Friday, February 11, 2011

Now, about those people who live off the sweat of someone else's brow...

I own a business, so liberals think I should pay more taxes.

If you work for someone, you likely pay 17% on income over $15000, plus 7.65% FICA. You keep $15,000 plus 75.35% of your all income above that. If you pay a state tax, that may be reduced accordingly, but you still get to keep most of your earnings - at least 70% of your income. And, if you earn less than $47,000/year, you likely get the income tax portion back. So, you get to keep between 70-85% of the income you earn.

Being self-employed, I pay 15.3% FICA and 33% income tax on every dollar I earn (AMT). That appears to leave only 51.7% for me. NOPE! I also pay 8% state business tax, leaving me just 43.7%. Then I have to pay unemployment tax, leaving just 40.2%. And my state charges 5% sales tax on everything I buy, so when I spend that 40.2%, I only get to keep 35.2%. (As a Christian, I give 10% to charity, actually leaving me about 25% of my income).

Assuming you also give 10%, you get to keep at least 60% of your income. I only get to keep 25% of mine. And liberals think that is fair.

I work hard. I build the business. I take all the risks. I invest my money in it. I don't work 40 hours a week - I put in 100 or more. I hire the people and pay the benefits. I move the economy. I have the worries and stresses that come with keeping a business alive and families supported. But I only get to keep less than half as much as you. And you think that is fair.

Why is that fair? Why should I have to give even more to you? If you want more, do what I do. Take the risks. Work harder. Build a business. THAT would be fair. But I do not owe you anything. There is no right to punish someone for working harder, for taking the risks, and building a business so he can hire you and support your family. That's called biting the hand that feeds you. And if you bite me too hard or too often, I'll just take my business to Mexico, India or China. Just like others have already done.

No, I do not owe you more taxes simply because I make more money than you do. We are all supposed to be equal, so when you pay as much tax on every dollar YOU earn as I pay on every dollar I earn, then that would be fair.

Liberals love to quote Thomas Jefferson with his "wall of separation of church and state" comment. Well, here's another quote by Jefferson, though suddenly the liberals lose interest in Jefferson when reading this:

"To take from one, because it is thought that his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare [give] to others, who, or whose fathers have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, ‘the guarantee to everyone of a free exercise of his industry, & the fruits acquired by it."

In other words, each of us should be abl;e to keep that which our sweat has earned, and no one who has not earned it should be entitled to take it.

/

No comments: