In the United States there are people who feel that paying taxes is un-American. They would rather see a vast curtailment of civic programs. Their overriding desire is to reduce their own personal tax burden. Fortunately, most Congress members need to get reelected, so social programs are reduced but not cut. Either way, the necessity of paying for our current needs is passed on to our progeny. It is already necessary for the government to sell bonds for almost everything it does. That includes any funding for the reduced social programs. When the U.S. had a positive balance in the national government's finances, our current president made an unsound premise that the positive balances were the "peoples' money." He forced through Congress new tax reductions. That positive balance was actually our grandchildren's money, not ours. The money collected from taxes would have reduced the national debt. Now our grandchildren will live with an ever increasing debt from all our current excesses.
The wealthy have turned their backs on the poor, to avoid writing tax checks to the city, state and national governments. The upper class does not realize that if the middle class and the poor get any money, they spend it. This increases most businesses' bottom lines. That gives the wealthy, which own the businesses, more money than any tax reductions might provide. Generally the wealthy don't do additional spending from tax reductions. The wealthy already have everything they desire. The tax reductions for the rich don't really help business. That extra money might go into stocks of foreign travel. Higher sock prices don't directly help businesses. The increased stock prices help speculators who buy and sell the stocks. In fact, few of the daily stock trades are in listed stocks. The stocks traded daily far exceed the number of shares listed in any market. That is especially evident after eliminating the stocks that are seldom traded by trusts, pension funds and little old ladies. As to foreign travel, that obviously doesn't help business here in the U.S.
Many corporate executives move their companies out of the U.S. to find cheaper labor. Some corporations move their offices to off shore locations just so to save on taxes. The middle class and the poor are then left without work. Many people take meaningless jobs to get any income. The wealthy demanded lower taxes and got tax reductions for themselves. They expect the Federal government to protect their foreign investments, if those investments get threatened. That seems unjust and incomprehensible. Shouldn't those executives and companies be paying higher taxes or even a penalty tax? They started in the U.S., so they should in effect pay for the learning and development experience that triggered their success.
What is even more incomprehensible, most international U.S. corporations have refused to repatriate profits earned abroad, leaving that money outside the country just to save on U.S. taxes. Talk about patriotism!
The U.S. citizens and Congress must focus upon the real problems, not the immediate benefits, if the United States hopes to continue to prosper. Every American, even top corporate executives, must realize that the American government needs tax money in order to operate. It is easy to pass our responsibilities on to future generations. But when that becomes personal, like our own children or grandchildren, we think differently. Taxes are as much a necessity as our next meal. We can't skip it. We can't imagine our grandchildren living under the burden of interest on a huge unmanageable national debt. We must face that time for it is fast approaching.
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