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So
much to write about, so little time.
What do we have time to focus on
this week? The economy? Nope, that’s being talked to death. Corruption? Where
can we start? Unqualified politicians? Not enough time.
How about taxes?
That’s a good idea and one we can all identify with. It seems to me that about
200 and some odd years ago, we protested taxation without representation. Having
sat through last weeks vote on the stimulus bill which no one in Congress had
the time to read…isn’t that what happened in front of our very eyes?
The
bill, as I understand it, was about 1100 pages in length and came out of committee
about fifteen hours before it was voted upon. Obviously no one in this country
had a chance to read the thing in it’s entirety before it came up for a vote.
So, how can anyone say that the bill was passed with any level of understanding
and comprehension? They can’t. So how can any politician honestly tell us they
are representing us in this largest of all tax bills?
I don’t think they
can. The current mentality seems to be something along the line of … “We must
do something, even if it’s wrong.” I don’t agree. The free market will naturally
correct itself, if left alone. People will buy and sell things when the prices
for those things reach the correct level. Just because you buy a house does not
mean that the house you bought is guaranteed to go up in value by 20% each and
every year. This is foolish thinking and has gotten a lot of people into financial
trouble. Once the housing market stabilizes and gets to the realistic true value
of the properties, then the market will start to expand and grow once more. Pouring
more money into it, does not solve the problem.
As I understand it, the
bill that was passed this week also had a provision in it to assist homeowners
whose houses were worth less than they owed. Under the bill that was passed, the
government would come in and help those homeowners obtain a reduction on their
monthly payments in order to allow the homeowner to stay in the house. My question
is this. If we reduce the monthly payments, the mortgage companies take longer
to get paid for their original outlay when the house was bought. Our mortgage
payments usually include property taxes to our local counties. Will those be reduced
as well? I don’t think so. So, if the homeowner can’t afford their payments and
their taxes, will this not lead to more and more counties suffering financial
difficulties and having to ask for governmental bailouts? It’s like buying a car
and putting it on a 120 month note, just to keep the payments low. At some point
in time the maintenance costs exceed the monthly note to the lender. None of us
can drive a vehicle for ten or fifteen years without having to do some maintenance
on it.
One other issue on taxes this week. The government is now testing
a plan to tax our driving by the miles driven. It seems more and more of us aren’t
driving as much as we were a few years ago, or we’re buying vehicles that use
less fuel, so the amount of dollars coming in from gasoline taxes has dropped
off. The answer to this would be to tax us on the actual miles we drive each year.
Let’s see, suppose I own a gas guzzler and I pay $2,000 a year in gasoline
taxes. Then I buy a hybrid and my new efficient vehicle only requires enough gas
to generate $500 in gasoline tax the next year. But, then here comes the government
and they tax me for the miles actually driven in my vehicle so my tax bill goes
up another $1500 a year based on my mileage. How is it I’m ahead of the game and
rewarded for trying to do the right thing and buying a more expensive gas efficient
vehicle? I thought the purpose of buying one in the first place was to increase
my mileage and save myself some money. This doesn’t look like it rewards me for
doing the right thing.
I suppose it could be worse, just look at New York.
Over there they are proposing a 4% increase in tax on anything downloaded from
the internet, 4% increase in taxi fares. A 4% increase on the cost of cable for
your house, an 18% increase on the cost of a soft drink and worst of all a double
of the tax on beer.
Stayed tuned folks, we’re all in this together and
we must not waver or surely we’ll all go down together.
©
Peary Perry
Letters From North America February
25, 2009 column
Syndicated weekly in 80 newspapers
Comments go to pperry@austin.rr.com
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