Taxes for the wealthy (or not)

Throughout America this week, citizens rich and poor will prepare to send in their federal income tax returns. While taxes are a vital part of our country as we know it, as they pay for everything, taxation remains a burden whose bearer is still up for debate.

Sitting here today, as a young, educated soon-to-be professional, it would be easy to say I am against increased taxes being imposed on the wealthy. After all, as a soon as I become a graduate of a Master’s degree program here at Virginia Commonwealth University, I will be earning an increased income subject to increased tax withholding. It would seem to me that the Bush administration would be doing me a favor by cutting taxes for the very wealthy.

Well, as someone who isn’t wealthy yet (but hopes to soon be), I don’t see it that way. I support high taxes on the wealthy because every service big and small that this country provides costs money. That highway you drove on to go to work costs money. The new stoplight at the corner of Shafer Court and Franklin Street costs money. Nothing is free, and there is a bill for everything.

While I think only the ignorant fail to understand that (see Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh), the major debate amongst those in this country is who should pay for it. I think the wealthiest, richest people should.

George W. Bush is the rich man’s president, and if you had to “Rob to get rich in the Reagan Era” then it must be impossible now for someone who doesn’t have wealth to attain it legally. That is why I think the rich should pay the most taxes – they sit at the top of the heap and collect money, yet they get so many tax breaks that the average everyday worker ends up paying more taxes than the CEO of the company. If the wealthy enjoy the best ride in a capitalist society, attaining wealth, then they should pay the highest toll in the form of high taxes.

In the current tax plans, it is a progressive, graduated tax based on how much you make. However, many loopholes exist such as charitable giving. For example, when the rich give 100 grand to a museum, they write it off on their taxes so they don’t have to pay a thing.

I am all for charitable giving, and if I had money to give, I would. Right now, though, I am poor, and I don’t, so that loophole heavily applies to the rich.

If they are giving from the “goodness of their heart,” there should be a $1,000 cap of money that is tax-deductible. If they truly wanted to give from the goodness of their heart, they wouldn’t need a tax deduction beyond $1,000.

Another possible change that would directly positively benefit those of the middle and lower classes would be the institution of being able to write off and deduct health insurance and medical costs. Since the Republican Party feels so strongly that Americans should not have socialized health care, why don’t they make health costs tax deductible?

The answer is because that philosophy would fail to benefit the wealthy, Republican corporate constituencies who already have health insurance.

Just remember that when you sit down as a college student this week to file your tax return from what little money you made laboring at a part-time job. If you had donated $10,000 dollars to a art museum, you might not have had to pay anything at all.

Michael Dickinson may be reached at mdickinson2112@aol.com.