There has been a constant drone from the Progressives, including the President, that the rich should pay their fair share. I don't even have to say, “fair share of the nation's taxes”, because that's assumed. I assert that that's a whale of an assumption. It assumes that they're not already doing so. It assumes that taxes, which are collected by force of law, should be progressive, according to wealth.
Even if you granted that both those assertions were true, which they're not, the biggest assertion of all remains unstated: that our Federal government is embarked on the noble effort of helping our poorer citizens, and therefore has the moral authority and mandate to ignore the Constitution and rob from Peter to pay Paul.
The 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is pretty straightforward:
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the serveral States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.
What it does do is to trash the whole concept of States Rights. What it does not do is permit mob theft. That was done illegally by whatever Supreme Court decision approved the original income tax that applied only to the rich. That is democracy in action: two wolves and a sheep deciding on what's for dinner. That Robin Hood philosophy is the direct cause of the recent flash mob phenomonon. If the principle is valid in the U.S. tax code, what could be wrong with putting it in effect at the local mall? Isn't our “rule of law” setting a great example for our young?
I believe our tax rates should be uniform. Nobody should get a free ride, just as nobody should pay more. Presently 47% of Americans pay no tax at all. And those people are eligible to vote? That's insanity! The answer is not to take away their vote, the answer is to make them pay some tax. Keep the tax small so it's not a burden. Keep the spending down so that tax need not be a burden on the rich, either!
There is one catch. In order to get to a fairer tax structure, and fairer government in general, we need to make life in America fairer. The government cannot do that. Only we, the people, can. One of the things that will involve is that the rich start paying their fair share. Not in taxes, for the government can never solve the problems of the poor, but to American society, in the form of dealing more fairly with their neighbors.
Why charge more for a product, just because you can? I'm not saying to not make a profit, but just not to gouge, just because there's a temporary shortage, for example.
Why pay lower wages than you could, just because it will raise the bottom line that's already comfortable? I'm not talking about razor thin margins being ignored, but more along the lines of profit sharing. Read up on Henry Ford. One of the things he did that enabled him to get the assembly line concept up to speed very quickly was that he paid outrageously high wages for the day. He sure didn't have any trouble with organized labor 'til long after that policy was changed.
America used to be a very religious nation, and most of those parishioners gave tithes of 10%, which was properly used to feed the poor and help the disadvantaged. Of course, some wasted the money on temples and accouterments, but a lot of good got done. As people got more sophisticated, some of that transferred to larger charitable organizations, such as the Red Cross. Now the Federal government has stepped into the picture, and threatens to take over charity completely. Part of the President's Jobs Plan Tax Cuts is to cut the charitable deduction.
Social Security is a disaster. Anyone with common sense can invest money or buy an insurance policy that will pay them more than Social Security will for the same number of dollars invested. Experienced businessmen need to teach them that. People saved for retirement before Social Security existed. Why not go back to that?
Groups like the Red Cross can do more good than all the Federal programs, especially if they're well run and held to scrupulous standards as far as honesty and efficiency. When the country was attacked in WW II, hundreds of businessmen worked for “a dollar a year” to help with the logistics and manufacturing know-how that was needed to defeat the evil enemy and preserve our free way of life. Our way of life is under attack by an evil enemy today. That enemy is socialism, and it threatens to destroy the remnants of our constitutional republic, and replace it with a national democracy. If you don't know why democracy is bad, look up the French Revolution on WikiPedia. Where are the upright, patriotic citizens?
We need leading citizens, not politicians, to step forward and start non-profits, and encourage support and reform of existing organizations that can give real support and advancement to our poor. To show them the truth that it's their lack of education, motivation, and ethics that is holding them back, not some imagined conspiracy among the rich and powerful. We tried Social Security. We tried a government War on Poverty. They didn't work. If you don't want your children to live in a third-world country, regardless of how much swag you think you can leave them, you'd better get busy and do everything you can to straighten out this country and get it started back toward the path of morality, starting with yourself. Not to do that is to let the country go to the Devil. Literally.