Thursday, October 11, 2007

Romney Right on Taxes





I had an interesting conversation with a friend at work the other day, let's call him Adam. Adam said if his taxes were lower he might be able to afford to pay his tithing (a 10%) to his church. I thought about this in relation to a study I remembered hearing about earlier this year about the most generous Americans being those who made less than 100,000.00 per year. Since, I am in that category I thought about myself, and sure enough I DO in fact give 10% of my income in tithing to my church, I do also often make contributions to various charitable organizations such as the USO, the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and the Red Cross. Now, I'm not saying this just to pat myself on the back, but it got me thinking about how much more Americans would donate to charity (especially the middle-class) if they got to keep more of their own money.

I looked at my own income and taxes, and frankly I can't believe I give away as much as I do considering how much Uncle Sam takes away:

18.2% Federal Income Tax
9.3% State Income Tax
8.9% State Sales Tax

Those 3 alone would equal out to me already paying 36.4% of my income in taxes.
If only America's taxes were so low. The politicians spread them out and hide them in many different places, for the very reason that you can't figure out how much you are REALLY paying.

Property Tax (over 5000 per year)
Gasoline Tax (In California 46 cents per gallon)
Recycling Tax (in California 5 cents per bottle or can)
Cel Phone Tax (10.24 per month on my bill)
Sewer Fees
Water Tax
Vehicle Registration Fee (Tax)
Driver's License Fee (tax)
Alcohol and Cigarette taxes
Utility Tax
Cable TV Tax
Phone line taxes
Computer Recycling Tax (if you buy a computer)
Recycling Tax (if you buy new tires)


Sad part is I'm sure I left a bunch of them out that I don't know about. In the end though I may be paying closer to 50% of my income to taxes to the government. Add in the 12-15% that I give to charity and my family is scraping by on the 35% of my income we get to keep. Then out of that 35% if I put any of that into savings, I then have to pay taxes on any interest it earns. Then, if I die and leave any money I may have saved to my family. They have to pay taxes on it again after I'm dead. It needs to stop and needs to stop right now.

Now Mitt Romney has it exactly right when he says, "raising taxes hurts working people and scares away jobs. I also said no to more borrowing; borrowing just shifts our problems to the backs of our kids . . . Instead, I went after waste, inefficiency, duplication, and patronage."

Mitt Romney has a 7 point plan for reducing the tax burden on his website the outline goes as follows:

1. Make the Bush Tax Cuts Permanent
2. Roll back tax rates for all Americans
3. Eliminating Taxes on Middle Class Savings
4. Eliminating the Death Tax
5. Cutting the Corporate Tax Rate
6. Opposing Social Security Tax Increases
7. Making Medical Expenses Tax Deductible


All of these points are effective and far reaching in the battle to let Americans control their hard earned money. And, I support all of them. They demonstrate Mitt Romney's brilliance, and ability to analyze and see things where others do not and come up with new ideas.

If I may however, and being that I am a part of the middle class I believe I just might know what could help the middle class the most. Allow me to suggest point number eight.

8. Eliminate the Marriage Penalty



The Marriage Penalty may be the worst idea in the history of taxes. America has already seen how the Government can shape social behavior when it started giving more money to unmarried welfare moms. What happened there after? The number of unmarried welfare moms skyrocketed. The Marriage Penalty was introduced in 1969,anyone want to guess by what percentage single parent homes increased? Try from 11% to 27%. And that's just from 1969-1999. It's probably even higher today, and it is proven to be much higher among African-American and Latinos.

If Romney is pro-family he couldn't hardly do the American family a greater service than eliminating this heinous tax. Why should people be penalized for being married? When the government makes punitive tax codes for marriage it sends the wrong message, and it makes it especially hard on those of us who are trying to raise a family on single income so that our children might have the benefit of a mother in the home. If anything couples should get some sort of tax break for being married. If the nation is made up of states, and the states are made up of counties, and the counties are made up of cities, and the cities are made up of neighborhoods, and the neighborhoods are made up of families - strong families means a strong nation. Therefore, shouldn't the federal government do everything in it's power to support the American family?

Governor Romney we are counting on you.

No comments: