Posted on 02/22/2005 4:22:02 PM PST by groanup
December 6, 1996
Tis' the Season to be Taxed
by Peter Ferrara
Peter Ferrara is general counsel and chief economist at Americans for Tax Reform and an associate policy analyst at the Cato Institute.
On your way to grandmother's house this holiday season, paying taxes will probably be the last thing on your mind. But that is what you will be doing every step of the way.
First, when you get in your car to drive over, you probably don't realize that 45 percent of what you paid for the car actually went to the government in taxes at the federal, state and local levels, rather than to the car manufacturer. When you put gas in the car, you probably don't realize that 54 percent of what you pay for it goes to federal, state and local taxes rather than to the oil producer. For the tires on the car, 36 percent of what you paid goes to taxes rather than to the tire manufacturer.
Once you get to grandmother’s house, you're still not done paying taxes. If you have a little rum with your eggnog, 72 percent of the price paid for it actually goes to the government. The same goes for any other drink made with distilled spirits. If you have a beer instead, 43 percent of what you pay goes to taxes. And even if you just drink soda, 35 percent of what you pay for a can goes for taxes at all levels.
Once you sit down to dinner, the tax man is still there with you. About 31 percent of what you pay for bread goes to the government in taxes, rather than for the bread. About the same would be true for the turkey and the rest of the food. Unless you provide for heat and light solely through the fireplace, you will be paying taxes again. At least 26 percent of your electric bill goes to the government in taxes.
Don't think you can avoid any of these taxes by going out to a restaurant for Christmas dinner. About 28 percent of what you pay for a meal at a restaurant actually goes for taxes, rather than to the restaurant. Nor can you avoid the tax man by staying home and just calling grandma on Thanksgiving Day. That is because about 50 percent of your phone bill actually goes to taxes, rather than to the phone company.
This tax burden arises in part from taxes assessed directly on the consumer, such as state and local sales taxes, liquor excise taxes telephone excise taxes, federal and state gas taxes, food and beverage taxes, and others.
But that is just the beginning. The producer in each case must use what you pay for the product for a heavy tax burden as well, including federal, state and local income taxes, payroll taxes, property taxes, use taxes, unemployment insurance taxes, workers compensation taxes, corporate franchise taxes import fees, and others. In fact, 30 different taxes are imposed on the production and sale of a loaf of bread. The government imposes at least 43 taxes on the production and sale of a gallon of gas.
This is just another part of the excessive burden of taxes working people must bear. Overall, close to half or more of what working people earn ends up going to taxes rather than for their own families. The average family pays more for taxes today than for food, clothing and shelter combined.
This article originally appeared in the Washington Times.
For your ping list sir.
Tax PING
LOL! By one second!
...and who said we are not ALREADY OVERTAXED into socialism??? Over half of my income goes to taxation -- how about you??? --- and Washington hears about it DAILY!
Doesn't really look a bit old, does it?
That's a tie in my book! Calling all Ancient_geezers!
A Taxreform bump for you all.
If you would like to be added to this ping list let me know.
John Linder in the House(HR25) & Saxby Chambliss Senate(S25), offer a comprehensive bill to kill all income and SS/Medicare payroll taxes outright, and provide a IRS free replacement in the form of a retail sales tax:
H.R.25,S.25
A bill to promote freedom, fairness, and economic opportunity by repealing the income tax and other taxes, abolishing the Internal Revenue Service, and enacting a national retail sales tax to be administered primarily by the States.Refer for additional information:
Okay, no payoff.
Calling all Ancient_geezers!
Must be dinnertime.
ping
Wrong! It took 38 seconds! ;-)
I don't know what you're talking about. Maybe you could elaborate so the rest of us are up to speed on this.
"Calling all Ancient_geezers!"
Ancient Goddesses too? LOL......I resemble that remark.
The "Tax Bite" of several products and services can be found at: http://www.atr.org/taxbites/index.html
Might as well get these guys over here as well so they can tell us how wrong this article is.
Thanks for a good link. Bookmarked.
He then went on to say that we were better off than the Europeans, because they were closer to the 60% range. I was unconsoled.
For me, a big issue about large government involvement in the economy is inefficiency. Do government employees work as hard or spend money as efficiently as private workers do? No way (at least in the aggregate, if someone has a story about some individual government employee who takes his trust seriously)!
And even if you just drink soda, 35 percent of what you pay for a can goes for taxes at all levels.This could only be possible if people didn't pay income and payroll taxes. But guess what! They do.
I have spent a lot of time in Texas. The roads, for the most part, are excellent. A lot of farm roads and county maintained roads. Why on earth does Texas need another 4,000 miles of new roads? This sounds like a sweetheart deal and I can't believe Texans would go for it. I have been just as disillusioned with Republicans in Georgia who were swept into power for the first time since WBTS reconstruction. They have taken it upon themselves to posit all sorts of mischief. One of their dumb ideas was to enact an emminent domain law that made it easier for private developers to steal land from private individuals. Neal Boortz got on that one and with the help of a lot of Freepers and others got it squashed.
Now, having said all of that, I can't think of anything libertarians have ever gotten that they wanted.
My economist brother in law estimated that the overall government share of GDP was in the 45% range. This discussion was 10 or 15 years ago.More like 30% for federal, state, and local.
I remember that article from when it came out originally. I will definitely print it out for use with the FairTax presentations I do.
Thanks for tripping over it and stopping to pick it up for us. ;-)
I remember that article from when it came out originally. I will definitely print it out for use with the FairTax presentations I do.Be sure to tell you audience that these figures assume we aren't paying income or payroll taxes.
I'm not understanding what you're saying. Well, I THINK I may have a vague grasp of it, but I'm not certain. Please educate. :)
The fairtax (gross payment tax) would just tax all of those taxes not repealed.
