by Tina Grazier
We must all be prepared to sacrifice. Thats what weve been told. The government has chosen to spendand spendand spend. They talk about transforming the way problems are approached in our country, which is just a hip word used to describe the act of making the federal government the manager of funding, innovation and invention. They will decide which technologies we will utilizeand which we will not. They will decide which states and cities will build a new ____ fill in the blank. They will decide how our business is conducted.
In this giddy exuberant rush to do something it would be wise to pause for a moment and consider. Credit card spending is always fun at the store. But when the bill comes due the mood is likely to transformed to something a lot less exciting. Thats the time when the sacrifices we must make will become quite real in the form of tax increases and rising energy prices. We need to be awareBIG taxes and HIGH prices are coming down the pike:
**Total government taxes federal, state, and local were 29.2 percent of GDP in 2007, the last year for which the Office of Management and Budget has data. Thats a $4 trillion boat anchor on the U.S. economy more than $13,000 for every man, woman, and child in America. Thats $13,000 you cant save for your childs college education; that you cant put into a 401(k) for your retirement; or that you dont have to meet payroll this month in your struggling small business. **
And the current all Democrat all the time leadership is rushing to make those numbers soar. The Bush tax cuts will expire in 2010 raising tax rates on working Americans in all tax brackets. That very big change however just isnt enough to satisfy this greedy breed of pols. Take a look at what else is in the works according to Mr. Norquist:
** On Jan. 1, 2011, just a shade over 22 months from now, several rates are scheduled to rise: The tax rate on most small-business profits will elevate from 37.9 percent to 42.5 percent. Also increasing will be the nest-egg taxes on capital gains (15 to 20 percent) and dividends (15 to 39.6 percent). And the death tax, which is set to die in a mere ten months, will come roaring back at a 55 percent rate on estates valued over $1 million. *** And if we take Obama at his word during the presidential campaign, there will be an increase in the Social Security payroll tax for employees and small-business owners making $250,000 or more. This tax could go as high as 12.4 percent, up from 0 percent today. Obama also has indicated his support for a cap-and-trade (or carbon-tax) regime that will increase energy costs by hundreds of dollars a year for the typical family. *** Then there are the congressional highway-bill writers who are beginning to whisper about a gasoline-tax hike. And House Ways and Means chairman Charlie Rangel (D., N.Y.) wants to close loopholes **
The Democrats in power have a vision for America and big plans to create that vision. The problem I have with their vision is that it relegates American citizens to the back of the bus. As the future unfolds we will no longer be the heroes of our own stories but instead managed and directed wards and slaves of the state. When government takes the wealth and decides who will benefit and who will not we no longer live in the land of the free. The greatness of this nation was created not by our leadership but by free people getting on with their lives in creative and innovative ways. The voluntary sacrifices that were made to do that were made by individuals. The risks they were willing to take were taken with the knowledge that it was possible to make a contribution, that if we won we could thrive and better ourselves and others, that if we failed we could come back to try again. This is a vision that is alive with wonder, energy and enthusiasm not available in the current democrat vision. Sacrifice that leads to oppression is not transformational…it is definitely not the American way.