Today
I read about recording artist Lauryn Hill’s tax case. I liked her rendition of the song, Killing Me Softly http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KpeCk6NyZU and never did
care for the original done by Roberta Flack. But I’ll save my musical comments
for later.
Just
a few days ago I mentioned how rich Americans don’t pay taxes. Instead of investing their money in our
country they find ways to hide it and sit on their gains. Meanwhile our country
is going to the dogs.
Speaking
of which, does anyone remember hotelier Leona Hemsley nicknamed the Queen of
Mean? At the time of her death she left
millions in a trust fund to her dog. She was notorious for, among other things,
reportedly having said that “only the little people pay taxes.”
Last
November Mitt Romney didn’t get my vote in part because he represented the rich that don’t pay their fair share. How can someone like that run
our country objectively? It would have enforced a hierarchy; like voting for a
feudal system; where the serfs spend all of their time working for the lord. No
one likes paying taxes, and as
Oliver Wendell Holmes said, taxes are the price we pay for civilized
society. However, in recent decades, the burden for paying for civilization has been
distributed in increasingly unfair ways.
Our
government plays an important role not just in social protection, but in making
investments in infrastructure, technology, education and health. Without such
investments, our economy will be weaker, and our economic growth slower.
It
doesn’t have to be this way. We could have a much simpler tax system without the distortions — a society where someone who earns his income from saving
companies pays the same tax as a doctor who makes income by saving lives;
where someone who earns his income from financial innovations pays the same
taxes as a someone who does research to create innovations that transform
our economy and society. We could have a tax system that encourages things
like hard work and thrift and discourages gambling, financial
speculation and pollution. Then we might just be in a sound fiscal position.
Now
back to music. Here are two oldies; that I can’t listen to without feeling good
all over.
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