There are many analogies that one could bring to describe the method of spreading the cost of government but one that I really like involves a family that is moving from one home to another.  Let Dad carry the large pieces with Uncle Bob.  Let them move the appliances and the piano.  Let Mom organize the home and tell Dad where to put things.  She can also carry some of the lighter things like lamps, small rugs, refrigerated items and the coffee pot.  Let the young boy and girl, including the toddler carry the pillows or something small.  The point is, everyone contributes.  Everyone contributes something they are able to do.  The little boy and little girl do not help Dad with the piano because they can’t lift that weight.  Neither does Mom for the same reason.  The point here is that son and daughter need to be involved.  The smart mother and father give productive work to the children to make them feel a part of the family.   The same should be true when sharing the tax burden.  Everyone should participate.  Even the young children that mow lawns in the summer and shovel snow in the winter should participate to ensure they develop a sense of community. 

A very big error was made by both Ronald Reagan’s and George W. Bush’s administrations, perhaps by Kennedy’s too.  When they cut taxes they eliminated people from the tax rolls out of a sense of fairness to those of more modest incomes.  The tax cuts did them and the country no favor.  The result was that many people who were formerly taxpayers lost their sense of community.  The country is not only divided today between republicans and democrats, traditionalists and progressives, but it is divided between participants and non-participants.  How can a person be expected to participate in the American dream when they hold no responsibility to their state or their country? 

The most recent tax cut, the Bush tax cut, was probably the cut that broke the camel’s back.  I don’t mean to imply that the country couldn’t afford it.  Tax cuts are reductions in revenue from individual taxpayers, not increases in cost and when enacted the government might theoretically think it must do with less but this is not really true at least not in the aggregate.  The country did quite well as a result of the Bush tax cut from the macro perspective as is typical of most if not all tax cuts.  From Kennedy to Reagan to Bush tax cuts have resulted in an increase in economic growth which in turn resulted in an overall increase to the treasury.  More taxpayers making more income results in more tax being paid even though the tax paid is at a lower rate.  (A 28% tax on $1 million yields more tax revenue than a 30% tax on $800,000).  Where the camel’s back was broken is that we came close if we didn’t actually reach 50% of the electorate with that tax cut.  This is now 50% of the electorate that holds no real sense of community and no responsibility toward financing our governments. 

When I was a young man I worked summers and holiday breaks to put myself through college.  I remember how I hollered when the government took taxes from my paycheck which at $1.25 per hour was miserable to begin with.  The payroll tax, the federal income tax, the state income tax, these all were an imposition on me as a young unskilled wage earner who earned $50 but only got to take home $40 every week.  But for the price of $10 a week this taught me a valuable lesson.  I was a part of this too.  There was no free ride because I was only 18.  I had a responsibility to my country the same as my adult family.  I was now one of them.  In particular, when tax increases were discussed, I cared.  I did not like $10 being taken from my earned wages, the last thing I wanted to see was another dollar taken that I could better spend myself on tuition, room and board.  

In today’s America, that kid working for a minimum wage pays no income tax.  He/she pays the payroll tax but should they have no obligation to pay an income tax?  One need only look around and see that their perspective of this country as a result of this is that they are on the outside looking in, telling us what is wrong with the country or what the country should provide.  They live in a utopia.  Many are more able to tell you who some movie star is dating than they are able to tell you who the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Secretary of Defense or the Vice President is.  Many aren’t able to recognize a picture of George Washington or Abraham Lincoln.  This indifference can only happen when there is no sense of community and it isn’t just our education system that creates this environment.   

The lost sense of community does still more.  The sense of obligation having been lifted from the shoulders of low income persons results in a different view of the federal and state treasuries.  It is no longer “our money” including yours and mine, but it has become the governments’ money.  Where someone of meager means might never dream of marching down the road, knocking on doors and asking for money the same person is more than willing to accept earned income credits, property tax relief or any of many wealth distribution programs that are funded by the government at either the state or the federal level.  The money loses its identity as belonging to the taxpayers and people now expect the government to provide certain things they should be providing for themselves.  Healthcare is a fine example. We have all heard stories of the indigent person who sees the doctor in the emergency room, uses Medicaid as a source of payment yet has the famous IPOD, Blackberry, lighted tennis shoes, tattoo or designer jeans.  I believe many of these people would not do this if the Medicaid payment were understood to be coming from their own as well as their neighbors’ pockets. 

No matter how unpopular this will sound, I truly believe that any future tax programs should include a broadening of the tax base to include those who now pay no income tax.  I do not want to punish people and I certainly don’t advocate taking a large sum from low income persons.  I just want them to carry the pillows.