Cumberland Times-News

Opinion

November 13, 2012

He’s among the 53 percent — and scared

To the Editor: Cumberland Times-News

There is a crisis looming and I for one am scared. I am not a member of the 47 percent. I am a member of the 53 percent who will be called upon to support a burgeoning government bureaucracy through increased taxes.

Not only will I be taxed directly through increased income taxes, but I, and everyone else who works for a living, who purchases goods and services with their own hard-earned income, will pay higher taxes as millionaires are penalized for making good.

Can anyone with a degree of common sense actually believe that when a business owner is taxed for his success, that tax will not trickle down to those who rely on this person’s goods and services? It’s simple accounting. If it costs more to do business, prices must go up to keep pace with the increase. Or goods and services are reduced while the price remains the same. Has anyone noticed that the portions in many of the goods we purchase are getting smaller while the prices are slowly inching up?

There is a growing segment in our society that has learned to rely on the government in order to survive. Gone are the days of self-reliance and taking care of our own. Instead we have our hands out demanding our piece of the pie without offering anything in return. And when you are no longer spending your own money on the goods and services you rely upon, does price even matter anymore? It becomes a self-perpetuating cycle that cannot sustain itself.

What will we do then when our supply of millionaires dries up? Who will the government turn to in order to maintain their spending? Why, the average working, American of course. And while we’re on the subject of taxing the wealthiest members of our country, do we understand the difference betweenearned income and investment income? Obviously not.

Let’s tax the rich and give it to the poor huddled masses, and when it comes time for you to start collecting on that 401K you’ve worked so hard to accumulate, be prepared to hand over a larger chunk of your savings. After all not everyone is going to be as prepared as you are for retirement, and we have to make sure they get a piece of the pie too.

There is a serious disconnect among a growing majority of the citizens of this country. It’s like they don’t realize that all of the money wasted by our government belongs to them. You hear comments like, “if the government needs more money, why not print more?” or, “Let the government take care of it they’ve got the money.”

Yeah, they’ve got your money. When they vote to give a new company a loan guarantee those are your tax dollars being offered up. When the company defaults and the original lender turns to the entity that guaranteed the loan. Those are your tax dollars going to pay for a pie in the sky idea. When they vote to give themselves a hefty pay raise, those are your tax dollars being used to support their lavish lifestyles.

And I say lavish because as a member of the 53 percent I can’t afford a second home. I struggle to keep the one I have as prices keep going up all around me while my earnings remain the same.

Richard Schiver

LaVale

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Opinion