After the speech from President Obama and then followed by the speaker made me express a little of my opinion. I just feel like posting it here because I’m quite proud of the way I responded.
So to give you to low down… I came home from my softball game to find my little brother, who is very politically apathetic, writing a letter to our congressmen republican Mike Rogers about how angry he is that the house and senate have not been able to come to an agreement. My facebook status stated that I was very proud.
Anyway, a good friend of mine, and someone I care a great deal about commented with the following: Humor a right wing extremist. What do you think about the debt ceiling? If you had no opposition where would you cap borrowing/spending, if at all. If you were President and had a super majority in both houses, what would the tax rate be? Just curious and looking for real answers from my left leaning American friends.
So I responded, as I said I care a great deal for the person but I mean… he asked how I felt so this was my response.
Caitlin: First of all, the wealthiest Americans would pay a progressive REAL tax rate, rather than being in a much higher tax bracket but having an actual real rate of taxes LOWER than many middle class Americans. The fairness in a tax system is based on ability to pay. Are you a flat rate tax advocate?
Caitlin: A real flat tax advocate would take the debt of the United States and divide it by the tax paying population so that each citizen would pay one equal share. Yearly budget cost would be about 20,000$ per person, pay or go to jail. Why should someone making 50,000$ pay twice as much as someone making 25,000$? One simple reason: fairness. Wealthier people have a greater ability to pay, a flat tax recognizes that greater ability. Given people’s necessary expenses disposable income is exponentially greater at higher income levels. They can afford to pay more. Not to mention, that they use more. Their businesses ship on highways. Their wealth requires greater police protection. Their use of energy pollutes and consumes natural resources. All of this at a much greater rate than middle class and less wealthy citizens.
Caitlin: For the last 20 years the gap between rich and poor has increased tremendously. The redistribution of wealth has occurred at the hands of republicans, unfortunately taking from the lower levels and giving to the upper levels in subsidies, tax breaks, and tax cuts. No tax system can be fair if it does not recognize that tremendous wealth leads to a greater ability to pay, and receiving tremendous wealth would make any patriotic American happy to do their share.
Caitlin: So that’s just how I feel. And that’s what I would do. Because you asked.
