The Truth About Taxes...

To many people, taxes are seen as "penalties" to be avoided at all costs. This is a misguided view of what it is that taxes accomplish for society. When one examines just what it is that taxes have done for this country, it is easy to understand that a progressive tax scheme is the only fair approach, and that tax cuts are really just another term for benefit cuts.

Tax money built this country and it's infrastructure. Tax money built the roads in your town and the interstate highways that connect them. Tax money helped to build the airports you fly in and out of. Taxes built the communications infrastructure utilized by every person and corporation in this country. Taxes built the internet infrastructure that helped bring about prosperity in the technology sector. Taxes pay for the court system in this country, a court system with the vast majority of cases dealing with corporate law and the legal framework necessary for a capitalist economy to run. Taxes pay for the protection of the people and their property, from traffic signs and beat cops to billion dollar planes. Without taxes, the United States would not be possible.

As you can see, everyone benefits from taxes. Taxes are part of what we pay for the benefits derived from living in a society. Unfortunately, those benefits are not equally accrued by all. Rather, some become much more prosperous compliments of the infrastructure and system provided by taxpayer money. It is only fair then, that those accruing a greater benefit from the system also pay more for that benefit. It can be likened to seating arrangements at events. The benefit of sitting in the best seats is much greater than the benefit of sitting behind a pillar, thus, patrons pay more for tickets to the best seats than they do for those in the back with an obstructed view. We accept this as fair. This is why a progressive tax scheme is the only fair way to approach taxation.

When people speak of tax cuts, they really speak of benefit cuts, because that is the inevitable result. For instance, returning to our theater analogy, if all tickets are the same price one of two things must happen: (1) the theater cannot maintain itself at peak levels due to the lost revenues; or (2) the single ticket price must be expensive to make up for the lost revenues, thereby forcing those behind the pillar to pay more for the same benefit. We would not accept this as fair. Equal payment is only fair if the benefit is also equal.

The same happens in society, cutting the payments of those receiving the greatest benefits leads to a loss across the board. It also allows those that benefit the most from all that tax dollars provide through increased prosperity and security made possible by the tax-built infrastructure to escape paying a fair share of the upkeep of that infrastructure. In the long-term, that infrastructure will then collapse, which will result in those that rely on it for their benefits to collapse. Without tax dollars to support all that makes America possible, everyone loses.