Back                                                              Taxes

Let's take a realistic look at taxes. Taxes are the price we pay for what the government does. There are many kind of taxes. There are the taxes we pay on our wages (Income Tax) there are property taxes, sales taxes, the estate tax, and the capitol gains tax, but there are taxes we don't think of as taxes:

The high cost of energy brought on by government policies, the higher cost of higher education (When the government cuts back on Pell Grants, or increases the interest on school loans.) The increase to local school districts when the government passes unfunded mandates as in "No Child Left Behind". The higher cost of medical care or drug expenses because the government doesn't allow us to re-import drugs from Canada or refuses to allow negotiations with the drug industry for the drugs in the Medicare Drug Plan. The lower wages we earn because of the government's anti union stand. The lack of employment because the government won't uphold our foreign trade agreements. I could go on and on but the reason I brought these things up was to give you a new prospective and I feel you get the idea.

So listen close when the Republicans tell you that the Democrats want to raise your taxes. My only questions to you: Are you better off today then you were six years ago? Are the jobs the administration claims they created better or worse then the ones they lost? Are your kids better educated today then they were six years ago? Is the debt that you carry more or less then it was six years ago? Do you feel safer economically then you did six years ago? If you do are you working longer hours then you did six years ago? and how do you feel the National Debt and Trade Deficit will affect your future?

Take the time to find out what your vote will buy you. Oh before I end this article let me say that maybe, just maybe, the big tax breaks for the top 1 % of Americans wasn't the end all that created all the jobs, maybe it was the fact that the employers got to lay off people then hire them back at a lower wage. As the Trentonian (One of local newspapers serving Trenton, N.J.) did.

An example could be: A auto manufacture closes in Ohio and lays off 300 workers and reopens in Georgia, hiring 350 people. The people in Ohio were making $27.50 per hour and the people in Georgia start at $16 per hour. The government can claim it created 50 new jobs and the profit to the company increases, the stocks go up but the middle class workers loose actual income.  Read my article on the economy