Tax
rhetoric taxes the truth
Jason
Garthoffner
Liberals
always scream about how tax cuts are like
lottery giveaways to the rich. This
has made the issue of taxes a hot one for
them over the last year. The issue of the
rich paying their fair share has come up
again recently in the gubernatorial debate
for the recall Sept. 24 when Green Party
candidate Peter Camejo made the case constantly
that the rich don't pay enough, and that
they pay less than the poor.
Meanwhile,
Cruz Bustamante has been using the tried
and true method of campaigning on increasing
taxes. He arrogantly calls it "tough
love," which leads me to wonder what
kind of love is accepting $4 million in
illegal contributions from Indian casinos,
which do not pay taxes according to the
statistics on www.ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i=424.
It
is important to note that his higher tax
strategy worked so well for Walter Mondale
in 1984 that he lost to Ronald Reagan in
the largest electoral landslide in U.S.
history. Hopefully history will repeat itself.
The
"fair share" crowd always counts
on you to not think about what anyone's
fair share of paying taxes should be, or
that it's your money to begin with. Camejo
fails to mention in the debate that California
has the most progressive tax system in the
nation. Before the Campus Progressives throw
a parade down Friendship Walk, let me tell
you what this means.
It
means the rates of taxation on the public
are highest in the nation. For example,
sales and income taxes here are higher than
the U.S. average, and the highest of any
other state.
The
top 5 percent of income earners here pay
68 percent of all income taxes. The bottom
40 percent pay less than 1 percent. I suppose
by Camejo's logic, less is more when it
comes to the rich.
According
to the Internal Revenue Service the top
5 percent pay 50 percent of all taxes nationally.
The bottom 60 percent pays approximately
8 percent of all taxes.
If
that isn't enough, the burden the top 1
percent has had to pay over the last 20
years has risen. When Ronald Reagan passed
his first round of tax cuts in 1981, the
top 1 percent's share of taxes was about
17 percent. Now at 33 percent, it has almost
doubled.
The
lowest 60 percent contributed 14 percent
in 1981. The current contribution of 8 percent
is almost half what it used to be.
One
of the biggest arguments against any tax
cuts is that money needed for "vital'
government programs will disappear because
revenues will be reduced. Historically tax
cuts reduce revenues so much that amount
the government brought in increased from
$500 billion in 1980 to $1.1 trillion in
1990. This happened despite Ronald Reagan's
tax cuts, the largest in U.S. history.
Republican
candidates in the recall, Arnold Schwarzenegger
and Tom McClintock, are the only candidates
not campaigning for higher taxes. They correctly
point out that our high taxes helped put
California in the economic crisis it is
in now. There are fewer jobs here because
businesses cannot afford to pay the highest
energy and workers compensation rates in
the country. Not to mention the impending
passage of the Democrat's pet bill SB2,
requiring these businesses to pay for their
employees health care. As a result these
businesses are leaving for Arizona, Colorado
and Nevada.
If
you want a real positive change in this
state then vote in the recall for the party
that has stood for economic policies that
have been proven historically. Also, remember
that the next time you hear someone complain
that we do not have a tax system that would
make Joseph Stalin blush.
Jason
Garthoffner is an art major at Cal State
Long Beach.
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