Belly Button Lint: Rick Ramsey's Weblog

According to Fortune Magazine's April issue, of the Americans who filed tax returns in 2005...

• The top 50% paid 97% of the Federal Government's taxes
• The top 10% paid 70%

Fortune's point is not the inequality of the tax burden, but the inequality of the rise in incomes. To make it into the top 1% club in 1986, you only had to make $119,000. By 2005 it was $365,000. (And yes, as a result, that top 1% pays 40% of federal taxes.)

What interests me is the notion of representation. Or, to put it another way, "getting our money's worth." We all know that some people in that top 1% use their income to buy an awful lot of government influence. In some cases, to even buy themselves a position in government. Is that a bad thing? After all, isn't that what the founding fathers did? No, it's not a bad thing unless you seek to gain at the rest of the country's expense. How many of them do that? I don't have a clue. And neither do you. So shut up and go kiss your poster of Nancy Pelosi.

What I can be pretty sure of is that those of us between the 50th and 99th percentiles aren't buying any government influence beyond our vote and, thanks to the internet, our political contributions. (Isn't that one a slick little tax hike!) Why am I sure? Because we're all working too hard. (Well, those of us who aren't blogging about politics.)

Why are we working so hard? I can only speak for myself, for the people in California and for the folks in New England. The people in California do it to simply stay afloat. That place is expensive in a way that nobody in the Midwest can hope to grok. The people in New England do it because they don't know what else to do with their time...

"Yo. Jonas. S'up?"
"Workin. You?"
"Workin."

Me? I do it because I'm an immigrant. First generation immigrants always work their butts off. We need to prove ourselves worthy of Lassie's love. Good enough to be Roy Roger's pal. We are Tontos hoping for a promotion. Failing that, one for our kids.

Whatever the reason, those of us who pay for the government haven't spent a lot of time and resources making sure we get what we paid for. And politicians don't give us good customer service because it's tough to associate us with a pressing problem that they are uniquely qualified to fix. We're like the good student in the troubled family.

But you know what we're thinkin', those of us who foot most of the bill for George Bush's multi-trillion dollar vendetta in Iraq, who listen to demagogues pandering for votes by claiming we need to pay more of our share, who know the difference between someone in need and someone who won't work, those of us who wonder whether a lifetime of hard work will be enough to put our kids through college or let us wind down a bit before we croak, you know what we're thinkin'?

We need to fire the bastards, is what we're thinkin'. No more stupid presidents. No more stupid congressmen, either. No more specious debates. No more deceptive sound bites. You can dispense with the gross generalizations, too, if you don't mind. Would the Republican Spin Machine kindly STFU. We request the same consideration from MoveOn.org. And any other group who promotes blind obeisance to one-sided arguments....

liberal: "What's your opinion?"
conservative: "They're idiots and I'm a genius."
liberal: "Amazing! That's exactly what I think!"

It's a tough world out there. Most of us didn't earn the privilege of paying taxes by acting like retards with a drinking problem at an apple dunking contest. We demand intelligence, thoughtfulness, and a reasonable attempt at honesty from each other. It's time we demanded it from the government. And from their political lapdogs. It's time we took the time to pay attention to what the hell is going on.