Tax or Fee? Restoring or Increasing a Tax?

Words. They have meaning. Too many meanings for some people who would redefine truth.

Example: During the George W Bush administration, tax cuts were made across the board. Fair, right? Not really. Low income people didn’t realize a cut. Middle income groups saw their taxes decline a little. But the high income groups, the top 5% of income households, enjoyed a major tax cut. And it remains in place.

Trouble is, the national treasury could not afford it. Not then; certainly not now.

The theory sold to the public at the time was that ‘trickle down economics’ would expand economic opportunity and jobs for the country at large. It didn’t happen. Hasn’t happened in the past when this was tried before. So, now that we know the US Treasury can’t afford the tax cuts, what do we do? We should consider returning to the previous tax rates. A problem arises, however. The low income groups are now even worse off than they were before, and the middle income groups are also suffering major declines in income, asset values, and high unemployment. In short they cannot pay higher taxes with money that does not exist.

High income households can afford to do this. No ifs, ands or buts. They have the money. They have increased their asset holdings. They have not spent the idle cash, or else it would not be idle. Remember the new jobs that would be created by this tax cut? Didn’t happen so the rich got richer and everyone else got poor. Direly so.

So restoring the higher tax rates to the higher income households is not actually a tax increase. If there are those that feel otherwise, please make the argument of the highest income households returning all their accumulated wealth in the last 5 years due to the past tax cut. Then I’ll call it anything you want to call it!

Remember, they have the funds to do that. The rest of us don’t. Now that’s defining fair as it should be!

No doubt there will be howls of protest. Oh my! Where were these people when the bottom dropped out of the economic future for the rest of us? Hello?

If this doesn’t change, restoring the higher income tax rates, then there will be no middle income group of people to buy the products of the corporations or service providers. We will have returned to the medieval fiefdoms of the Dark Ages.

Evidently that is what the conservatives want. And evidently the mass of voters simply don’t understand the whole mess. They had better get up to speed. If they don’t, conservatives and rich people will have bought the votes of every Congressman and state legislator. That’s what happens when consumers consume and don’t pay attention to the rest of life’s happenings.

Words have meaning and consequence. So do votes. And misrepresenting the facts!

Now to fees and taxes. Seems the conservative Heritage Foundation got very upset the other day that a program in the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) was going to collect a 15-cent fee per live Christmas tree distributed in the USA. The fee was the brainchild of the Christmas Tree Growers association and they asked the USDA to collect the ‘check-off’ fee to fund a promotional campaign to sell more live trees this Christmas. It appears artificial trees have drastically reduced the market for live trees. Soooooo, the business leaders of that industry asked a government agency to collect the voluntary fee to pay for more marketing effort. But the Heritage Foundation called this a Christmas Tree tax by the government, presumably Mr. Obama. Talk about misrepresenting facts.

The fee was withdrawn by the USDA and the industry group because they had not expected this ridiculous brouhaha. Nor would I have! Or any other reasonable person. See what I mean by ideological obstacles and distraction?

We have the opportunity to move back toward the center in coming elections. See that you heed this opportunity for justice and fairness. Hell, honesty!

November 13, 2011