Social Responsibility and Tax Overhaul
So,
I have studied up a bit on the recent tax overhaul proposals
submitted by the Republican administration in Washington. The recent
plan passed by the Senate to overhaul the tax structures for American
taxpayers seems socially irresponsible and repressive.
We know that
taxes are necessary, and we understand that taxes are used to advance
social concerns. We use taxes to protect the common welfare and to advance
the common good.
At the same time the recent bill passed by the
Senate seems to advance the welfare of the upper-class while
simultaneously punishing the lower class. How is that socially
responsible?
It would seem that those people most able to pay would
be willing or at least responsible enough to pay their fair share of taxes
in order to enable others to advance up the social ladder. What we see,
however, is that the upper-class gets the largest tax breaks and the lower
class is asked to pay for it.
Ironies abound. It strikes me as
supremely ironic that the people who voted for the current administration
are the ones paying for our leaders to manipulate laws as we watch the
wealth of the country move to the upper class.
Income inequality
has never been more real. The impact of this income inequality will affect
us for decades.
How is any of this responsible leadership?
Where is the stewardship for the common person, the struggling individual,
the working class?
It was Ben Franklin who said “Nothing is
certain except death and taxes.” It seems that today we have
altered that expression to say there's only one certainty for most of
us,” Death by taxes."