Michele Bachmann: Everyone Should Pay Taxes
Kudos to Rep. Bachmann for saying something that’s not going to be politically popular but is true none-the-less:
DES MOINES, Iowa — Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann is telling college students in politically important Iowa that all Americans should pay taxes since they all benefit from services such as roads and bridges, national defense and the courts.
Her position, which she was outlining today at Iowa State University in Ames, is a direct challenge to rivals Rick Perry and Herman Cain, who are advocating plans that would allow low-wage earners to continue paying no taxes while implementing a form of a flat tax on all other workers.
The Tax Policy Center estimates that some 46 percent of households this year will not pay federal income taxes.
Bachmann, a congresswoman from Minnesota, was set to talk about the economy as polls show her trailing behind other contenders in Iowa, which holds the first presidential caucuses in January next year.
To be fair, there are more federal taxes than just the income tax. There are the payroll taxes and the estate taxes, for instance. But payroll taxes go to specific But Bachmann’s point is that everyone should have some skin the game when it comes to paying for government, and when government gets bigger everyone should pay more.
One big problem with our government is that most taxpayers bear very little of the responsibility for paying for it, and even many who do shoulder some of the burden are a bit clueless on to just how much burden they shoulder.
Try this experiment: Ask your friends and family and neighbors how much they got as a refund the last time they did their federal taxes. They’ll likely be able to quote you a figure. Then ask them how much they paid in taxes despite that refund, and they probably won’t now.
That’s on purpose. The government doesn’t want you to know how much you pay in taxes, thus the refunds obscuring it. Many Americans perceive their income tax returns as less a bill they’re paying for government than free money from the government in the form of a refund. And don’t you dare try to convince them that it was their money to begin with.
That has to change. Taxes should be low, simple and broad. If we’re going to have a government, everyone should pay and when government gets bigger everyone should pay more.
Tags: Michele Bachmann, Taxes
