Federal, state and local taxes and Social Security take about a third of each dollar I bring in. As the owner of a small business, I also pay Social Security, workerās compensation and unemployment insurance premiums for my employees. For the luxury of renting office space in Manhattan, I pay New York Cityās commercial occupancy tax, which amounts to an 11 percent surcharge on my rent. And, like everybody who buys anything in New York City, I pay a sales tax of 8.25 percent.
So naturally Iām enraged about Big Government and delighted about the current push in Washington to reduce my taxes, right?
Wrong. I am not only a taxpayer, but also a grown-up, which means that, by and large, I expect to pay for what I get. And Iāve gotten plenty for my taxes.
For most of my life, government -- on the local, state and Federal levels -- has done very well by me. I got a more than adequate education at public schools and enjoyed countless hours at public libraries, playgrounds and pools. When we went on vacation, my family drove on well-maintained roads to state and national parks.
When my motherās lamb chops blazed up in the broiler one evening, the local fire department showed up promptly; when she lay dying, many years later, Medicare helped ease the burden of a long, catastrophic illness.
"Big Government" has wiped out polio and smallpox, linked our cities with superhighways and helped millions of young people get a college education. It created a sturdy safety net for the aged and sick, rushed to assist the victims of natural disasters, made sure that our food, water and medicines were safe and probed the farthest reaches of the universe.
Who did all this? Government employees, by and large. Were they unfailingly wise, courteous and honest? Of course not. And of course Government spending has often been wasteful and corrupt. But no government, anywhere, has done better for so many people.
Thatās why I basically donāt mind paying taxes. I see New York and the United States as my favorite clubs; taxes are my membership dues. What I do mind is politicians who think they can buy my vote by promising to cut my taxes. The politicians Iāll support are the ones who admit weāll have to raise taxes to pay for essential services and public amenities.
You hear a lot of nostalgic talk about the America of 40 years ago, when upward mobility was a cinch for anyone willing to work for it. And life really was like that -- not for everyone, but for most Americans.
What we forget is that in those days, marginal income tax rates ran up to 92 percent, and there wasnāt much griping about it.
It was understood that if you were raking in enough to reach the uppermost bracket, the system must be working pretty darned well for you. If you had reached the stratospheric level that the word "millionaire" suggested back then, you were obviously enjoying more than your share of luck. Even though tax rates were much higher than they are today, that didnāt keep people from pursuing success or making lots of money.
For most people in that era, there was also a shared sense, now sadly diminished, that we are all in this together. But today hardly anyone in public life has the guts to state the obvious: that our tax rates are among the lowest in the industrialized world and that virtually every new tax cut turns out, on closer inspection, to be a shameless play for votes or a sneaky way to kill a program somebody doesnāt like. It may feel good to save a few dollars at tax time, but politically motivated tax cuts are a shortsighted strategy that will end up harming many Americans.
Weāve gone too far in cutting taxes, especially for those in the top income brackets. Itās time to reverse course, even if that means clipping the wings of some high-flying billionaires. And even if I have to pay more.
As it turned out, my article did generate a vigorous response -- about 130 letters, e-mails and calls. But all but three of them were positive, and not just positive, but enthusiastic and even effusive. (Of the three negative responses, by the way, two were from radio talk-show hosts sniffing around for controversy and talking the usual claptrap.) Their overall message could be summed up as, "Thanks! I've been waiting years for someone to say that!"
I've taken the liberty of quoting some of the more interesting responses below. For me, this experience has been a real revelation -- and proof of something I've always suspected: there are a lot more people out there than you might think who are ready, even eager, to listen to common sense on this important subject. If there are any intelligent politicians out there reading this, here's a thought to ponder as the next election season heats up: Is it possible that you could (Gasp!) talk common sense to the public about taxes and still win votes? Think it over!
Later: Thomas L. Friedman, writing in The New York Times Magazine ("A Manifesto for the Fast World," March 28, 1999), makes a number of deeply important and powerful points that our leaders would do well to heed:
"We have something tremendously special in America . . . but if we want to preserve it, we have to pay for it and nurture it. Yet, when I listened to the infamous 1994 class of freshman Republicans -- and when I hear echoes today . . . -- I heard mean-spirited voices, voices for whom the American Government was some kind of evil enemy. I heard men and women who insisted that the market alone should rule."Yes sir, nobody in Liberia pays taxes. There's no gun control in Angola. There's no welfare as we know it in Burundi and no big government to interfere with the market in Rwanda.
"But a lot of people sure wish there were . . . .
"Many in Congress . . . . want all the respect and benefits that come with being an American in today's world, but without any of the sacrifices and obligations that go with it. They should come to Africa and get a real taste of what happens to countries where there is no sense of community, no sense that people owe their government anything, no sense that anyone is responsible for anyone else, and where the rich have to live behind high walls and tinted windows, while the poor are left to the tender mercies of the marketplace.
"I don't want to live in such a country, or such a world. It is not only wrong, it will become increasingly dangerous."
Home Page
