Guest Commentary
by Joel Marchese
Conservatives always lash out at liberals for using class warfare as a tool to win elections. Liberals respond by saying that if only tax rates were higher for the rich than they are now, we wouldn’t need this debate.
Historically, the conservative argument for keeping taxes lower always wins when the empirical data is analyzed fully. Lower taxes result in greater tax revenues because it unleashes the private sector to create more jobs, and thus more payroll taxes are collected. This philosophy of lowering taxes to stimulate the economy and raise more tax revenue works ever time it is tried — as it did with Ronald Reagan’s presidency in the 1980s, and even during the Clinton and Bush presidencies.
So, why did we still have to suffer through a repeat of the class warfare debate during the Obama re-election campaign? Well, partly because class warfare is a cornerstone of the Obama Motis Operandi, but mostly because the argument seems to rally the Democrat base regardless of facts or data. It’s all about emotion and class envy.
So, what to do, what to do.
The answer is to adopt — once and for all, a flat rate income tax for all, a.k.a., the flat tax!
Yes, some will moan and groan. Others will sneer and cheer! However, once adopted, no “star-bellied-sneetch” can point to another sneetch and say — I want what he’s got! The whole class warfare debate simply goes away. We could put a fix on a number somewhere between the average single income tax rate of 7.2 percent and the average household income tax rate of 17.4 percent (based on the 2009 table of average income tax rates from the CBOs office).
A reasonable flat tax rate would seem to be somewhere around 12 to 15 percent for all income taxpayers. And, what about deductions — you say? These nasty critters remind me of the original Star Trek episode: “The Trouble With Tribbles.” They were cute, but there were just too darned many of them, and they just were not worth keeping around. Yes, some deductions are definitely worth keeping — like the Child Tax Credit. Since families by definition represent the future of our nation, we should always find any way possible to encourage families to grow and seek prosperity through hard work and savings.
So goes the end of the Class Warfare argument, where you can no longer point to fingers at someone who is successful and say — “he’s not paying his fair share of taxes.” Why, of course he is, and so are you!
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Joel Marchese is a conservative candidate for United States Congress in CA-53. Endorsed by Carl DeMaio, Joel is a strong grassroots conservative who advocates for small business, lower taxes and tax reform, smaller government and a desire to bring back a vibrant and dynamic economy to San Diego and all of Southern California. Joel will be opposing ten year Democrat incumbent Susan Davis for the 53rd Congressional District. http://joelforcongress2014.org