It's deadline day today for filing your federal income taxes -- and Walter Rodgers, a former ABC News and CNN correspondent is thrilled, proclaiming in a recent Christian Science Monitor op-ed: “I'm happy to pay my fair share to the government. It's part of my patriotic duty -- and it's a heckuva bargain.” Rodgers proceeded to scold “chest thumpers who paper their cars with chauvinistic bumper stickers and grumble about supporting the government of the country they profess to love” as they dare to complain about taxes:
There seems to be an inconsistency about people who insist on wearing flag pins in their lapels, but who grumble about paying taxes. My friends grouse about government as though they had minimal financial or moral obligation to support it. Are they not part of "We the people"?
Rodgers insisted that “reluctance to pay one's fair share flouts 'the better angels of our nature'” and “genuine patriots,” he contended, “don't complain about their patriotic obligations.” He concluded: “Pay up and be grateful!”
Rodgers has long believed Americans don't pay very much in taxes. Back on August 6, 1993, in a report for Good Morning America on the Clinton budget deal which raised income taxes, Rodgers acknowledged a downside to higher rates before pointing out how Americans pay less than most others:
There will be a ripple effect throughout the economy because of higher gas taxes and increased costs to small businesses. But on balance Americans will still be paying lower taxes than most of the rest of the world.
Of course, many Americans oppose higher taxes because they do not want this country to become more like socialistic European nations and see every tax hike as a step toward that reality.
The MRC's Clay Waters alerted me to the Rodgers op-ed that Waters saw excerpted in The Week magazine. The Rodgers op-ed, “Taxes -- my patriotic duty. Quit grumbling. Pay up and be grateful!” ran in the April 2 Christian Science Monitor, but is certainly timely today. An excerpt:
It's early April, which means these are the few days of the year when Americans of almost every political stripe unite in a perennial ritual: complaining about taxes.
....Count me out. I'm happy to pay my fair share to the government. It's part of my patriotic duty -- and it's a heckuva bargain."Taxes are what we pay for living in a civilized society." Those words are written in stone, so they must be true. They're there to read for anyone who bothers to look up as they stroll past those New Deal-era government buildings on Constitution Avenue in the nation's capital.
They are the words of former Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Now there was a man! A patriotic taxpayer, not one of those chest thumpers who paper their cars with chauvinistic bumper stickers and grumble about supporting the government of the country they profess to love....
Federal income taxes are a terrific bargain in America. I like to tell my tax-grumbling friends about my last year in Israel, when the Knesset passed a new tax code that would've seized 70 percent of my income. When I lived in Berlin, my tax rate was 50 percent, and when I left England three years ago I was paying a 40 percent rate to support a gilded monarchy and a national healthcare system that did not function very well....
There seems to be an inconsistency about people who insist on wearing flag pins in their lapels, but who grumble about paying taxes. My friends grouse about government as though they had minimal financial or moral obligation to support it. Are they not part of "We the people"?
I never calculated how much I paid in taxes over a working lifetime, but I began when I was picking blueberries in Maine in 1954, so it must have been a lot – an awful lot. I am rather proud of my contribution to the US Treasury over a half century. My Social Security taxes have helped soften the blow of old age for many of the World War II and Korean War veterans. I hope my federal income taxes made the lives of woefully underpaid schoolteachers just a little more comfortable, helping with their Medicare or Medicaid bills....
And oh, by the way, the words carved in stone on that federal building are at 1111 Constitution Avenue. It's the headquarters of the Internal Revenue Service. Pay up and be grateful!
—Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
So Mr. Rodgers,
Tue, 04/15/2008 - 12:02 ET by JungusSo Mr. Rodgers, did you feel so gratefull that you gave more than the minimun taxes owed? If not, then I doubt your gratefullness. Plus, if the current rate is "great", then the German 50% and Isreally 70% must be even greater.
Perhapse when you give to charity (if you do) you don't use it as a tax write-off? Are you that "gratefull"?
I'm only greatfull that I don't get as much government as I pay for interfering with my life. But it's still is too much.
