Taxes Taxes Taxes
I've been talking to a lot of dear friends and relatives about Senator Obama's plans to raise taxes. Obama says President Bush "gave" tax breaks to people who "don't need them and didn't ask for them." I have a serious problem with that way of thinking. If I'm being held up at gunpoint then it's a given that I'd rather not have it happen to me. Do I have to ask the robber: "Excuse me sir, could you please let me keep some of my money?" It's MY money and he has no right to it.

Now, as a society, we understand that there are certain necessary functions of government. There are things that we cannot do efficiently or effectively as individuals. We can all build our own roads, have our own military, establish our own court system, etc.

If leaders in government get drunk with power, they then start conceiving of new ways to keep that power. They begin to develop programs to ensure that people vote for them. They then start abusing the power we gave them to seize more of our assets to fund the programs that will cause the masses to keep them in office. Pretty soon you end up with a rather twisted way of seeing the world.

So it follows that politicians and far too many of our fellow citizens have the twisted notion that allowing people to keep the money that they earn is "giving." Our money does not belong to the government. Government exists to protect the rights and personal property of individuals. We do not exist for the government.

If people keep their money out of the hands of government it doesn't leave the economy. It IS the economy. Money, if left in the hands of the people who earn it, is saved, invested and used used to purchase goods and services. With money circulating outside of the hands of bureaucrats in Washington, it helps the economy. Calling it "trickle down economics" sounds nifty but again the fundamental question is who owns the money? The person who worked for it.

We already have a progressive tax system. The occasional reminder about who pays what in taxes is helpful. Check out the nifty chart below.

For the year 2006

Percentiles Ranked by AGI	AGI Threshold on Percentiles	Percentage of Federal Personal Income Tax Paid
Top 1%	$388,806	39.89
Top 5%	$153,542	60.14
Top 10%	$108,904	70.79
Top 25%	$64,702	86.27
Top 50%	$31,987	97.01
Bottom 50%	<$31,987	2.99
Note: AGI is Adjusted Gross Income Source: Internal Revenue Service

Our tax system has gotten increasingly progressive, even under President Bush. Now, one percent of tax payers pay for 40% of our government. Meanwhile, half of all tax payers only pay about 3% of the taxes. A President Obama would make the system even more progressive. That means that eventually the bottom 50% will not even pay 3% of the cost of government. And we wonder why national polls always show that a majority of Americans feel that we don't need a tax cut!!!!

So the wealthiest among us are already paying more than their "fair share." If you have the right to vote and you have the advantages (and disadvantages) of our government, then you should carry part of the responsibility. Allowing people to have a say about what government spends, while relieving them of the responsibility of paying for that government leads to a system of servitude by a segment of our society -- the evil rich.

Representation without taxation is just as wrong as taxation without representation.