Politician Philanthropy

My frustration with government theft of our hard earned money grows exponentially every day. I recently suggested in another letter that we do not have the freedom in this country not to spend money. Since then, I decided to show in dollars and cents just how much the government takes from us or require us to spend and in how many varied ways they do it. I decided to take out my trusty calculator and figure what percentage of my income goes to taxes and fees and other required spending. Now the following figures are based on my earnings and tax rate which are probably somewhere in the lower medium range. It is also based on the fact that I currently own two vehicles. Obviously the tax and fee percentages will depend on your income bracket and whether you are a property owner or not and other considerations.
My point is, that most people will probably be paying a higher taxes and more fees than I am, which of course drives my point home all the more.
Okay, here we go. I have divided my tax and fee "obligation" into three categories plus a miscellaneous category that affects all of us at least indirectly.
The first category is the Income Taxes: These taxes are the ones that are taken directly out of your paycheck and include local, state and federal income tax, social security and Medicare tax as well as the ridiculous occupational privilege tax. All of these income taxes come to 16% of my annual gross income.
The next category is Vehicle Taxes and Fees: These include your annual car registration of $36.00 per vehicle, in which the average family has two. Also, don’t forget the first class postage required, now 39 cents, to send in your payment to possessing. And also your annual vehicle inspection and emissions test. I include this because it is a requirement that vehicle owners in Pennsylvania have their vehicle inspected and is therefore a required expense. Prices for inspection and emissions tests vary, but the average cost is around $70.00 per vehicle. Every four years we have to spend $26.00 to have our driver’s license renewed and a new photo taken. Divide that by four and add the other costs and for a two-vehicle owner we are talking $225.78. And those figures, by the way are based on the licensee possessing a regular drivers license, not a CDL or motorcycle license. Finally, this category also includes your annual car insurance costs. Again, I include this item because it is a requirement to have at least auto liability insurance. For me, the taxes and fees in this category came to 5.84% of my annual gross income. By the way, don’t forget the postage cost to mail your insurance premiums!
The third category I call Personal Taxes: Some of these taxes affect only certain people directly, but nearly everyone indirectly. They include the annual per capita taxes which vary depending on where you live. I am fortunate because the borough in which I live has a very low per capita tax, however in some of the surrounding boroughs and townships where friends of mine reside, the per capita tax is several hundred dollars per person plus postage to mail in your payment. Then there is the property tax. Anyone who has read my essays knows I have a real problem with this one. Anyway, my political and economic philosophy aside, the ever increasing property tax continues to take a large percentage of the "home owners" (deliberate quotation marks) annual income which trickles down to higher rents for those who do not "own" (again, deliberate quotation marks) property. The taxes in this category constitute about 5% of my annual income for a grand total of 26.84%. But wait, we’re not done yet.
The Miscellaneous category is a difficult one to track even though it affects all of us indirectly. It is illusive and that is what renders it so dangerous and hard to pinpoint. It is analogous to wrestling a ghost. The miscellaneous taxes and fees are the ones that are imposed on businesses in the form of licenses, fees, required expenses etc. These costs are passed down to us in the form of higher prices for products and services. Additionally there is the 6% state sales tax on the products that are considered taxable by the government.
Now I want to repeat that I am in the lower medium income range so many will have higher tax rates than I do. My point is that because of the government insatiable tax lust and unquenchable greed, the lives of most middle class Pennsylvanians’ is becoming harder and harder because we have less money to live on. You see in addition to the above mandatory expenses and taxes, most of us spend about 40 to 50% of our annual income on housing and food. In my case, it comes to just less than 41%. Then there is home owners or renters insurance, life insurance and utilities which in my case account for about 11% of my annual income. Now we are at about 78% and although my cars are now inspected and that expensive little sticker is affixed to my license plate, I still need to fuel those babies up if I want to do any traveling, like to the grocery store so I have food on my table. And as we all know, gas prices have been creeping up again. At the time I am writing this, they are at $2.45 per gallon in my town. I still haven’t included my contribution to my medical insurance, which also goes up every year along with the physician and prescription co-pays. I hope I don’t get sick and have to go to the doctor. Anyway, my medical insurance contributions which come out of my paycheck amount to just over 6% of my annual income. Incidentally, call your congressperson and ask if they have to contribute to their medical insurance. Guess what, they don’t. You see, unlike you and me, they get to decide what kind of health insurance plan they receive and since we’re paying the bill, they choose the best plan. But call anyway because maybe it will humble them a bit . . . Nah, probably not!
Now I have just over 15% of my income left and I still haven’t spent a damn penny on anything for myself, nor have I put anything away for retirement either. Oh well, I guess there is always Social Security, right? Boy, I could sure use that 16% that went for taxes and fees right now because guess what, that little light showing "low coolant" is flashing in my car and my mechanic states it may be a leaking head gasket and it will probably cost a few hundred bucks to repair. Oh darn, such bad timing since Christmas has just passed and my credit card is almost maxed. And, I don’t have much in my savings account either, can’t afford to save you know.
