All my life I have watched the liberals tax Americans, in every conceivable way, supposedly to fund their “progressive” social programs. When in reality it is merely a means for them to gain and hold personal & political power. Sometime early in the last century conservatives lost the battle for the hearts and minds of most citizens. I won’t go any further into it, other than saying that events equal to those, which happened in the first quarter of the twentieth century, are highly probable very soon on a world-wide scale. I submit to you that those living in the later half of this century will reflect upon the political choices made by electorate(s) of the last one hundred years and ask, “what in the hell were they thinking?”

Given that perspective and as our annual Income Redistribution Day, April 15th, is now behind us, I thought you might find certain aspects of tax collection to be enlightening.

The top half of income earners pay almost all of the income taxes—97 percent in 2005. The top 10 percent paid 70 percent of all income taxes and the top one percent forked over nearly 40 percent of the total. On the other hand, the payroll tax is a different animal.

Lower-income families are hit hardest by the payroll tax because it creates a higher marginal rate and often makes working more hours a losing proposition. Laurence Kotlikoff, a professor of economics, and David Rapson, a doctoral candidate, both of Boston University, studied the effect on hourly wage earners and determined that, for example, “For 30-year-old couples earning $20,000 a year, the marginal tax rate on an additional dollar earned is 42.5 percent; yet those earning $50,000 a year face a marginal tax rate of only 24.4 percent.” The researchers continue, “At age 45, couples earning $30,000 a year face a higher marginal tax rate (41.9 percent) than do those earning $200,000 a year (35.9 percent).” This astonishing punitive system of taxation really raises some eyebrows with another conclusion reached by Kotlikoff and Rapson: “At age 30, a single parent earning $10,000 a year faces a 72.3 percent marginal tax rate on an additional dollar earned due to their loss of welfare benefits; this rate is substantially higher than the 36.9 percent tax rate on the single parent earning $200,000.”

The net effect is, according to the Boston University researchers, “For workers who take steps to increase their income through working overtime, or through furthering their education in order to obtain a higher-paying job, the incentives to do so are dismal.”

Our forefathers revolted against Britain for a tax system far less punitive and unfair than the one we are saddled with today.

Oh, and one more thing: The Internal Revenue “Service” actually lost money trying to collect money. That’s right—the IRS expects to lose about $37 million to collection agencies hired to gather $1 billion in unpaid taxes. The companies have managed only $49 million so far, or about half of what the program cost. Never fear, however—the IRS says the program will break even by 2010.

Think about it.