I always feel better when I
Tue, 04/15/2008 - 12:53 ET by Chris NormanI always feel better when I voluntarily give money to a charity that I feel is doing good work with the money they have...
Genuine Patriots
Tue, 04/15/2008 - 12:09 ET by sarcasmoSpend a lot of time wishing our obese government's income taxes would add up to less than a tithe. We also think those who defend a tax level of well over 10% while thumping a Bible aren't terribly convincing.
JMR
The tax & spend drug war looks racist in the real world.
The unanswered question of course....
Tue, 04/15/2008 - 12:20 ET by Prester John....is how do you define "fair share"?
Fair Share
Tue, 04/15/2008 - 15:00 ET by ThisnThatFair share is the key. The top 1% of taxpayers pay over 32% of the taxes in this country. The bottom 50% pay 1% of the total taxes. So, was he targeting the 50% who pay low or no taxes; or is he targeting the people who already are paying more than their fair share?
___________________________________
If you can read this, thank a teacher. If it is in English, thank a Soldier. - My barber
how do you define "fair
Tue, 04/15/2008 - 18:29 ET by motherbelthow do you define "fair share"?
If you're "rich", the liberal answer is easy: "More."
Taxes rule!
Tue, 04/15/2008 - 12:39 ET by RainsfordI always feel a sense of pride when my taxes go towards the operating costs of a Planned Parenthood clinic or to help feed the cocain addiction of a single mother of two whose living off Welfare. What an honor to help out!
I don't mind my taxes going
Tue, 04/15/2008 - 12:43 ET by Free StinkerI don't mind my taxes going towards a shiny new F-22, or another Aircraft Carrier, or a raise for the troops.
Somehow, I don't think that's what Rodgers meant though . . .
Pledge to not support RINOs ever again!
Exactly Free and Rain - it's what the money is spent on
Tue, 04/15/2008 - 13:33 ET by Dee Bunkthat matters. Taxes are not there to give career politicians and their friends and family lives of endless luxury while creating an underbelly of society who are made to believe they can't take care of themselves and need to be happy for the scraps tossed their way. Taxes should be spent on infrastructure and defense.
Liberals complain just as much as conservatives about paying taxes unless they are the one's who have inherited their money or got really lucky. The only difference is liberals think someone else should pay their share.
Pay? I wouldn't use the
Tue, 04/15/2008 - 12:47 ET by ConservativeRexPay? I wouldn't use the word pay. The government takes..that's the word to use, takes our money. If I wanted to pay for something it damn sure wouldn't be taxes, so instead the government takes it's taxes.
I don't have to list even a portion of what the government does with the money it takes. But we all know it needs to be spent better. THAT is the government's sacred duty. THAT is the governments patriotic duty. To treat everything they TAKE from us wisely. The government should be grateful we acquiesce as easily as we do to someone taking what we have earned. I believe Mr. Rodgers is in need of an education.
Well Mr. Rogers...
Tue, 04/15/2008 - 13:00 ET by NavyBuckeyeraise your right hand and repeat after me "I, Mr. Rogers......" that's right, you're not that patriotic. I serve my country lint licker(love that commercial) and am one damn patriotic American. But Mr. Rogers, I hate having the government take my money for crap we don't need....and I am not talking military spending. I am talking entitlement and wealth redistribution. So Mr. Roger keep on loving your taxes......and in fact why don't you just volunteer to give more. I mean I volunteered to give my life if need be, you can at least give them your complete paycheck since you love them taking so much from you.
It's idiots like this that will keep the Fairtax out of the mainstream.
“Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter” - Thomas Jefferson
It's a wonderful day in the Socialist neighborhood
Tue, 04/15/2008 - 13:05 ET by CobraManMr. Rodgers, you are completely ignorant of most Americans and our patriotism.
Most Americans DO pay their taxes. They pay a LOT of taxes. They pay a great perentage of all their money in taxes. But not matter how much they pay, no matter how much they sacrifice, the politicians keep spending it faster than it is generated. That's loose/loose situation, wouldn't you agree? I've seen this my entire working life. No matter how much I pay in taxes, it's never enough and I'm asked to pay more and more every year to local, state, and federal governments.