Now I earn too much for government assistance and I wouldn’t want it anyway, I am no hypocrite. But I do need a little help and I’m thinking who better to ask than my own senator. It seems to make perfect sense because he earns almost three times what I earn. Now that fact alone is not why I feel justified in asking his assistance. I don’t begrudge anyone their pay rate. The reason I feel justified in asking his assistance is because his income and consequently, his higher, more comfortable and secure lifestyle are forcibly underwritten by me and you and every other taxpayer in his district though our taxes. Therefore, I think as a gesture of kindness and philanthropy, he might consider returning something back to one of constituents. Specifically, to pay for my auto repair bill. And it must be done from his funds, not state funds. That way it isn’t costing you any money to fix my car, which just wouldn’t be right.
So I called my senator’s office and explained my situation to one of his aides. She rudely told me that I was wasting her time and that "you don’t call a public official and ask them to pay your car repair bill," and then promptly hung up on me. Can you imagine that? My money is helping to pay this woman’s salary and she just hung up on me. So I decided to pick up the phone and call back. This time I get put through to the senator’s chief aide and he was kind enough to hear me out as I explained my circumstances to him. He conveyed to me that it was very unconventional for a taxpayer to ask an elected official for the type of assistance I was requesting. I completely agreed with him and added that all new ideas are unconventional when they are first proposed. But, I truly believe this is an idea whose time has come. Think about it, who owes more of a debt to society than the very ones who in large part are responsible for our debt. You see, our debt is private debt in which we are responsible for repaying. The politician’s debt is public debt which, guess what, we are responsible for paying. It just doesn’t seem fair does it? So that is why I am going to tell everyone who will listen via e-mail, blog sites, talk radio and just word of mouth that we need to ask our elected officials to help us in our time of financial need. Politician philanthropy should be embraced by every politician who cares about the effect their cumbersome tax burden is having on their constituency. It is a great way for them to put their money where there mouth is as it were.
And finally, those who benefit from politician philanthropy should only be those in the middle class, because the poor already qualify and receive help from the government through tax payer-funded programs. The wealthy frankly do not need financial help from their elected officials.
It is the middle class and especially the lower middle class that feels the impact of high taxation, mandatory fees and the indirect effect of the above miscellaneous taxes and fees the most. Those in the middle class earn too much to qualify for any government assistance, yet do not earn enough to have the financial security to withstand the ever increasing tax rates and fees as the wealthy do.
In a nutshell, the wealthy may bemoan their high tax burden, but in the end it’s just a simple matter of writing a check and moving on. To them, the government in its taxing frenzy is more of an annoyance than something that has an extremely profound effect on their lives. Moreover, if the wealthy person is the owner or major stockholder in a large business, he or she may even try to have their tax burden reduced through a lobbying organization. Another option they may choose is to just move their business to another state with lower tax rates or downsize. Decisions incidentally which will affect their employees who most likely are members of what class? That’s right, the middle class.
For the poor, there is a completely different dynamic. The poor receive assistance from the government, and while their life seldom improves much, their basic needs are met. In addition, the longer one receives the financial assistance from the taxpayer through the conduit of government programs, the greater the risk that a sense of entitlement will develop in the recipient. You see, whenever financial assistance is given by a disinterested party, like the government, rather than create within the recipient a sense of gratitude and humility, it has the exact opposite effect. The recipients lose their sense of self esteem and also begin to feel estranged from their fellow humans and thus become fearful, suspicious and angry. While this isn’t always the case, quite often it is, especially in males. Additionally, government assistance creates a continued dependency on that assistance by the recipient. Let me make clear that I am not in any way trying to state that it is wrong to ask for financial help, or that needing help is a sign of weakness or inadequacy in any way. But to receive help from a disinterested party and on a long term basis has negative psychological effects and creates a feeling of dependancy and entitlement. But, in the immediate, for the poor, the government is helpful because their basic needs are met.
For the middle class, the government is neither helpful, nor a mere annoyance. For the middle class the government is pretty much all take and no give. For the middle class the government is more harm than good. You see, unlike the wealthy, we don’t have the option of moving our business to another state, because most of us can’t afford to own businesses. Unlike the wealthy business owners, we can’t afford to hire lobbyists to represent us. All we have is our own individual voices and our pens, or keyboards. And, unlike the wealthy, we can’t always just write a check and move on. On the other hand, for the middle class, there is little if any tax payer-funded assistance that we qualify for. So not only does the government not help us, but they hinder us from helping ourselves. To use the common parlance of today, the middle class is screwed!
That is the reason I have come up with the idea of politician philanthropy and why I think it should be limited to the middle class. There are so many great things about this idea. Firstly, it will not raise taxes because the politicians provide the financial assistance from their own personal funds. Secondly, it will not create a sense of dependency because the requests for help will be episodic, not regular. Finally, it should not create the sense of entitlement and its corollaries,
fear, suspicion and anger because the party providing the assistance is no longer disinterested, but takes an active role in the resolution of the problem along with the recipient because they now have a vested interest in that resolution.
So my advice is this, call your congressperson and senator, both locally and in Washington, DC and let them know you support the idea of politician philanthropy and that you believe they should support the idea as well.