Dear Editor:
A Centertown man ponders what is fair (Dec. 18) and concludes poor people should not complain so much. We are told a person paying $14,000 in taxes receives the same government services as a person paying $263,000.
Should we take economic lessons from people who may need help signing a 1040EZ.
If they knew the tax code they would see immediately how unfair the system is for the working man. People with money make their money mostly in the form of capital gains not salaries. Capital gains are taxed at 15 percent. Families that make over $72,000 in 2013 will be taxed at 25 percent.
Without considering any deductions for this example that family would owe $18,000 in taxes. A billionaire/millionaire who sold $72,000 in stocks would owe $10,800 in capital gains taxes. Do you see the fairness there? I don't.
I never see the fairness when conservatives start talking about it. I see a hatred for the common man and a worship of the wealthy man.
The Centertown man tells us the One Percent is making it on their own because they provide services that "someone" values. That is a fairy tale. The super-rich 300-plus billionaires we have in America work hard at seeing the system is rigged in their favor. For example, they attack the inheritance laws to make sure they can pass on their wealth to their families. They see themselves as royalty in our society.
Too many conservatives worship wealth and greed. People who have hired batteries of attorneys and donated large contributions to politicians are treated with the greatest reverence by people of modest means who acknowledge their betters.
Conservatives have fought against a progressive income tax since it was first championed by Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt felt the wealthy took more out of society and therefore owed more in taxes. He also believed in a "living wage" for working men and women.
Today in America you can work full time and need food stamps to make ends meet. When you compute the factor of inflation into the equation, today's workers making minimum wage have 30 percent less buying power than minimum wage workers 25 years ago.
There has been a relentless slide into poverty for working Americans in the past three decades. Our Centertown wit hopes education will help in an economy where three people apply for every job. I don't see the fairness.