Stan Geiger

Middle Class Tax Relief is a Must

My sister and brother-in-law were in town over the weekend. (They live in Chicago). The bro was in a bit of a funk due to the tax bill handed to him by the federal government.

Is my bro-in-law rich? Well, unfortunately, no. But his federal income tax bill would make you think he is rich. The number cited to me was breathtaking.

I don't know a whole lot about the specifics of how this came to be, but I think he paid more in 2007 income taxes than he actually put in his pocket. He and a partner own a small business that operates power plants. Everything runs through the business. At any rate, however it went down, Uncle Sam got a running start and kicked my brother-in-law right square in the nut sack.

Why do I preach tax increases on billionaires? Why do I preach cuts in education funding? Why do I preach an end to public pensions? There's your reason. The systematic brutalization of average, hardworking Americans has to stop.

In order for said brutalization to come to an end, government spending has to be curtailed. Everything has to be on the table. Everything. There can be no sacred cows. Not education; not defense; not Social Security.

And taxes on the filthy rich have to be increased. There is no way around that if average folks are going to get the tax monkey off their backs.

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