"Rich" Now = Half of the Nation That Pays Income Taxes

by the Left Coast Rebel

Off the beaten Bin Laden news trail, I came across this piece via Memeorandum at the TaxProf Blog:

The Senate Finance Committee yesterday held a hearing on Is the Distribution of Tax Burdens and Tax Benefits Equitable?. In connection with the hearing, Ranking Member Hatch released this letter from the Joint Committee on Taxation reporting 51% of U.S. households did not pay any federal income tax in 2009.

The inequitable tax system that we have is so alarming that even Capitol Hill elitists can ignore it no longer.

More from WSJ:

As President Barack Obama pushes to raise income taxes on high earners, opponents are seizing on data that indicates these U.S. households already pay a large and growing share of taxes, even compared with high-tax European countries. And a new congressional study concludes that the percentage of U.S. households owing no federal income tax climbed to 51% for 2009. ...

This nation's progressive tax structure is as unsustainable as the Federal government's spending binge today. It's time we take the plunge and adopt a Flat Tax system where every American has skin in the game and votes in his interest -- and not to "stick-it" to "the man" which now includes the "rich" that shoulder most of the burden today and will be "you" sooner than later (if it isn't, already).

I want to be rich one day and am prepared to pay a reasonable percentage of my income in taxes.

Today's progressive tax system (which the Demo-statists think isn't enough) is not reasonable. Why should I be punished if I choose to start a business and work 80 hours a week to become wealthy?

In a sane nation, I would be rewarded and applauded for doing so, not chastised and hounded by charlatans in Washington.

Democracy becomes tyranny of the majority when those with nothing at stake vote to deprive others of their property. On that note, 51% of the population paying no federal income tax spells the end of this republic.

Capitalism demands the best of every man – his rationality – and rewards him accordingly. It leaves every man free to choose the work he likes, to specialize in it, to trade his product for the products of others, and to go as far on the road of achievement as his ability and ambition will carry him.

- Ayn Rand, For the New Intellectual

Read more about the Flat Tax system at Freedomworks, here.

Cross posted to LCR contributor sites.