You see, we're not complaining about paying taxes, we're complain about being forced to pay greater and greater amounts of taxes only to receive less and less effective results from Government. We, for example, pay billions and billions of tax dollars every year for things like government regulated "public" education, only to see our children learn less and less useful information and, in a lot of cases, we see our children fail and/or drop out of public schools in higher and higher number.
No matter how much we pay in increased education taxes, we get an even
larger decrease in the effectiveness of those education dollars when
they are controlled by government. Instead of helping the citizens, the
government is actually hurting them. The citizens give their money to
the government for the betterment of all only to see that money wasted
by that same government to the detriment of all.
It’s seems that, even though the citizens are patriotic and pay ever
increasing amounts of taxes to the benefit of the government, the
government is not being patriotic in return by using that tax revenue
in a manner that is truly beneficial to it’s citizens.
Cobra...
Tue, 04/15/2008 - 13:21 ET by NavyBuckeyeyou hit the nail on the head. I send my kids to private school and it is a billion times better. It hurts my savings but it is worth every penny.
Also we pay more and more for what? A hippy museum at the site of woodstock.......give me a break. Mr. Rogers obviosly is oblivious to what we do pay"
-Income tax state/federal and sometimes local.
-FICA/Social Security tax
-Real Estate Tax
-Death Tax/Inheritance Tax
-Capitol Gains Tax
-Luxury Tax
-Here in VA car taxes every year
-Numerous others that states/cities decide to make up
So this guy is just a moron.....
“Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter” - Thomas Jefferson
Don't forget: Sales
Tue, 04/15/2008 - 15:04 ET by ThisnThatDon't forget:
Sales taxes.
Sin taxes (cigarettes, alchohol).
The ever-luvin' Alternative Minimum Tax.
Telephone user fees (read: taxes).
Real-estate Transfer tax (for the privlege of selling your property to another person).
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If you can read this, thank a teacher. If it is in English, thank a Soldier. - My barber
And don't forget that those
Tue, 04/15/2008 - 18:31 ET by motherbeltAnd don't forget that those of us who send our kids to parochial schools pay twice...we pay taxes for the government schools that we don't use, and then for the school that we do use.
America not the same as American Government
Tue, 04/15/2008 - 13:31 ET by 911isbusy"There seems to be an inconsistency about people who insist on wearing flag pins in their lapels, but who grumble about paying taxes. My friends grouse about government as though they had minimal financial or moral obligation to support it"
There is no inconsistency. In fact, they are not related. Americans' pride in their country has nothing to do with government - it has to do with what they believe. They believe in freedom and inalienable human rights and we entrust government to protect those freedoms and rights and not infringe on them. We don't worship politicians (Obama supporters notwithstanding); we expect them to work for us. We think of government more properly as "government employees" - citizens just like us given powers soley for the purpose of maintaining our freedoms.
Those who have not swords can still die upon them.
American tridition demands
Tue, 04/15/2008 - 13:35 ET by bassndudeAmerican tridition demands that we rebell aginst taxes! Our history is rife with tax revolts dating back to Boston in 1773. Some reporter you are......dude!
Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!
Excellent point
Tue, 04/15/2008 - 14:00 ET by seldumondeYou raise an excellent point. This guy has no idea about American history - we revolted against taxation without representation. Which is exactly what we are paying for - our tax dollars are being given away to others, used to fund all sorts of massive, wasteful programs, and give bureaucrats nice cushy lives. Maybe this reporter would like to call the founders of this country unpatriotic because they didn't take "pride" in propping up an English monarchy that was oppressing and failing them. Truly, only a mind-numbed zombie would write something like this - someone who has such incredible, undying faith in government that he puts paying taxes ABOVE tithing or giving to charity.
TEA TAXES...
Wed, 04/16/2008 - 06:28 ET by danybhoyWhat was the rate, like 3 or 4%, & we kicked the Brits out? We really need to teach actual American history in this nation's schools.
