My Thoughts on Why Taxes are Too High Right Now
Many Americans think that taxes are too high. They’re right. Despite the Trump tax cuts, which were working well before the Coronavirus pandemic happened because they are good for everyone. The higher the tax burden, the worse the economy will perform. That’s a simple fact, but one that few American presidents other than Donald Trump and Ronald Reagan have recognized and tried to fix.
So, if President Donald Trump’s tax cuts are working so well, then why on Earth am I writing an article stating that America’s taxes are too high? Because, despite the improvements made in lessening the tax burden so far, it’s still a fact that taxes are too high.
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The two big problems, in my view, are corporate taxation and the death tax. While the individual tax rate is also high, it at least makes sense. People are the citizens of this great republic, so they should pay for its upkeep. If they dislike the tax burden, as everyone does, then they should clamor for a decrease in the welfare burden.
Welfare programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and food stamps are the programs sucking up all of our tax dollars and the ridiculously high amount of spending on them is the reason that taxes are too high. The Founding Brothers would have revolted by now. I think individual tax rates are absurd and should be lowered and converted to an even, fair tax. But, whatever the individual tax rate is, individuals have an obligation to pay it because they are citizens and should pay to maintain our nation. Individual taxation isn’t theft.
The corporate tax and the death tax, on the other hand, are different issues. No corporation is a citizen of this nation, whatever the Supreme Court might have said in the Citizens United case. Yes, corporations benefit (sometimes) from the laws and protections guaranteed by the US, but they’re not citizens. As a result, they have no responsibility to pay taxes, in my opinion. Only citizens do.
So, I think it is fair to say that in the realm of corporate profits, taxes are too high. More specifically, they’re 100% too high because corporations are not citizens and therefore should not be paying taxes at all. Instead, the owners of said corporation should pay taxes on their profits from its operations.
In a similar vein, the death tax is also 100% too high. The individuals whose estates are taxed under the death tax (also called the estate tax) are the most successful members of society. They’ve already paid far more than their fair share of taxes and have no reason to pay a cent more upon their passing. Yes, the Democrats hate them and want to place unconstitutional wealth taxes on them. But they’ve already had their wealth taxes through the income tax, taxes on dividends, and taxes on capital gains. It is unjust. So, as with the corporate tax, taxes are too high in the realm of estate and death taxes too.
Taxes are too high. Other than for a few glorious years after the American Revolution, taxes in America always have been. But, of course, that doesn’t mean all is lost. There are men out there that recognize that taxes are too high. Men such as President Trump and Grover Norquist, for example, who have done all they can to ensure that the tax burden in America is decreased.
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Whatever the professional looter liberals say, don’t let them convince you that taxes aren’t high enough. No matter what segment of society or variation of income they’re talking about, they are wrong. Taxes are too high on individuals, they’re too high on corporations, they’re too high on estates, and they’re too high on whatever I’m leaving out. But the worst part of it all are the taxes on corporations and estates; those entities aren’t citizens and have to responsibility to pay taxes.
Americans have traditionally resisted taxes. According to LH Gipson in The Coming of the Revolution, the American Revolution was caused mainly by colonial resistance to taxes imposed on them by a tyrannical British government. But here’s the thing, those taxes were not all that high compared to what Americans today are paying in taxes to our government, even after the Trump tax cuts. In fact, those taxes, often called “intolerable” by both the colonists then and historians now, were positively tiny compared to modern taxes. Taxes are too high right now; our Founding Fathers would be seething.
Of course, I understand that taxes were lower back then because the government had so few responsibilities compared to what it does today. Back then, governments mainly waged war and paid interest on debt for those wars. Now, we do both of those things, pay for lower and higher education, and have a massive welfare state, as I mentioned early in this article. So, it’s not quite fair to say that taxes are too high simply because taxes back then were lower than they are now. But that’s not my point.
My point is that Americans used to understand that when it’s true that taxes are too high, they have a right to start fighting back. Not always violently, of course. Shays’ Rebellion was utterly crushed by the early American government, after all. But still, they knew that they had a right to revolt and fight back against a government that either passed unjust taxes or was pursuing policies that were too expensive. They understood that robbing Peter to pay Paul is not a sustainable or nor a just government policy and that, as a result, any government that was doing that should be stopped from doing so any further.
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Now, it does not really seem like Americans are willing to fight back against a government that both passes unjust taxes and pursues expensive policies that make it true that taxes are too high. Our government, in the words of Ayn Rand in Atlas Shrugged, “takes what it wants and taxes what’s left.” That is not just, but it is an indicator that taxes are too high, especially the income tax.
Americans need to relearn the spirit of their Founding Fathers. Those men did what they needed to to create a better society and lower tax rates. Now, we just complain. There are some groups, such as Americans for Tax Reform, that actually fight back and try to lower the tax rate. The members of that organization should be commended for doing so. But, other than them, no one really fights back anymore. Now, you just see complaints like “property taxes are too high,” “MY property taxes are too damn high,” or “I’m paying way too much in income taxes,” but there is no corresponding action to try to actually lower the rates.
I have one piece of advice for those that care about taxes and want to lower them; start fighting. The Democrats certainly are. They do whatever it takes to implement their green policies, new welfare programs (which they term rights, leading to the endlessly expanding rights problem), and even raising taxes! Joe Biden, for example, plans to implement trillions of dollars of new taxes if he is somehow elected in 2020. Republicans, on the other hand, tend to shy away from battles in the culture war, even those about taxes.
Yes, I understand that cutting taxes is a Republican talking point. But it is just that, a talking point. Despite paying lip service to the idea that taxes are too high, our elected Republican representatives do little to actually lay out the argument to the American people that taxes need to be lowered right now and what the benefits of cutting taxes will be. I think that if we start making that argument as frequently as possible, it will be a major boost to Republican electability.
Finally, I’d like to say that young conservatives especially need to start fighting back against overly high taxes. We are beginning our careers and will be taxed by Uncle Sam for a very long time, so this issue applies to us more than most. We should use our voices to start fighting back and get taxes lowered.
By: Gen Z Conservative
