[quote=jficquette]Allan, why should a class pay 40% when they only have 25% of the income?
Allan, my point is our system was set up for fair and equal treatment for all. Never was the system intended to be punitive towards any class. Once you allow the system to treat a miniority class unfairly then its only a matter of time before other injustices pop up.
John
[/quote]
“Fair and equal treatment for all”? “Never was the system intended to be punitive towards any class”? Huh? What? Who said anything about fairness?
The problem here is that capitalism and democracy don’t inherently mix very well. Although the vast majority under capitalism are better off than they would be otherwise, resources tend to get concentrated at the top (that’s the nature of the system), and those beneath the top will always see some injustice in their relative positioning regardless of their absolute status. Democracy ensures that those beneath the top will, through the legislative process, take a big chunk of those resources from those at the top to distribute amongst themselves. And that’s just the way it is. It will never change. Atlas Shrugged is a work of fiction, after all.
In my view, all I ask of the government is that it attempt to balance two opposing objectives: (1) Keep taxes low enough so that distortions (and encroachments on freedom) in the economy are somewhat minimized (no, they don’t do a particularly good job of this), and (2) Keep taxes high enough such that “the masses” don’t revolt and burn down the house, so to speak (they do a slightly better job at this).
While I’m a “small-l” libertarian, I accept the fact that we live in a democracy and that if the masses get upset enough, they’ll revolt… and the benefits of lower taxes and greater economic freedom will be worthless. Yes, the government horribly mismanages our tax dollars; that’s the nature of the beast. But, in my view, taxes are the price we pay for social stability.
If you’re searching for “fairness” or “economic utility” in the tax code, you’ll be left wanting. Look at it as a system of bribes or extortion, if you like. But it keeps the system humming along. And that’s nothing to sneeze at. Just my two cents.
