Senators, Representatives—and Americans Who Voted for Them—to Blame for Increased Spending and Tax Hikes

Rather than reduce federal spending more than a token amount (let alone enough to balance the budget now and in the long term), Congress has decided to continue its profligate spending, to ignore the “entitlement” crisis, and to “solve” the financial crisis by raising taxes.

Stephen Ohlemacher writes for the Associated Press:

The Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan Washington research group, estimates that 77 percent of American households will face higher federal taxes in 2013 under the agreement negotiated between President Barack Obama and Senate Republicans.

Most people will pay more in payroll taxes for Social Security as the tax goes up two percent (to its previous level). Congress substantially raised federal income taxes “from 35 percent to 39.6 percent on income above $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for married couples.” In addition, ObamaCare imposes “a new 3.8 percent tax . . . on investment income for individuals making more than $200,000 a year and couples making more than $250,000.”

Leave aside for the moment the stupidity of further punishing production and investment in an already-struggling economy, and consider the immorality of the tax hikes.

Social Security transfers wealth directly from working families to the retired, violating the rights of workers to keep and use their income—and to plan for their own retirements—as they see fit. The program should be phased out, allowing the payroll tax funding it to drop to zero over time.

The tax hikes on wealthier Americans punish the most productive, violating their rights to spend and invest their income as they see fit. These are the individuals who have produced vast wealth and invested it in productive ventures—thereby raining goods and jobs and wealth on the rest of us in the economy. For having done so, Congress has chosen to subject these individuals to the most severe taxes. (This is despite the fact that wealthier Americans already paid hugely disproportionate levels of income taxes.)

Obama says “the rich” must be taxed more so that they pay their “fair share.” But there’s nothing fair about Congress extorting more wealth from the most productive Americans in order to finance the morally corrupt, rights-violating welfare state. According to the standard of individual rights, there is only one measure of a more “fair” tax: one that is lower.

Shame on Congress and the president for pushing through these rights-violating tax hikes. And shame on Americans who continue to elect these rights-violating politicians.

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Related:

• Capitalism and the Moral High Ground
• To Protect Rights, Phase Out Payroll Tax Completely
• The Moral Cliff

Image: Wikimedia Commons

About Ari Armstrong

Ari Armstrong blogs at AriArmstrong.com, and he has written for publications including the Denver Post and Complete Colorado. He is the author of Values of Harry Potter: Lessons for Muggles, a book exploring the heroic fight for life-promoting values in the Potter novels.

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