"Some of us are wise, some of us are otherwise" Mark Levin
MR. Rodgers....
Tue, 04/15/2008 - 13:48 ET by c5thenAre you aware that part of your "fair share" is going to be sent out in $600 chunks per adult and $300 chunks per child as a "rebate" to millions of people who didn't pay taxes this year, or last year? How's that for fair?
The day that "politician" became a career choice is the day we started losing the Republic. Let's get it back! Alan Keyes '08.
Narcissistic morons like
Tue, 04/15/2008 - 15:34 ET by fitzfongNarcissistic morons like Walter Rogers, who are anything but patriotic, like to trot out terms like "duty" and "patriotism" in an attempt to paint duty bound patriots as phonies. It's a nice try, but it's borne of ignorance and/or dishonesty which leads to faulty, erroneous conclusions. This country was founded in large part to combat arbitrary tax policy designed to grab the peoples' money simply because the antiquated government could. I love this country not because I was born here, but because our system of government is the best conceived when it comes to guaranteeing individual freedom. Why do our soldiers fight? Not to institute a collection of failed socialist government programs, but to protect the rights of this country and its inhabitants to continue to live the way the Constitution intended us to live...with freedom and opportunity. High taxes drain the Treasury of the revenue they're "intended" to increase. I'm not about to be lectured about my "patriotic duties" and my "fair share of taxes" by some elitist pinhead who has never run a business in his life. I pay more than my fair share of taxes and, unlike this passenger, I keep the economy going...as do most of us all.
I believe it's "the govt
Tue, 04/15/2008 - 16:00 ET by robert108I believe it's "the govt of, by and for the people, not the people of, by and for the govt."
This leftie has it backwards, as usual.
The govt works for we
Tue, 04/15/2008 - 16:03 ET by robert108The govt works for we Americans, and they're overpaid.
as soon as
Tue, 04/15/2008 - 18:13 ET by UndercoverConservativethe government spends money on what "we the people" want (instead of special interests, supporting a lazy and greedy underclass, and arse kissing of foreign nationals) then "we the people" won't have a problem with funding it.
Doesn't cost all that much per capita to maintain roads, maintain military, and all those very few things that the Federal Government is *Constitutionally* allowed to tax and spend money on.
NEA, federal "crime bills" and "think of the children" handouts are where most of the money for the government goes. Military expenditures are a lot lighter if you a) use the military enough to scare people into leaving you alone and b) not use the military as a police force but as a "force of nature".
let the States figure out how they want to manage social programs or even whether or not some nanny state program is even necessary. Then we have the choice to move from states that suck to ones that don't. And since there's no "delegates" to choose candidates for Governor, we actually get a more realistic representation of chosen officers.
Plus it reduces the influence of Congresscritters and Presidents, making the whole circus for Presidency to be worth less, and less attractive to power hungry people.
"to call an illegal immigrant an "undocumented alien" is the same as calling a streetcorner drug dealer an "unlicensed pharmacist".
We the People
Tue, 04/15/2008 - 18:46 ET by CobraMan"They are the words of former Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Now there was a man!"
Here’s some words for you to consider, sir.
“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
Those words were written by the founders of this great country, men who rebelled against excessive taxes, who fought a war, who lost
their sons and daughters, fathers and mothers to the long and bloody
struggle, and who, through shear perseverance, defeated one of the
greatest governments of its day and, in doing so, won freedom for us
all. Now THEY were REAL men!
It is We the People who "in order to form a more perfect union" actually "establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity," and not the government. It is We the People who ARE the government and yet you act as if you believe that the government is somehow separate from, and master to, We the People.
Despite the history of America, despite the sacrifices made by the fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters of We the People over the last 200 years, you believe that we are unpatriotic simply because we believe that taxation without representation is wrong and that the government is subservient to We the People instead of We the People being subservient to the government? Well, sir, I believe you have it completely backwards and that, by believing that We the People are subservient to the government, you are the one who is truly unpatriotic, and not us.
