America's Love Affair With Deadbeats

I still have a bit of a financial-disgust hangover from Casey Serin's weekend beg-a-thon. Of course, in this frame of mind, it was probably not the right day for a friend to send me an email about the latest tax numbers.

The Tax Founation has released its latest special report, Who Pays America's Tax Burden, and Who Gets the Most Government Spending? The report finds that,

"Overall, we find that America's lowest-earning one-fifth of households received roughly $8.21 in government spending for each dollar of taxes paid in 2004. Households with middle-incomes received $1.30 per tax dollar, and America's highest-earning households received $0.41. Government spending targeted at the lowest-earning 60 percent of U.S. households is larger than what they paid in federal, state and local taxes. In 2004, between $1.03 trillion and $1.53 trillion was redistributed downward from the two highest income quintiles to the three lowest income quintiles through government taxes and spending policy."

While I questioned the rise of America's bottom-feeding class this past weekend, who knew that my Inbox would unearth even more of Casey Serin and his ilk. Maybe this is the "richness" in the lethargic class's "get rich quick" idea. After all, here in America, you can contribute the least and take the most, with few if any consequences.

As if that weren't bad enough, the Tax Foundation points out that "'Americans will work longer to pay for government (120 days) than they will for food, clothing and housing combined (105 days)," said Hodge. "Since 1986 taxes have cost more than these basic necessities. In fact, Americans will work longer to afford federal taxes alone (79 days) than they will to afford housing (62 days).'

In 2007 Americans will work another 41 days to afford their state and local taxes. That makes taxation a bigger financial burden than housing and household operation (62 days), health and medical care (52 days), food (30 days), transportation (30 days), recreation (22 days), or clothing and accessories (13 days)."

A rabid Libertarian friend has been advocating "No Representation Without Taxation" for years. In his mind, this means that, for example, the unemployed should not be able to vote on issues such as welfare spending or reforms.

After all, how many of us make an 800% return on our investments in one year? Far from it, most of us will spend the first 120 working days of 2007 to not only contribute to our communities' infrastructure, but to support the underachievers around us.

Have at it.....