What could YOU buy with $86? What could we ALL BUY TOGETHER for $900 million?
[Ohio Gov.] Taft announced this week that state revenues were higher than expected and spending was lower than expected. The state ended fiscal 2006 on June 30 with a $900 million surplus, allowing Taft to order an 8.4 percent reduction in tax withholding, effective Oct. 1.Politicians LOOOOOOVE to hand out money during an election year. And even though Taft is not on the ballot, the Republican party must be pleased that he is boosting the image of the GOP as tax-cutters.
The Democrats response?
Senate Democratic Leader C.J. Prentiss of Cleveland called Taft's action a ''political gimmick to give back to the wealthiest in an election year.''Come on, fellas! You can do better than that! Don't let the Morning Journal eat your lunch!!
But even if the wealthiest get a disproportionately big tax break, compared to the average working person, we think ordinary Ohioans will be pleased to get their own share, which is estimated in the vicinity of $86. People who struggle to pay their bills and buy groceries would be perfectly happy to keep that $86, no matter what.Not so fast.
First of all, if you've actually ever, you know, bought groceries for a family of four, you know that $86 equals about 1-2 bags of food, which might last you a few days. No joke.
But $900 million? That's serious money. And everyone knows that you can do a lot more with your money if everyone pitches in together. It's called BUYING POWER.
Think of the benefits every taxpayer might get if they all throw their money into a pot and work together. Fact is, the greatest period in our country's history -- 1950-2000 -- occured during a time when tax rates were highly progressive and government spending on the middle-class was growing, being spent on the social safety net of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and so forth. We made a decision to clear away the obstacles from in front of those who actually worked for a living. The results speak for themselves.
Now we're intent on clearing away the obstacles for those who invest for a living. Not the same thing and we can see that the middle class -- the backbone of this country -- is suffering. Wages are stagnant, costs are rising, it takes two income-earners to maintain a standard of living that our parents achieved with just one wage-earner.
Now what we have is a lazy political class (i.e., "Republicans") who want to let the safety nets rot in return for ducking accountability. In other words, they see tax cuts as a powerful, labor-saving tool for getting re-elected time and time again without achieving anything for the common good. The Ownership Society simply means that you're on your own, baby.
In short, they, the Republicans, want to make government small enough to drag into the bathroom so they can drown it in the tub. Why? Because they care more about big corporations than they do about we, the people.
And why not? After all, one corporation can give you millions of dollars, whereas one person can only give you one vote.
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