Despite your apparent disgust of We the People and our beliefs, you can rest assured, sir, that you may continue to belittle, mock, and insult We the People to your heart’s content and to do so free from violent reprisal simply because We the People will fight to the death to protect you, and your right to state your views in public, against all aggressors, both foreign and domestic.
I do actually think it's
Wed, 04/16/2008 - 00:30 ET by Lacus OdiiI do actually think it's unpatriotic to complain about taxes, because we are running into deficit spending on the war. Right now NOBODY is paying their fair share. Who's going to pay? Everybody seems to be saying "not me!"
How much do you owe, roughly? The budget deficit is about 9.4 trillion. The population is about 300 million. To be fair, about 25% of the population is too young to vote, so I will exclude them. That leaves us 225 million citizens. Therefore, the average citizen tax responsibility, not including what you are already paying, is $41,777.78. These are really rough numbers, because if during the Reagan administration you were either not a citizen yet or not of voting age, you weren't responsible for about 3 trillion of that 9.4. The money has to come from somewhere. Realistically we are not going to be cutting spending until we are out of Iraq, so your options are paying more taxes or riding out the clock and sticking the bill to your grandkids.
Personal responsibility: conservative value #1. Quit whining and pay your fair share.
How hard is it to
Wed, 04/16/2008 - 00:49 ET by fitzfongHow hard is it to understand? You cut tax rates across the board, cut wasteful government spending and realize increased revenues to the Treasury. Most of the government programs are frivolous luxuries during times of peace...the fact that they're extended during times of war is a disgrace. Try educating yourself in economics before lecturing others on patriotism, whining and paying a "fair share".
Yeah, ideally, except there
Wed, 04/16/2008 - 02:02 ET by Lacus OdiiYeah, ideally, except there are like a million things we're doing that prevent that from working. Like the faction in the Republican party that completely ignores the externalities of massive illegal and (in the case of general amnesty) legal immigration. Let in the very-poor in large numbers and drive down the cost of labor and watch consumer spending drop and social programs and emergency room funding skyrocket. Ship industry overseas and legalize their Bermuda holdings companies and you can't tax them anymore. Spend a gazillion dollars implementing a domestic surveillance system of questionable efficacy and award your contracts no-bid so there's no competition and no penalty for fraud waste, then use that system to catch phone scammers. You can't just say we'll cut spending and that'll increase tax revenues, because we aren't in fact able to cut social program spending significantly while more and more people need it, and the revenues aren't going to go up that much anyway.
Look, you make a good point
Wed, 04/16/2008 - 03:00 ET by fitzfongLook, you make a good point about the illegal immigration issue. We are effectively subsidizing corrupt governments by taking on the responsibility of providing the health care and education for millions of their citizens. But when you tax the hell out of the businesses that provide employment here in the U.S....when through onerous litigation, regulation and mandates, you make the cost of doing business in this country too great, you can't complain that these companies say "screw this" and move so many jobs to places where the business climate isn't so hostile. And the economic atmosphere is only getting worse as these grandstanding politicians create an energy crisis that doesn't need to exist...it's a supply side problem, but we have frauds like Al Gore working to deny the country access to the supply because of half-baked socialist theory cloaked as "science". And if you want to talk about "no bid" contracts, why not start with the public school system? Every year, we are forced to shell out more and more of our hard-earned money to breathe life into this bloated corpse because the NEA is such a powerful lobby. If the union members spent less time beating their chests demanding more money, and more time concentrating on basic education (like Math and English), the public schools wouldn't be churning out so many imbeciles. And the worst part is that the public school system is totally unaccountable to those who fund it. If they fail, which they usually do, it's not for us to demand improvement...it's for them to demand even more money to do an even poorer job. Any time someone comes up with an alternative to the antiquated education system (home schooling and vouchers are but two examples), the Union Mob organizes to saturate media with misinformation and to bully politicians into maintaining the status quo.
