In the past few weeks, the subject of the federal deficit has taken up more space than even vital issues like Sarah Palin's e-mails, the NBA finals and the latest doings on reality TV.
The Republicans, always on the prowl for ways to embarrass the President, have pointed out the evils of spending too much money on child care, nutrition, social security, medicare and even NPR. All of these, according to Boehner and Friends, are contributing to the downfall of the USA and the joy of those Muslim devils at Al Queda, the Taliban, the Arab world and anywhere people live who aren't Good Christians.
However, conspicuous by their absence have been other ways to trim the deficit. Since the GOP has already taken off the table any unmentionable tax hikes for their biggest contrinutors, I have a few modest proposals:
The Republicans, always on the prowl for ways to embarrass the President, have pointed out the evils of spending too much money on child care, nutrition, social security, medicare and even NPR. All of these, according to Boehner and Friends, are contributing to the downfall of the USA and the joy of those Muslim devils at Al Queda, the Taliban, the Arab world and anywhere people live who aren't Good Christians.
However, conspicuous by their absence have been other ways to trim the deficit. Since the GOP has already taken off the table any unmentionable tax hikes for their biggest contrinutors, I have a few modest proposals:
First, has anyone come up with a good reason why churches and church-related businesses should not pay the same rate as the people who attend them? The U.S. Constitution says that there shouldn't be any law respecting the establishment of religion. I'd say that giving tax breaks is certainly one way the government recognizes the importance of religion over, say, other forms of entertainment. We have numerous businesses, from wineries to food products, all merrily coasting along because they are run by churches. Why? The same question might be asked about social clubs like the Elks or the Moose.
If I had to rent an apartment instead of owning a condominium, I wouldn't have any kind of tax break on my rent. So why should I get a tax break on the interest I pay for owning a house? Am I better than the renters? Or is the tax break an incentive for those who bought the American Dream argument and went into hock up to their eyeballs to own what turned out to be a depreciating asset? If this loophole in the tax laws was taken away, all people who want to live a comfortable life would be treated the same. We could chose whether to own or rent with no penalties or rewards for one decision over another.
Corporations that move their offices offshore to avoid U.S. taxes account for millions in lost revenue to the Treasury, but why hasn't anyone plugged this particularly egregious act of freeloading? And how about the cruise ships who, although owned by U.S. companies, register their ships in the Bahamas or Cayman Islands and allow all of the non-cruisers to pay their taxes for them? The same goes for most of the tax loopholes in our swiss-cheese tax system. The middle class pays for the rich.
It seems that calling for simple fairness these days is viewed as radical left-wing thinking by segments of the body politic and most of them seem to belong to the legions of the Right. They want lower taxes and less regulation, but they're willing to have anyone except themselves pay for it. And the media don't say a word.
When are the American people going to call for an "American spring?"
If I had to rent an apartment instead of owning a condominium, I wouldn't have any kind of tax break on my rent. So why should I get a tax break on the interest I pay for owning a house? Am I better than the renters? Or is the tax break an incentive for those who bought the American Dream argument and went into hock up to their eyeballs to own what turned out to be a depreciating asset? If this loophole in the tax laws was taken away, all people who want to live a comfortable life would be treated the same. We could chose whether to own or rent with no penalties or rewards for one decision over another.
Corporations that move their offices offshore to avoid U.S. taxes account for millions in lost revenue to the Treasury, but why hasn't anyone plugged this particularly egregious act of freeloading? And how about the cruise ships who, although owned by U.S. companies, register their ships in the Bahamas or Cayman Islands and allow all of the non-cruisers to pay their taxes for them? The same goes for most of the tax loopholes in our swiss-cheese tax system. The middle class pays for the rich.
It seems that calling for simple fairness these days is viewed as radical left-wing thinking by segments of the body politic and most of them seem to belong to the legions of the Right. They want lower taxes and less regulation, but they're willing to have anyone except themselves pay for it. And the media don't say a word.
When are the American people going to call for an "American spring?"
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