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Tuesday, April 29, 2014

DENNIS PATRICK: APRIL 15TH AND THE IRONY OF IT ALL

Federal tax dollars for tax year 2013 were due April 15, 2014. The majority of citizens who owed the federal government dutifully paid their taxes. So, where did the tax dollars go? Not to the defense of the United States. Sequester cuts ensure a degraded military capability. Not to education. Not to border security

Citizens will be pleased to know that the large majority of their tax dollars went to pay for government benefits. More than 49 percent of 2013 tax dollars went to major federal entitlements including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. An additional 20 percent paid for other federal benefits including federal retirement, disability, unemployment and welfare such as food stamps and housing assistance. Excluded so is the impact of Obamacare which really won’t be felt until tax year 2014.

Talking taxes, here is a great irony. Two powerful and influential individuals had oversight of the US tax code. One was Timothy Geithner who recently headed up the US Treasury Department. The other was former congressman Charles Rangel who chaired the House Ways and Means Committee. Both favored higher taxes on Americans across the board -- and both were tax cheats.

Another irony. In America the federal government collects more tax dollars than any other country collects. Even with that large collected sum the government spends more than a trillion dollars above what it has. Yet, politicians and bureaucrats complain the government does not have nearly enough money.

Here is the greatest irony of all. Those few politicians and the many citizens who call for the government to abide by the Constitution, balance the budget and live within its means are called extremists.

Adding insult to injury, former congressman and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld annually writes to the IRS pointing out the foible of the current tax code. He asserts, and rightfully so, that he and millions of others have absolutely no idea whether their tax returns and payments are accurate. Quoting from his letter, “The tax code is so complex and the forms are so complicated, that I know that I cannot have any confidence that I know what is being requested and therefore I cannot and do not know, and I suspect a great many Americans cannot know, whether or not their tax returns are accurate. As in past years, I have spent more money than I wanted to spend to hire an accounting firm to prepare our tax returns….”

Unfortunately, the worst is yet to come. The Congressional Budget Office points out that public debt will reach 100 percent in a few short years. Structural problems of our economy are driving the problem. The federal budget is structured around massive entitlement programs which do not leave much room for anything else -- specifically, the core constitutional duty to defend the nation. If the federal government ceased all spending, including national defense, and spent only for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and interest on the debt, it would still be in the hole.

A few people have taken matters into their own hands. Because of America’s onerous tax policy, people are giving up their citizenship at an increasing rate. Three thousand turned in their passports in 2013 alone. These expatriates and the wealth they hold outside the US are now beyond the reach of the IRS.

Incidentally, if you are due a tax refund from the feds, you gave the federal government an interest-free loan. The Heritage foundation estimates the average tax refund for a household in 2013 was about $2,755. That is about $230 a month loaned to the federal government free of charge that could have been used by that family household.

The only way to resolve the issue is if congress stands solidly opposed to an executive branch hell-bent on transforming America into something the Founders never envisioned.

Midterm elections are coming and no congressman or senator is sacred.

 

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at P. O. Box 337, Stanley, ND 58784 or (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

 

Click here to email your elected representatives.

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