Bottom line: when you cut tax rates across the board, you free up capital for individuals to invest, to create jobs and to create more taxpayers...leading to more tax revenue. Then, when you cut wasteful spending...to social services, public school cost overruns, new Robert Byrd vanity projects, etc., you can close the deficit. It's time we realized that business is not the enemy of this country...big, wasteful government is.
"Loco Odii",
Wed, 04/16/2008 - 01:07 ET by gfrrmanjust WHO isn't paying their "fair share"? How are people that pay no taxes(in the lowest bracket of income earners) paying their "fair share"? I suggest you bone up on the GAO's numbers of who pays what in taxes before you even discuss taxes and who is paying their "FAIR SHARE". You have NO IDEA!!! Educate thyself young grasshopper!! You will rue the revealing truth!!
"Eventually, Socialists run out of other peoples' money...." MARGARET THATCHER
Fair according to what
Wed, 04/16/2008 - 01:33 ET by Lacus OdiiFair according to what standard? In general it's the rich that have the most invested in the system and that have the most economic and political power, so they both have more privilege and more responsibility. That's why they pay more taxes, because the government protects them more. Therefore they have a bigger responsibility for the deficit. I don't know by what reasonable criteria one could argue that everyone's tax burden should be exactly equal. Poor people take more in social services, but rich people take more in institutions like for example government-backed bank insurance, FTC regulation, anything that is supposed to guarantee a stable environment in which wealth can be created.
Loco
Wed, 04/16/2008 - 02:42 ET by gfrrmanI guess those pesky fact stastistics by the GAO on who pays what in taxes in this country are just the things you don't want to look at. Look first and then comment, otherwise your babbling is not conducive to the conversation. "Feeling" good doesn't cut it!! Btw, how many "poor people" have you gotten a job from...ever!!..and your last statement says it all, "anything that is supposed to guarantee a stable environment in which wealth can be created." The people do this NOT the GOV'T. Geez!!
"Eventually, Socialists run out of other peoples' money...." MARGARET THATCHER
When the government EARNS
Wed, 04/16/2008 - 05:31 ET by SlicksterWhen the government EARNS the taxes I'll be more than happy to pay.
Supply and Demand, it's how we work
Wed, 04/16/2008 - 11:49 ET by CobraMan"Fair according to what standard?"
The government's standard, naturally. After all, they are the ones who take our money as taxes and they are the ones who decided just how much money we should pay and not us. We don't have any choice but to follow the government’s mandate or face reprisals by that same government. A lot of people would call that tyranny.
You may make claims as to how the rich owe everything to the government and this is why they must pay a higher percentage of their income as taxes as opposed to those who, apparently, owe less to the same government, you’re wrong. The government doesn’t own us, we own ourselves. It doesn’t even own the money supply, we do. It's the rich, and everyone else, who have the market resources that are needed to create commerce, manufacturing, and the economy. The government doesn't own those market resources; they merely control it in such a way as to ensure that all aspects of a market economy are treated equally, in theory anyway.
Yes, there is a need for the government to receive taxes to fund that regulatory and enforcement aspect of their role in a market economy, but why did the government create the huge discrepancy for the tax rates between the various income brackets? You don't see the same discrepancy in sales taxes (that's called a demand tax), only in income taxes (that's called a supply tax). Why does the government fail to do its job and treat supply and demand equally? Isn’t that what we pay them for, to ensure that both are treated equally? The government is not doing this and it harms the very people they’re supposed to represent, the US citizens.
You see, the government has created lopsided economic policy, taking more in taxes from the supply side than the demand side, and that policy will invariably create artificial expansions and contractions in the economy since a market economy is dependent upon supply and demand being treated equally in order to achieve stability. By interfering with the market economy, the government is forcing instability in the economy. This is the biggest cause of recessions and depressions; direct governmental interference in a market economy. A market economy will naturally achieve stability and will expand in accordance to it’s needs if supply and demand is treated equally by government. If the government would just stick to it’s job, enforcing equality in the market economy like they’re supposed to, the economy and the people who depend on that economy to survive (all of us) would be a lot better off.