Deep In the Heart of Taxes

It comes as no surprise that Republicans are somewhat less enthusiastic than Democrats on the matter of extending payroll tax cuts. As I understand it the difference involves the means by which the cuts will be paid, either corresponding revenue increases or expense reductions.  Democrats favor a small surtax on income of more than a million dollars. Republicans, opposed to any tax increase, want a decrease in overall government spending.

During the fight over raising the debt ceiling, Republicans were adamant that eliminating benefits, such as subsidies or tax exemptions, was tantamount to a tax increase, sheer heresy in light of elected party officials’ oath of allegiance to that great public servant, Grover Norquist. A most conspicuous instance was their resistance to ending an oil drilling subsidy to Exxon/Mobil, the world’s most profitable corporation. I find it curious that they don’t see ending the payroll tax cuts in the same light. Granted, they are only a temporary part of our fiscal structure and require periodic governmental renewal. But then the same can be said of those hallowed Bush tax cuts. It seems mighty like a matter of different strokes for different folks.   

As well it should, but in the opposite direction! The cost of living in what most people regard as a comfortable manner has nothing to do with one’s income. If a family or individual can afford to live beyond that, the extra income required can be fairly taxed at a slightly higher rate. This reasoning applies in what can be considered “normal” times. But with the nation in worse financial shape than at any time since the Great Depression, this imbalance is even more essential. There seems to be general agreement that sacrifice is in order, but not on who should do the sacrificing. There shouldn’t be any question! A family whose home is threatened by foreclosure can’t afford to give as much as one whose worst case scenario is leaving a smaller inheritance.

Issues like these are rarely if ever decided ethically. The side that makes the most noise is usually the one that prevails. Big Money, as epitomized by the likes of the Koch brothers, has been in particularly good voice of late with the help of the Citizens United P.A. system But don’t lose faith. The time is near, maybe nearer than we think, when this sound will be barely audible over the din of inequity.