Good argument for the Fair Tax.
How? It's revenue neutral and replaces any repealed taxes with an exorbitant sales tax...There's no free lunch.
Not a chance. He's working on the Fair Tax and that's where we need him now. ;-)
Get out there and work on that governor yourselves. Don't let him get away with this crap. It always amazes me that Americans stand in line to vote for a king every 4 years and ignore their governmental and state elections (present company excluded, of course.)
I'm glad I live in a state that doesn't have toll roads. (At least none that I can think of.)
I just got an e-mail from the Devil. They're having snowball fights down there. I agree with you.
Not all of them. But I think you're right about the hidden excise taxes, like on tobacco.
LOL!!! Me, too!
By their calculations, it would be easy to show that 95% of your income is consumed by taxes. They like to count multiple times.
You're looking at the explicit taxes. That doesn't count implicit costs -- federal mandates. Cost of tax collection. Mandated training programs (which have a lot of waste). Diversity programs. These are things which technically are privately paid, but would be rarely done if they weren't forced. Its government involvement by another name, and its inefficient, and its significant.
There's also a lot of embedded taxes you don't catch by adding up the average fed, state, and local rates. Hotel taxes. Road tax on gasoline. Prepared food taxes. "User" fees. And on, and on... and on.
Government needs money they can leaseout all the land they own, and we fight wars for freedom for cost plus 10%.
France gets charged cost plus 40%.
They have to pay upfront in Gold.
"By their calculations, it would be easy to show that 95% of your income is consumed by taxes. They like to count multiple times."
By "their" and "they", I assume that you mean Americans For Tax Reform, which is where these estimates came from.
AG, isn't that Grover Nordquist's group? (Hope I spelled his name right)
Hey Geez, how about NO TAXES NOT ONE, NO Sales Tax, and No Income TAX.
Constitution lays out the method pay the government's bills and debt in no uncertain terms.
Constitution for the United States of America:
- Article I Section 8: "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises,
to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States;"
Government needs money they can leaseout all the land they own
I'd prefer to see the government sell such holdings my self and turn it over to private hands. Why should land be in the government's control beyond that which is necessary to the defense of the nation?
"Think about your humanity. How can live with yourself." Well you can e-mail him. He's from Texas and he's big on eminent domain issues.
http://boortz.com/
LOL!!! Me, too!
That's because like many before you you've decided to pay attention to the facts rather than the rhetoric.
Thanks much - it's in work. Hopefully Neal can get some free time to save the country (and perhaps the world) from a toll road maniac.
I assume that you mean Americans For Tax Reform, which is where these estimates came from.
AG, isn't that Grover Nordquist's group? (Hope I spelled his name right)
Matter of fact it is. Nordquist is the president of Americans for Tax Reform, IIRC.
Even the Liberatarians come up with 70% when adding in the cost of regulations on American industry as well.
We must . . . End Tax Slavery Now; Nov '97
by Jarret B. WollsteinHOW MUCH DO YOU REALLY PAY?
According to the Tax Foundation, in 1994 the average American paid 22.4% of his or her income in federal taxes, plus 11.8% in state and local taxes - 34.2% total.
- Compliance costs - record keeping, monies spent on tax planning, computers and software purchased to fulfill IRS requirements, etc.
- Enforcement costs - IRS audits, field investigations, service center corrections, criminal investigations, litigation, and forced collections.
- Emotional, moral and cultural costs - families forced onto welfare, time and creative energy lost figuring out how to avoid taxes, etc.
For every $1 we pay in direct taxes, we spend an additional $0.65 in compliance costs. And even that figure doesn't include the cost of import duties, license fees and other government regulations. For a typical U.S. family, the real cost of taxes and regulations is at least:
Federal taxes 22.4% of income
State & local taxes 11.8%
Compliance costs 22.2%
Regulatory costs 12.7%70.1% of your income is now consumed by government
LL you're such a...
It could be that you have finally stated something that could be construed as fact.
Phil_Will1 actually did post that using a curve he can prove that "well over 99%" of everything is tax.
You have to look at numbers sometimes and evaluate if they pass the smell test, and that doesn't. To believe that 70% of our economy is either government or consumed by compliance is silly. Our economy is a heck of a lot more productive than that.
I havre actually asked to have the tax content listed on the labels... =o)
Of course keep this quiet Geezer will harange us.
To believe that 70% of our economy is either government or consumed by compliance is silly.
Only if you limit your horizon to the immediate dollars flowing in an economy and don't account for the supression of the economy through government disincentives to production and expansion of business that arise out of the taxcode and regulation.
The effects of government at all levels of the economy is substantially more pervasive than many want to believe.
Our economy is a heck of a lot more productive than that.
Actually our economy could be a heck of a lot more productive than it is, if it weren't for the impediments built in by excess government at all levels.
So your definable tax will go from $20,000 to $780 while banks, money managers, insurance companies, brokerage houses, financial advisors, pension funds, mutual funds, 401(k)'s, IRA's, wirehouses, commodity pools, commodity traders, floor traders on the stock exchange, stock exchanges, hedge funds, retirement systems, insurance agents, insurance companies, introducing brokers, speculators and I don't know how many other entities shoulder the burden.
You do realize, don't you, that all of the above handle your money?
The burden will be spread over the entire economy at a very low rate.
.003 will not crash the market.
Going to decimalization hurt trading but they recovered.
The distinction is fact verses rhetoric, as you say. And it is the determining factor in when we (I presume we, I guess I can only speak for myself) pay attention. I'm glad you gave us the opportunity to acknowledge what you said was true and agree with you. I hope it becomes the norm.
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