I involuntarily give at least half of my income to the gubermint, in the form of income tax, social security tax, state tax, property tax, energy tax, medicare tax, sales tax, excise tax, alcohol tax, emissions testing, …….. etc.
With the amount of money they are stealing, they have plenty of money to provide everyone with stellar health care – but Obama chooses instead to use it for such excellent ventures as spreading global warming propaganda, shutting down the government, bombing middle eastern countries and spying on Americans.
Yes, all those taxes, but still $17 trillion in deblt. Maybe if we give 120% of our income to the Government for taxes, we can achieve a balanced budget!
The producers of the products you buy are also taxed at each stage of development from raw resources to shipped result, so the effect is compounded.
That’s an excellent point that Socialists and Progressives ( and bewildered foreigners ) cannot understand. They say “it’s only 35% so stop complaining”. The true effective taxes for real taxpayers are almost incalculable. All our direct taxes are computed on the original gross, an evil concept that could only happen here in Socialist America. If you grossed “X” dollars total, Federal income tax is computed against “X”. And State income tax is computed against “X”. And FICA is computed against “X”. They do not compute against “X” minus previous taxes ( which ironically means that with enough of these taxes you could be liable for greater than 100% of what you actually make ). Then, our school and property taxes ( and other local taxes ) are assessed against some absurd real estate appraisal and not it’s actual value which is always lower. Then as Nik says, all production of everything is riddled with hidden taxes, and then the result is again taxed at point of sale, sometimes by multiple municipalities. And then you die and pay more against what’s left.
Consequently all taxes are biased towards maximizing the total, there are no breaks anywhere and sheeple are so used to it that they act thankful for little deductions, crumbs tossed their way to keep them stupid and non-critical. we are awash in taxes and there is some truth to the “conspiracy theory” that they serve to keep sheeple with “just enough” money to be able to live without real prosperity. And “prosperity” itself gets redefined all the time, especially under the DingleBarry regime.
America was founded because of a Revolution against an effective tax rate of probably no more than 10% total. Yet the Progressive cabal would have us believe that was a quirk, and they were happy to pay taxes if only they came from an elected body rather than distant kings. A second revolution is long overdue.
Yep, 50 % of 50 % of 50 % of 50 % of 50 % etc ad infinitum. Utimately it’s not even about the money but the control on how to use it. It’s like mommy and daddy cash-blocking a $100 bill gift from grandma and then spending it on mostly themselves with a $25 pair of slacks for you.
Our founders started shooting over far less.