HeatherN feels the solution to our financial woes isn’t to tax the rich more or cut down on spending. The solution is to do both.
Apparently Stephen King, along with a few other rich Americans, wants his taxes raised. The whole article is a pretty good read, which is no surprise considering it’s written by a major award winning author. He makes what I think are some pretty good points throughout, but what I want to focus on is the part at the end where he says this, “I want you to acknowledge that in America, we all should have to pay our fair share!”
I often hear from people who don’t want to raise taxes that, in America, we’re a capitalist economy in which we should be able to keep what we earn. I’d argue that is only partly true. We all remember and like to talk about the Boston Tea Party and about how it was a protest against unfair taxes. It’s proof, we say, that even during the Revolution, we were against taxes. What we often forget are the Articles of Confederation, the short-lived government in place among the newly independent colonies after the Revolution. There were a few problems with it, and a few reasons why it failed, but one of them was that it had no ability to levy taxes. Turns out having no taxes are just as detrimental as unfair taxes.
As much as we might not like it, taxes are necessary for a strong federal government. Money is power, as they say, so without any money our federal government wouldn’t be able to do anything. After the Great Depression, the social responsibilities our government took on expanded, and kept expanding. Health care, retirement, building infrastructure, national security, military, welfare, and a myriad of other public services have all been put in place as a means to create a better society. And these services need funding, and that funding largely comes from taxes. So, as Stephen King says, tax the rich more. Let’s keep the important public services that help underprivileged or disadvantaged groups in our society. Tax the rich so that those programs can stay in place.
Of course, along with this is the responsibility for the government to cut down on spending that’s excessive. And we certainly have a problem in the U.S. of over-spending. I just don’t think it’s an either/or situation. The solution to our financial woes isn’t to tax the rich more or cut down on spending. The solution is to do both.
What do you think? Should the rich be taxed more?
Amazing photo courtesy of Jeff Sandquist
America’s government bases its legitimacy on open discrimination and persecution of its own people. Starve the beast mercilessly.
Starving anything doesn’t make it all things more efficient. It usually kills things. This country has been starving the beast for over 10 years, and look where it ended up. Failing bridges, roads, schools. Corrupted government. 46.2 million US citizens in poverty. Wages have stagnated, costs are going up. Please tell me how starving this beast has made a regular person’s life better?
I think Anthony is advocating for the U.S. government dying and something new taking over…maybe?
Well, I could probably be okay with a new government. Though I’d probably opt for governments that Anthony would disapprove of. I like the idea of stronger local governments though. But I’d also want to keep taxes, make them fairer, so that the super wealthy pay their proportional share.
I agree. There is certainly wasteful spending in the government, starting from the Reagan years. I personally think that we’re spending too much on the military, and not enough in technology, science and research. Neil deGrasse Tyson explains this well in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQhNZENMG1o Also, he has an awesome tie. But on the other hand, taxes are very unfair to the middle class, who carry the burden of the huge deficit the Bush years put us in. The wealthiest are not paying their fair share of taxes, and find ways to avoid paying for the things that need paying for,… Read more »
I love Dr Neil deGrasse Tyson. I love the last bit there, “how much would you pay for the universe?”
Me too. He’s such an eloquent speaker and inspiring person. Here’s another video of his I love, which is also relevant. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbIZU8cQWXc
I’m sorry this is the greatest photo ever.
It is a really awesome photo.