Who Pays? The Truth About the American Tax System

There have been several recent articles discussing the American tax structure, and frankly they are all foreboding. According to a recent Tax Policy Center study, about 67 million Americans paid no federal income taxes last year. Excluding children, that’s about 40% of the entire US population who pay no taxes at all. In other words, only 60% of us support the entire massive federal infrastructure.

So who doesn’t pay?

Voter ID – Balancing Competing Evils?

Although there is little doubt that some voter fraud occurs in American elections, there is very little evidence that the fraud is substantial or that it actually influences election results. Very few elections are decided by small margins. In order to alter an otherwise honest result, the fraud would have to be very substantial – involving many people – and not isolated instances where some felon shows up to vote when he should not have done so. It is very likely that major fraud is going to be detected because with many people, leaks are a virtual certainty. There is also no proof that requiring voters to show IDs will eliminate voter fraud. Does anyone believe that minors who show up in bars with photo IDs of their 21-year-old friends are never served alcohol?

Why Can't There Be Campaign Finance Reform?

I can’t remember the last time I spoke with anyone who actually likes our current system of campaign financing. Truthfully, the only people who actually support allowing virtually unlimited money to flow into election campaigns are the special interest groups. They have large amounts of money to spend and want to spend it for the sole purpose of influencing legislation that is favorable to their cause -- in other words, people who want the right to legally bribe elected officials. Bribery truly is the correct word here. While the money goes to the campaign’s bank account and not the candidate’s personal bank account, that’s a difference without significance; the candidate needs both accounts flush with money to save his job.

So, if the majority of Americans want to end legalized bribery of elected officials, why doesn’t it happen? Why does virtually every law that is passed to correct this enormous problem get ruled unconstitutional? Believe it or not, the answer our Supreme Court gives us is that these financial contributions are protected by the First Amendment right of free speech. The notion is that if the public does not have the right to spend money to speak their peace, their right to do so is abridged.

But is the right to spend money to speak the same thing as the right to speak?