The Captain is indignant about the White House's concern that the poor aren't paying enough in income taxes:

How can a gang of rich, white oil barons, who lost the election and hang out with unadulterated racists, who just gave themselves enormous wads of cash in the 2001 tax law claim, who are driving us into war, recession, and debt simultaneously, with straight faces suggest that the problem with the country is that the poor aren't paying enough in tax?

The Captain admits he's ranting here, but I'll just point out that he's done a good job of answering that question in the top half of his post. It's dangerous when too few citizens have a stake in how much government costs.



The bottom 50 percent of wage-earners pay only 4 percent of the income taxes in this country, according to the IRS. The top 5 percent of earners alone bear between 56 and 59 percent of the income tax burden. (This, by the way, is what allows Democrats to wail about Bush's tax cut going to "the wealthiest Americans." It's hard to give people tax cuts when they don't pay taxes.)



Some people I've hung out with in certain circles think that people who don't pay taxes shouldn't get to vote. I wouldn't go nearly that far, but I heartily agree with Congressman Jim DeMint: "You can't maintain a democracy if the people who are voting don't care what their government costs." I'm glad this administration at least takes that concern seriously.



I'll admit that some of the emanations coming from the White House are just absurd – like Larry Lindsey's contention that Social Security taxes shouldn't count in the calculation of tax burdens because taxpayers get Social Security benefits later in life. That's too much even for a Heritage Foundation economist, who responded bewilderedly that "If you do start down that road, it's hard to see anything as taxes."



My own view: if you earn income, you should pay income taxes – if only a token amount. But the poor shouldn't necessarily pay more in total than they already do. We should 1.) cut payroll tax rates and 2.) increase the amount of income subject to payroll taxes. They currently phase out around $80,000 or so – meaning that someone making $500,000 a year pays the same in payroll taxes as someone making only $80,000.



UPDATE: Slate's Chatterbox weighs in.

You have read the best review article categorized by and the title . You can bookmark or spread this post by using this URL http://kitchencabinetorganizerplans.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-captain-is-indignant-about-white.html. Thank You!