Maddog, the conservative idealism of not taxing or taxing very little benefits the rich and big businesses very disproportionately. Guess who lobbies for less taxes and less control over the people and business the most? Big businesses and conglomerates. Less government means business can do whatever the hell they want. Less taxes means they can maintain superiority over any beginners or those that did not start out advantageously.
Your quote from Rush Limbaugh is of course true, it is a huge blanket statement that does not really reflect what Rush Limbaugh really believes. What if I twisted his quote around and said, no great nation became prosperous without taxation?
To tell the truth it comes down to this. The people that are screwed by the system and the people need a hand are the ones that want more taxation. People that also care about those people that are disadvantaged also support higher taxes for education because they know it is not fair that the failures of your parents be brought down upon you. Those that believe that society is fair as it is and/or are benefiting from the system the most (corporations, the wealthy) of course want lower taxation. While you may not be either of those Maddog(I have no idea), you probably believe or have been told your whole life that if you fail, it isn't the system, it is either because you haven't worked hard enough or you were unlucky. Now who the **** do you think that saying benefits? Those that are at the high of the status quo.
You speak of the rich with such disdain, when the fact of the matter is that they've become rich by working their ass off under extreme taxation (50% and sometimes more depending on their business setup). Why should they be taxed even more, especially when those taxes pay for someone to sit on their ass doing nothing? Here is a FACT. The top 5% of wage earners pay 53.25% of the total taxes in the US. How about one that hits a little closer to our pay grade. The to 50% of people in this country pay over 96% of the taxes. Talk about disproportionate tax rates! Half of us are paying the taxes of the other half!
When people want to raise taxes, the general idea is "well, the rich can afford it. Take it from them". Problem is, the rich people worked hard for what they have, and they don't want to give any more of it up. So what happens? They downsize, and in so doing, cause job losses among the working class.
I experienced this on a small scale back in 2006. I was working for a tech company, and for a while, we were getting overtime on a regular basis. I noticed that on a moderate week when I would have only a few hours of overtime, my check would actually be slightly less than if I had no overtime at all. Why? Because those few hours jumped me up into the next tax bracket. The same thing is happening now with wealthy individuals. Under heavy taxation, they either expand and increase their income by a lot, or they take it easy and work a bit less so that they drop down a level on the tax scale.
My point is that there is zero need for additional taxes in the first place. Taxes should be cut so that you, me and the filthy rich guy across town get to keep more of our own money. Sure, some entitlement programs would have to be cut, but if taxes are cut and reworked properly, much of the "need" for these programs would disappear.
FWIW, my ideal solution would be zero income tax. 20-25% sales tax for everyone on everything except for groceries. Then when the government budget is balanced, maybe that number could drop to 18%. Doesn't equal, fair taxation make the most sense? Everyone would have to carry the load equally... rich, poor, illegal immigrants, tourists, etc... everyone who uses government in some capacity would have to pay for it. No one would be able to cheat on their taxes. Naturally, the wealthy would still pay most of the taxes because (duh) they buy more stuff. And the extremely poor individuals would pay very little because food still wouldn't be taxed. But a flat tax would solve a lot of issues... AND it would shrink or eliminate the IRS. Now there's a big expense off the federal budget!
And to answer your question, I'm not a wealthy individual. Nor am I poor. I grew up in an average single-earner household (dad worked at the fire station and mom stayed home). We lived in a fixer-upper house that cost $37,000. We always had used cars. We never had a nice TV, and we didn't even have a modern computer until 2000. Since being on my own (2007), I've been flat broke many times, but as an entrepreneur, that's pretty much par for the course... and guess what? Every time I've been broke, its been my fault. Really! Don't give me that crap about people being unable to do for themselves. This is a huge societal issue. Everyone wants to blame someone else for their own failures. No one wants to take responsibilities for their own actions.
What's wrong with everyone being responsible for themselves? Maybe I have more faith in people than you do. I believe that everyone has the ability to be successful in some capacity. Why do you insist that they don't?
No matter the crappy situation, there is always a way through it, even for those that grow up extremely disadvantaged. Getting to a better place is rarely easy, but then again, nothing really worthwhile ever is.
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