A political/moral complaint

I don't say much about politics on this blog, although theology impacts politics as much as it does everything else.

What is it that has me irritated enough today to want to comment?

I often hear from the media and certain politicians this statement: "it is time we get the the wealthy to pay their fair share". Now, I am not suggesting a slightly higher tax rate for those who earn more is all bad. However, I think the way it is expressed is quite shameful.

If I make below a certain amount of money, either because I can't work, I won't work, I lack certain natural abilities, I did not have the same opportunities as someone esle or I failed to invest in training for a higher paying career, I may pay 0% - 15% in income taxes.  I have mostly fallen in the 15% tax bracket throughout my working life.

Today, if you are at the top of the earning scale, you pay as much as 35% and with the proposed Obama budget, some say you could pay as much as 43%.

So, lets consider this in terms of fairness. In the lower tax bracket, I might pay between two and ten thousand dollars a year toward our national defense, various social programs and all the many other things our tax dollars go to support. For a wealthier person, lets say who makes a million dollars a year, if after various deductions and things they ended up paying even 25% or two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in taxes, have they paid a fair share?

Did the person who earned much more use more national defense or other U.S. government resources? Not much I wouldn't think. So, is it fair that they have to pay so much more than I do? I think we could say no, but also recognise that our current, somewhat socialized way of doing things, requires the wealthy to be taxed higher just to keep the country afloat.

With that said, it seams like we should be working hard to lower spending, so we can reduce taxes on everyone, especially those who pay the most and get the least return for their money. And, in the meantime we should be careful how we speak about those who pay most of the taxes.

Perhaps rather than saying we need to ask the wealthy to "pay their fair share", we should be saying, "if we don't get spending under control, we will have to ask those who are producing the most to dig deeper and give an even less fair amount to make up for those who pay much less than they do".