(10/30/06) When our Congressional delegation and candidates call the Bush Tax Cuts “tax breaks for the rich”, they mean they want wealthy people to pay more taxes. Liberals promote this redistribution of wealth as morally correct. The well-off can afford it and are undertaxed. Society needs their money.

If you look at the Internal Revenue collections for FY 04 and 05, the federal government took in more than $2 trillion dollars in income taxes each year. Vermont alone contributes $3.3 Billion.

Imagine that, $2 trillion dollars in federal taxes. That’s more than $7,000 for every man, women and child in the country. The Tax Foundation indicates state and local tax burden is also around $1 trillion dollars which is $3,800 for every person in the country. Combined that’s $10,800 in taxes per person.

According to these figures, a household of four was responsible for $43,000 in federal, state and local taxes. In 2004, the median family income, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, was around $54,000. That would be about 80 percent of their median family income in taxes.

This never happened! We know a family of four doesn’t pay $43,000 in taxes. Most pay a lot less, some pay nothing and others receive an Earned Income Tax Credit just for submitting a tax return. Where then does the money come from? Look at the income tax payment distribution and you will see that higher-income workers actually pick up more than half of the tax burden. For example, the highest 10 percent pay over 50 percent of the federal income tax and about 55 percent of our state income tax.

Added to our income tax liability are business taxes embedded in what we buy. These costs are passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices. Some economists indicate these taxes account for 20 percent of the price on products purchased. Further, there are estate and capital gain taxes, gasoline taxes, among others.

Many of our taxes, regulations and government fees (which are disguised taxes) are hidden, so Americans don’t realize they’re paying them. The key point is that we pay a lot of taxes, more than we all realize.

Now some politicians want to tax us even more and repeal all the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts that were about to expire? The In Vermont legislature this past session proposed a gas tax increase, gas guzzler tax and property transfer tax increase plus many increased taxes/fees including the Catamount Health misfire.

One of Calvin Coolidge’s Rules was “Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery.” The $43,000 total tax burden on average on family of four is not only excessive but outrageous.

Frank Mazur
South Burlington

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Frank Mazur, a small business owner and former state representative, is chair of the advisory board of Vermont FreedomWorks.