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Ill-informed, deceitful, ignorant, alarmist – these are not attributes that normal people take seriously or reward. They do however titillate politicians, the media and the educational elites. For these mandarins of state fed grey pablum, anti-reality, contra-historical, non-commensical theories are embraced and taught.
Few items outside of cuddly polar bears, protecting Islam through hate-speech legislation [defaming whites or Christians is ok], elevating gay-ness to normalcy, or protecting the rights of happy illegal immigrants will inspire action from the drooling Marxist more than a discussion of corporate profits, and the rich-poor divide. Income ‘warming’ is a national disgrace! Act now or we will all die! Income warming is here, don’t be a denier!
Sadly for the chattering Marxists with their heads tilted oddly to the side and spittle drooling form the corner of their collective black holes, the rich are curiously getting poorer in relation to the poor, and are paying more in tax not less. This is a most inconvenient truth. Somewhere in the real world the class warriors have lost their way. The incessant campaign to soak the rich, tax the wealth producing and redistribute money hither and yon in complex multi-layered government transfers and programs has been a resounding and morbidly successful project. But the Marxists are never happy with disparity of any sort. Beat the average man down into common mediocrity and collective poverty is their mantra.
Statistics, which socialists love to ignore, [who needs facts when propaganda and emotionalism will do!], point out that the rich – poor divide is getting smaller, and that the rich pay most if not all the taxes in the modern state. In the US according to the Congressional Budget Office [CBO], 40% of people pay no national income taxes. The bottom 40% only paid 17% of US payroll taxes – far below their share of national income of 30%. By contrast the top 20% paid 67% of all federal income taxes including payroll taxes even though the top 20% only account for 53% of all national income. In other words, the top 20% are paying about 25% too much in tax if you were to adjust taxes paid to income earned.
Comparatively the rich are paying more than they did in 1979. In 1979 the top 20% paid 57% of all federal taxes. In 2007 they will pay 69%. The poorest 20% paid 4% of all federal income taxes in 1979, and will pay about 3% in 2007. The bottom 40% of income earners are of course the people who receive the most in government transfers – about 57% of all government spend goes to the bottom 40%. The top quintile received 15% - a level far below the taxes that it paid. In other words the rich are funding government spending which benefits all groups.
In Canada the same trends apply. According to the Fraser Institute, the median average family income is now $63.000 per year – a $6000 increase in the past 15 years net after inflation. It is the highest level ever. Poverty has collapsed since 1950 when 25% or so of households were ‘poor’, now the rate is about 8%. The rich-poor gap has likewise narrowed to its lowest ratio in 15 years. This is attributable mostly to job growth, income improvements and targeted government programs which redistribute [very inefficiently], monies to single parent, and below average income families.
The share of taxation borne by the richest 20% of Canadians has also climbed. Stats Canada reveals that the top quintile pays 60% of all personal income tax – up from 50% in 1980. The bottom 10% pays virtually no tax of any sort to the federal government after allowing for income transfers and credit deductions. Government spend, which regularly goes up 10% per annum has been financed by corporations and higher income earners. Keep in mind that the top income bracket starts at $100.000 per annum – hardly a ‘rich’ level of income.
If the Marxist class warriors truly desire to help their comrades they can advocate the following. Decrease the size of government. Reduce corporate, investment and personal taxation. Demand an end to business subsidies and industry protectionism. Demand pro-growth, pro-job, pro-family, pro-investment policies. After all, the average Canadian family pays 45% of its income to government, and the average US family about 34%. These are unacceptable levels of private property theft.
Reducing the crying mommy state would have a tangible and important impact on people’s incomes. By rolling back government and cutting fat, abuse, and coercive mismanagement from our bureaucracies, average income would rise. By improving competition, allowing foreign investments and forcing through changes to productivity, Canadian and American workers would realize price savings on goods and services, and an increase in their living standards. By cutting taxes, more money would be available for investments, and capital growth which stimulates jobs. By curtailing and diminishing union membership and power, more jobs would be created, and wages would rise not fall [see Toyota or Caterpillar in the US for details].
The case for tax cuts and limited government is clear. If the crying socialists and teeth gnashing Marxists want to help their brethren, they should spend less time dreaming up fantasies such as ‘Income warming’ and more time on policies that actually create results. Big government always ends up in a colossal disaster. Even as the merry Marxists and friends come out with their incessant imitation of Al Gore by fulminating over ‘Income Warming’, one hopes that the rest of society will have the good sense to do the opposite of what they advocate. We should reject statism as an immoral and ineffective coercive tool of anti-reality control. After all if you want a good rule in life, it is to do the exact opposite of what the chattering socialist class wants you to do. This includes rejecting emotional Marxist propaganda of Income 'warming', which much like Global 'warming' is junk food for the mind.
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