Almost 50% of all taxpayers who actually file a tax return end up paying zero actual income tax. And that’s great. There are lots of good reasons why we are allowed tax breaks and invest or pay for other things besides just income taxes. Things like interest on your homestead mortgage, child care if you and/or your spouse work, and large medical expenses are all exemptions to paying income taxes. But since there are now almost 312 million Americans, it’s time for everyone to pay their fair share.
We have a unique 21st century challenge that will either be the death of our Nation and World economy or the mile stone marker of when we really turned the corner to getting our lives collectively back. And that challenge is reducing our debt and our spending at both the individual level and on the federal level. We are broke and insolvent. It’s time to load the life boats and let the sinking ship fully submerge. Is it really this dire? Yes.
The ship (being the old way of borrowing and spending) has sailed; it’s now time to change course and change our lives once and for all. Allow those irreverent corporations and leaders who have fleeced both the shareholders and then our national government with their abusive tactics to pay us back. We cannot legislate morality or a conscious no more than we can realistically keep our teenagers from underage drinking or experimenting with marijuana. But we can ground our teens and then supervise them and keep them under our eyesight until they figure it out on their own.
And this is what we must do too with our Federal employees and politicians. Ground them. Set an ultimatum and draw a line. Forget saving the ship – we need a solution. With the cost of everything rising our government simply needs to stop spending. And we need to include every American (legal and especially “illegals”) to join the effort to bail out America one final time.
Imagine how easy it would be simply insist on those tax payers who do not actually pay any income tax to simply pay $100 per month. This easy requirement would raise $62.4 billion dollars. Even better, ask existing taxpayers to pay an additional $100 per month and now we’ve raised an extra $124.8 billion each year. But do not ask anyone for a nickel unless we stop overspending our budget. We just have to say no. This simple “easy” contribution would pay off one trillion in 8 years. Take another step?
Alright, ask those in America who earn over $1 million annually (estimated to be 700,000) to pay an extra $1,000 per month and now we’ve raised another $8.4 billion! Without touching Corporate America we can easily raise $133.2 billion per year in revenues for our great Nation and our shiny new ship on its return cruise to prosperity. Imagine how quickly we could float this boat if Corporate America got on board with this simple plan. Or let them keep their special tax breaks in exchange for creating more employment opportunities.
Would this help create jobs? Maybe. It couldn’t hurt. The number of unemployed Americans has doubled in the last 4 years, rising from 7.0 million on 6/30/07 to 14.1 million on 6/30/11. The number of manufacturing jobs in the USA has dropped over the last 30 years from 18.8 million on 6/30/81 to 11.7 million on 6/30/11. We can turn this back around by working together and communicating with our neighbors and educating each other and ourselves to this solution. We do not need to be stressed out and worried all of the time.
Even this plan would take almost 100 years to totally pay off our $14.3 trillion debt load. But hey, think about how fast a century flies by? And it’s the smart thing to do for our grandkids and great grand kids.
It may mean having to cut back on aid to those suffering abroad for a while but if we go down with our own debt ship, the rest of the World will suffer even more. It is a tough SOS call but it’s time for the grass roots of our neighborhoods and communities to start talking about better days and the solution to this challenge. It will be a testament to the greatness of the American Spirit of pulling together and truly helping each other through these dark days. Let’s figure out how to get everyone involved with this effort and begin by talking about this solution. It’s great to be on a winning team, let’s pull this one out before it’s too late.
