Property, Gas, Local, Sales, Federal. Which Taxes Don’t You Pay?

In a debate over extending tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations,
during a late session last night, Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) made a stunning claim on the House floor, trying to justify the rip-off of the middle class and poor with these words: “Well, folks, if you earn $40,000 a year and have a family of two children, you don’t pay any taxes. So you probably, if you don’t pay any taxes, you are not going to get a very big tax cut”.

It’s a sad fact, that our Representatives don’t know what life costs us in taxes each day.
To say that a family of four which makes $40,000.00 per year pays no taxes is a slap in our faces. The Government, (local, state and federal) takes a huge bite out of our earnings. For a politician to state that this newest tax break is good for us common middle class people, just goes to show that we need new blood in our government. When these people stay there too long, they forget what the difference in a few dollars make to most of us.

While someone with a $40,000 salary and a family of four paid little or no federal income taxes last year, Hastert ignores various other taxes paid by all Americans — payroll taxes, gas taxes, sales taxes, etc.
Consider payroll taxes, which go to paying for Social Security and Medicare. Assuming their entire $40,000 in salary came from wages, this family paid $6,120 (15.3 percent of $40,000) in federal payroll taxes last year.

In 2005, the federal government raised over $2 trillion, about half of which came from individual income taxes. Social Security taxes made up a good share of overall revenue (about $800 billion), with corporate taxes, excise taxes (on goods like alcohol, tobacco, and phone services), and the estate tax making up most of the rest.

Hastert, who the Capital Times of Madison, Wisconsin calls “the Marie Antoinette of American politics” — is leading an anti-working class economic policy. It’s time the Democrats countered the Republican demagogic wedge issues like gay marriage, immigration, and flag burning with the economic wollop of the GOP on America’s working people.

Tax cuts for the rich have not helped us in the last five years. Mr. Bush borrowing over $9 Trillion has not helped us.

We pay, we owe, so off to work we go!

The question we need to ask America and have the American people answer is: Are you better off today than you were five years ago?

My answer is: Hell No!