There's nothing any of us can do about dying, as it is the one certainty truly beyond our control.
The other certainty, according to the aphorism, is taxes. Why is that? Where do taxes come from and why do they seem to suck the guts out of whatever we are able to make as hard-working Americans?
The reason I want to talk about taxes is that this week is the Republican Party's convention. In all my years as a journalist, the only national convention I ever attended was the GOP's, in San Diego in 1996.
As a partial explanation, since I could easily have been credentialed to most of the conventions the past 30 years, I chose this one because, as editor/producer of the first daily political website ever launched, The Netizen, I wanted to see whether Republicans would embrace the Internet better than the Democrats had...
Besides, a guy I'd long liked, mainly because of his integrity and his wicked sense of humor, was the party's nominee that year -- Bob Dole. As I stood on the vast convention floor during his acceptance speech, I was struck by how tiny he appeared, like a miniature silver banana (or a similar item) standing limply out on a perch high above a massive, adoring crowd.
His speech was, frankly, boring, without a trace of his trademark humor. He never did achieve the erect posture that his listeners so palpably wished for...So, I wandered around the floor. This was exciting, in a way, for me. I bumped into Senators, Governors, and lots of ordinary Americans.
It was a great experience for me, but not one I've since been tempted to repeat, although I've gotten invitations from both parties to return as a witness of their gatherings. Honestly, my time is too valuable to wander around yet another convention center among partisans, be they Republicans, Democrats, or some other party.
I guess I'm just not the kind of person who gets excited by partisan gatherings. They make me feel queasy.
But, back to taxes. I don't trust either party's plans, as so far revealed, about taxes. What we need in this country is to avoid taxing working people and small business operators. I don't know how to put a number on the level at which taxes should kick in, but my gut sense is that no person or business should have to pay any taxes whatsoever on income of under $250,000.
Why is this unrealistic? Because, the main income fueling our bloated federal government bureaucracies is the taxes assessed on you and me, my friends, not the super rich.
What does that make me? An Independent, waiting to examine much more specific economic plans than either candidate has yet announced, before I make my choice who to support on this particular issue -- taxes.
It's only one issue, but this week, it is the right issue to be focusing on, IMHO.
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Taxes, Ah Taxes, the Greatest Smoke and Mirrors Show on Earth
The more convoluted the system for supplying revenue to government, the greater the number and size of the rocks under which you can hide the reptiles who prosper from that revenue. - Danogramusa
Under our bizarre, multi-million word federal tax code even the most competent CPAs and Tax Attorneys now struggle to stay abreast of the relentless flood of legislated changes and judicial interpretations. For the average American today, small and simple as their incomes may be, this titanic and torturous maze is impossible to negotiate without purchased assistance.
A most fundamental, irrefutable fact of our dynamic economy is that you cannot tax only the “wealthy”, be they individuals or businesses. Every effort to do so merely increases the costs of goods and services they represent to the consumers who purchase them – right on down to the jobless and homeless as well. And the process by which you exert an ever increasing effort to pursue that “wealth” merely spawns more reptilian feeding.
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