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April 15, the Price of Democracy My cousin is playing the Beatles' "Taxman" as I write this. How appropriate. It's tax day. Mine have already been filed since I get a refund plus the "bonus" tax refund which really isn't a bonus since we've already paid it once and they'll probably find a way to tax it back into the government pocketbook. My tax accountant sent me my tax bill last month along with a summary of how much I had paid the past year in taxes. Federal Income tax 25% Social Security tax 12.4% Medicare tax 1.45% California State Income tax Local sales tax Air Travel taxes Gasoline Tax Sales Tax Property tax Car Registration tax Capital Gains on investments tax Miscellaneous Fees paid to government agencies Parking tax (meters) Based on all of the above plus many others, I ended up paying nearly 73% in taxes last year. So all I have left out of a dollar is just 27 cents in change. And speaking of change, I am afraid of the kind of ¡°change¡± Obama is talking about unless he means to raise the taxes on the backs of those who provide jobs for workers in America. I am not rich but I do work and I do provide jobs for other working people. I do not know if I pay too much or I pay too little but my father tells me it is the price that I have to pay to live in America. I guess many other immigrants also feel that way otherwise they would not be here trying to find work or seeking a better way of life. Whatever they are looking for, it is paid for by taxes. Sometimes I wish my taxes were not looked upon by politicians as "free money" for them to spend on pet projects or to pay back their political supporters and donors. Much of that money is wasted. Even when we have problems situations, instead of trying to find a new way to resolve it, all we do is throw more money at it using a new name. The result is still the same, failure. Some people complain about social services, and I would too except that for a very brief time my family relied on it until my parents could find a job that paid well. In the meantime, we used food stamps, free medical, and of course the public schools. But in the years we have lived here, we have repaid that debt a long time ago. VICKY Working hard in Paris to pay off my 2008 taxes |
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4/16/2008 7:41 am |
The US is the only developed country in the world where people don't have health insurance.
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4/16/2008 5:08 am |
You seem to have found little to appreciate in this country. Having travelled so extesively, perhaps you can tell us how much better everything must be in the rest of the world. And maybe recommend an alternative? Al
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4/15/2008 10:16 pm |
Let us look at it from my father's perspective. We have a small business of about 100 employees in the United States. If we did not exist then these 100 people would not have a job at all. Now no one said we needed to start a company but my father decided that he would rather work for himself instead of for others. Now is that an elitist point of view? First, we had to come up with our own capital, our own buildings, our own products, the machines, and everything else that you need to run a business. Since we take all of the risks then we should expect a profit from what we do, even if it is more then what the normal worker is making. Remember, they do not need to work for us; we can always hire someone else. Second, we take all the risks trying to sell the finished product. The seamstress only needs to make the product. We have to make arrangements to find buyers, take care of shipping, and all the other things you need to do to sell a product. So we also expect a reasonable profit for our risk here. Third, in order to keep our workers, we need to pay them a very competitive wage for what they do so they do not go looking elsewhere. But there is a limit to the value of their work and their skill that we are willing to pay. Fourth, government has so many unfunded mandate that we have to pay as well as other benefits that workers have come to expect. Health coverage for the worker and their family, social security, on the job disability coverage, workman's compensation, life insurance, paid holidays, performance bonus. Also, we are required to give notice if we decide to go out of business and pay up to six months in wages. It would just be easier to declare bankruptcy then to go through this mandated government program. Fifth, part of our operations is off shore in China, as well as our representatives in Canada, the UK, and Europe. The China operation is where we are able to save labor and production costs. But we are also required to meet certain standards mandated by the Chinese government in order to use Chinese workers to produce our products. Again, we had to take all of the initial risk and we will be responsible in the end for any failures. So after all is done and based on a $1.00 we make maybe four cents after all expenses are paid. So if we have $10,000,000 in sales we end up with a profit of $400,000. Is that excessive? Remember, we take all of the risk. The worker is only responsible for must one facet of the entire operation. We are the ones who are going to be hurt with all of the taxes that Obama and Clinton are talking about because they will be raised across the board. And sure, we do depend on some tax breaks for our industry. But without those tax breaks, we could not continue our operations here in the U.S. My brother did a study and suggested closing down 90% of our U.S. operations and moving it off shore. But if we did that then people who depend on us for work would have nowhere to do since most companies in our line of business are already located off shore. Sure, you have the major corporations who have all of these tax breaks. But who gave it to them? The same politicians who want to take them back. But now they are also taking aim at little operations like ours who fill a need for local workers. My father was thinking about doing "profit sharing" with the workers but had second thoughts about it since it would mean they would then have a say in how to run the business. You cannot have too many cooks running a small company. Anyway, my 2 cents worth and thanks for your comments. VICKY
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