The common mantra that I hear today is that the government should such and such, or the government needs to pay for this or that, or the government needs to do something about some injustice.
The first question that comes to mind is with what money? And the answer is always the same:
My money.
See, the American government gets the vast majority of its money from its own citizens; let's look at how:
1. Taxes. Income tax, medicare tax, social security tax, capital gains tax, corporate tax, special blond haired winos tax, blah blah blah tax, and the list goes on and on. The individual taxes are easiest to see; all we have to do is look on our pay stub and see the deductions.
The corporate taxes are a bit messier to sort out, but rest assured, as long as night follows day, so the businesses will pay the tax and pass the expense on to the consumers. So, we end up paying those also.
2. Tariffs. Tariffs are taxes placed on goods imported into the country. While I don't know the percentage of the total income of the U.S. government that tariffs represent, I do know that, just like corporate taxes, tariffs are passed on to the consumer in the form of higher prices. So, we end up paying tariffs also.
3. Fines. Fines by regulatory agencies such as the IRS, EPA, FAA, FCC, and ATF can be levied against individuals or companies, and we've already discussed who pays corporate expenses. So, we end up paying fines also.
4. Limited public property sales/rental. I include this only to address the minuscule amount that is brought in by the sale of public property such as specific frequencies for transmission (bandwidth) and federal land to private entities as well as the leasing/renting of bandwidth, public land (including parks, grazing land, drilling land, mining land, blah blah blah land, you get the point), and the Lincoln bedroom - oh wait a minute, that was for campaign contributions...my bad. I don't believe that this is a significant source of income for the U.S. government, but in the end, we end up paying for this as well.
5. Borrowing. As everyone knows, borrowing is not income, but can be misconstrued or portrayed as income. But all the T-bills will eventually come due, and the people who bought them will expect their money....with interest. So, we end up paying for borrowing also.
Now, here's the rub, once the government takes our money, who ever is in power considers the money as "the government's" and not the individuals from whom it took it. And so accountability dies; that is, unless the American people start making a stink about it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
The downside is that the American people won't make a stink about it. Ever. We're too consumed, as a whole, with our own greed, pettiness, bickering, etc. to ever mount an effective protest to stop such measures.
On the opposite side, Obama does want their to be accountability. Maybe not in the sense that you and I would like. But at least he's making an attempt where other have failed. Will it work out for him? I don't know. In the long run, probably not. I think we can both agree that health care costs have gotten out of control though. I don't know if the plan he's offering will help but I guess we'll see.
Unfortunately, Obama is on record as preferring a single payer system, ie, the government, so anything that he puts forth, in my mind, is aimed toward that goal.
Post a Comment