Posted by
Rich on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 1:00:22 PM
I read the article in today's Sarasota Herald-Tribune by Jeremy Wallace titled, "
Tax liens against Buchanan Explained". Jeremy did a good job pointing out that what all the hubbub is about is a IRS clerical error.
I
began thinking about writing an article about gotcha politics and
journalists that spend their entire careers digging up the dirt on
politicians. Suddenly I realized that everyone was missing the whole
point of this story about one of Congressman Buchanan's many successful
businesses.
The whole point is taxes!
Nationally
syndicated columnist Walter E. Williams compares paying taxes to
"slavery". Walter states, "The average American worker toils from
January 1st to the end of April, and has no legal claim to the fruits
of his labor for that period. Federal, state and local governments,
through the tax code, take what he produces. A small portion of the
fruits of his labor is used to provide for the constitutional functions
of government. Most of what's taken, up to two-thirds, is given to some
other American in the forms of farm and business subsidies, Social
Security, Medicare, welfare and hundreds of other government handout
programs. As in slavery, one person is being forcibly used to serve the
purposes of another person."
I was thinking what if we didn't
pay any federal income taxes? What if VB Investments could keep the
$556,000 it sent to the government?
Let's see, that money could
be used to hire 10 employees for $55,600 a year. It could be reinvested
in the company to build a new office building, which would help our
slumping construction industry. It could be invested in stocks to give
other businesses capital to work with and grow. It could be used to
fund a new startup company, which employs even more people. It could be
deposited in a bank and loaned to individuals that are having a hard
time getting a mortgage. It could be given to charity to help great
causes.
Congressman Buchanan and thousands of wealthy
individuals like him do this every day, pay outrageous amounts in
taxes. What if they had all that money to reinvest in their businesses
to create jobs, pay their employees a higher salary or improve health
care benefits? What if they just spent it on themselves to buy new
cars, boats, homes, condos and luxury items, fueling each of these
industries that employ tens of thousands of people across America?
As
Claude Frederic Bastiat,
French economist, legislator and writer who championed private
property, free markets, and limited government, said, "Government is
the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the
expense of everybody else".
Do you endeavor to live at the expense of everybody else? Vern and Sandy Buchanan don't. We should thank them.