EDWARDS: Taxes at the Breaking Point | THE POLITICIZER

EDWARDS: Taxes at the Breaking Point | THE POLITICIZER: "April 15, 2009, tax day, came and went this year. If the IRS were a business, I would have shorted its stock. Tax revenue was down an astounding $138 billion, or around one seventh of the proposed 2010 federal budget. This 34% drop in tax revenue year-over-year is a result of reduced incomes economy-wide for both individuals and corporations. Moreover, 47% of Americans won’t owe any income tax this year, up resoundingly from projections of 38% touted by our always fiscally-inclined president on the campaign trail.

I understand that in the last year people have lost a lot of money. People’s IRA’s have decreased in value, their pensions have decreased or evaporated into thin air, and their stocks have pulled back significantly, all of which reduce incomes and have resulted in the reduction of the number of taxpayers.

This year, almost half of Americans will be “net takers” from the government as they are contributing nothing to tax revenue, but they will be utilizing many public programs and projects that are funded by federal money. And so, instead of trimming back its programs by the same 34% by which its revenue decreased in 2009, the government taxes those who are well-to-do at a higher rate (almost as if those people receive more utility from the programs and projects they are paying for).

2009 marks a generational event in federal taxes—the highest overall tax rate and greatest iniquity in tax rates since America’s beloved peanut-farmer-turned-president Jimmy Carter was in office. Tax rates for middle and low-income workers are approaching 30 year lows and tax rates for the well-to-do are approaching the high-40% range and possibly even 50% in some states, according to some legislators."