It is tax time, the time when we reinvest in the system that sustains us. It is the structure that provides an organized means to allow us the security and dependability to operate in our lives with basic assurance that it will all work.
Part of the concept is to have a society in which ordinary citizens can survive and have a sustainable future to avoid the possible unrest of those who feel left out or treat unfairly.
We did have a system that worked quite well after World War II and up through the 1950s but then those with more money and influence began to manipulate the system, gradually shifting it from a progressive tax system to a regressive one. They succeeded in shifting the tax burden from themselves and their financial institutions, like banks and corporations, to the middle class. Not only that but they changed the rules to allow more and more of their accumulated wealth to be passed on within families to create a continuing class of wealthy elites. They also changed the rules so that investments, the kind they make, were taxed at a lower rate to enhance their accumulation.
The other side of the coin is that they slowly shifted the tax spending away from programs that helped the ordinary citizens and into programs that benefitted themselves-programs that provided income streams for their corporations, like military production and other elements of a privatized military, a privatized prison system and all kinds of tax breaks and subsidies for their corporate needs.
Finally, they go on spending sprees for unnecessary wars and in support of business and corporations producing massive deficits which then seem to justify raids on Social Security and Medicare, saying we just can't afford such luxuries for our citizens.
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For shame!
Bob Passi
Baxter
