The Star - News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area

Happy April 15th. Today is Tax Day and is the day we are required to give an account of our earnings to the IRS tax collectors. A lot will be written by the media and a lot will be said by the politicians about this but I am sure that a couple things will not be said:

1.) The income tax is not what our Founding Fathers had in mind in the Constitution to pay for government. It only became Constitutional by the ratification of the 16th Amendment in 1913 some 125 years later.

2.) “A heavy progressive or graduated income tax” was one of Karl Marx’s 10 points in the Communist Manifesto in 1848. Today, in 2015, the president and our representatives will most likely remain silent on the costs of maintaining the debt system that the federal government depends on taxes to run on.

If you can, try to get the 2014 IRS 1040 publication and take a look at the “Income” and “Outlays” pie charts on page 100. 1) Borrowing covers 20% of the income to cover the deficit. 2) Social Security and Medicare income does not come close to covering their outlays. 3) 6% of the outlay is to pay for interest on the national debt. 4) Personal income taxes cover 38% of the income as opposed to the 7% coming from excise, customs and duties, which the original Founding Fathers gave Congress the authority over.

At this time, the national debt is at $18 trillion and there are trillions more in unfunded liabilities. For an eyeopener, take a look at any of the real time “debt clocks” available on the web.

We should not be silent about this economic “road to perdition.” Both political parties are equally responsible for this. The only difference is that Democrats are socialist and Republicans are “socialist lite.” Our silence is our consent.

John Overby