Taxes provide fire and police protection, education, clean air and water, sewer, national security, flood control, health protection, veteran”s benefits infrastructure, research, Social Security, medical, aid to the poor and many other benefits that make life better.
We all resent it when someone tries to “game the system.” President Clinton introduced welfare reform including work requirements and, contrary to current propaganda, President Obama did not do away with it.
The federal tax structure has been altered so that the super rich pay a smaller percentage of income taxes than the middle class.
The very wealthy, like the oil rich Koch brothers, contribute millions to keep their tax breaks, loop holes and subsidies. We only have to look back at the Bush tax cuts to see the disparity between the middle class and the very wealthy. It is not wrong to be wealthy; most of us would like to be rich but, in my opinion, it is morally wrong and unpatriotic to hide your riches away in off-shore accounts in order to avoid paying your fair share of U.S. taxes.
So why has Governor Romney refused to show at least five years of his tax returns as his father did? And why has he pledged to keep the tax cuts for the wealthy? (His running mate would be even more generous to them.)
It seems that the “good old party” of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Eisenhower has been taken over by the Plutocrats. This is not about class-warfare, it”s about fairness.
Bob Prather
Lakeport
