.4 million millionaires are not paying their “fair share” in taxes? Surely, not all of them.

3. Then tell me how many of the 70-plus million citizens who are on welfare and food stamps (not including the other government entitlements) are taking advantage of these entitlements? I am sure it is more than 8.4 million.

It appears to me that if you taxed the rich (which is not a dirty four-letter word) 100 percent it will still not come close to covering the 49.5 percent who do not pay taxes. But maybe the 49.5 percent who don’t pay taxes will now have enough money saved up from not paying taxes that they can start a business to keep the economy going, since we won’t have rich people anymore to start businesses and hire employees. Just a thought!

When I was growing up, striving to be a millionaire was what we all wanted to achieve. Most didn’t make it, but at least they tried. Now, it seems that trying to better yourself is the wrong thing to do.

Whatever happened to JFK’s statement, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”

—Gail Darcey

Moab

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