by Tina Grazier
The Republican Party, fully aware that our debt must be reduced, has found common ground with the President and Warren Buffet. New legislation proposed by Senator John Thune and Representative John Scalise will allow Mr. Buffet and other like-minded Americans to donate additional monies to reduce the debt along with their tax return. The law would allow contributions of any size and be in effect starting with next year’s tax return.
Democrats, who enjoy pitting one group against another, want only the rich to have this opportunity. In this political season they are playing a typical class warfare game. In this case it suggests that some Americans, the rich, are more equal, more important, than others. In my humble opinion that is a truly un-American idea and approach.
Like it or not we all share the debt our government has racked up because we have all allowed the insanity of government intervention and excess. Government should be neutral and in the business of oversight. Fiscal discipline and prudence should guide all spending of taxpayer dollars. After all, it is the people’s money they spend. Years of unwise policy and spending have led us to this unfortunate mess and polluted the American economy and government. We must take responsibility as Americans, united in our efforts to make America, once again, the land of freedom and opportunity.
This bill will allow Americans to follow their conscience and donate more revenue to the federal coffers for the express purpose of paying down debt. Everyone will have the opportunity to participate with as little as a one dollar donation and of course, no limit on the upper end. I suspect if the opportunity is granted by passage of this bill, Mr. Buffets donation will be substantially more than one dollar…and that, Mr. Buffet, is how the system should work.
Here’s an interesting fact from the he Tax Policy Center as reported by my information source for this story, FOX News:
According to the Tax Policy Center, households making more than $1 million this year will pay, on average, 29.1 percent of their income in federal taxes while a household making between $50,000 and $75,000 will pay 15 percent of its income in federal taxes.
A few Billionaires may be getting away with not paying their taxes but the majority of the rich in America already pay more in taxes than those in lower tax brackets.