The events of yesterday and today regarding revelations about DJT’s taxes reminds me of something I discovered as a candidate for Governor.
I believe that the fiscal situation that many states face is a direct result of state income tax policy. I firmly believe that state tax rates should be driven by income levels. I think it’s ludicrous that an individual making $30,000 a year is taxed at the same rate that soneone making a million dollars a year.
I was attending a meet and greet event where I was discussing my tax reform plan for the state. In a nutshell that plan would have raised the maximum rate for a state tax payer to 10%. The 10% max would not kick in until someone made over $500,000 a year.
When I finished explaining the plan a gentleman in the audience rose and told me he didn’t like that plan. Now I’m very interested in learning so I had a few question of my own. I asked him to provide a range of what he made annually. He replied he made less than $40,000 a year. I followed up and asked him how old he was. He responded that he was 47 years old. I explained to him that there was no downside to the proposed income driven tax structure since it would not raise his tax liability. He said he understood that but one day he might be earning a million dollars a year and he wouldn’t want to be subject to a higher state tax rate because he made more.
I have to admit that I was momentarily dumbstruck by his logic. Here you had a 47 year old man making less than $40,000 a year and he was concerned about what he would pay if by some quirk of nature he somehow defied all the odds and became a millionaire. I learned something about Americans and taxes from that exchange. I learned that far too many of us view taxes as a burden and not a responsibility of citizenship. I learned that the revelation of the NYT article wasn’t going to wake a lot of people up to who DJT really is. They will be too engrossed in trying to figure out how they too can game the system.
From the top to the bottom we are a society consumed by greed. For far too many of us there will never be enough. Coveting wealth is a national obsession. If we survive this mess we will have to change. We must figure out balancing the common welfare and satisfying individual needs.
By the way $400,000,000 million dollars is a lot of money to owe.
Think!!
Eyes Wide Open!!!
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