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Tea Party at risk of self-sabotage
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“Abuse of words has been the great instrument of sophistry and chicanery, of party, faction, and division of society.” – John Adams
Tea Party advocates are a threat to gun owners, because they sacrifice Constitutional principles for the sake of political expediency, resulting in more politics and less Liberty.
Past articles examined how GOP betrayed its stated principles, even running a presidential candidate who:
· Promoted federal law banning the free speech of gun owners during election season.
· Promoted federal law making it more difficult for law-abiding gun owners to buy and sell firearms at gun shows.
The official site for the upcoming July 4 Tea Party decided to slam “liberals” instead of addressing the core issues behind tax and spend politics:
Obama and liberals in Congress are taking us down the road to socialism, seizing control of key banks, insurance companies, the automobile industry, etc.
While this statement is in itself true, it does not address the fact that the (assumedly) non-liberal Republican President and Congress during the years 2000-2006 did the same thing. This may play well to the choir, but it doesn’t garner support from the very people who suffer most from taxation: those who are not wealthy.
(Note: The following does not denigrate the acquisition of wealth, but only addresses the vanishing opportunity for upward mobility that made America great.)
The Washington Times reports that Value Added Tax (VAT) is getting a “fresh look.” VAT is a national sales tax “on the transfer of goods and services that ultimately is borne by the consumer.” Washington is studying VAT as a way to reduce the deficit created by all the bailout spending. The theory is that rich people consume more so they would pay more tax, because VAT eliminates the current system where expensive tax attorneys find loopholes and tax shelters so rich people don’t have to pay income tax.
Cap and Trade is being promoted in Washington as a way to reduce emissions purportedly causing global warming, but some leading Democrats admit it is “a tax on energy consumption.” The Heritage Foundation estimates this tax will cost each household $800 to $1,300 annually.
The table below shows the impact of these taxes for a rich family with $200,000 annual income, and a poor one earning $20,000. The rich family consumes twice the energy of the poor one, but both pay a 10% VAT on essentials like food and clothing. Even though the rich family pays nearly three times the tax of the poor one on just these three categories, the rich family’s additional tax equals 2.3% of their total income, while the poor one spends an additional 8.1%. This leaves $155,800 for the rich family to spend on vacations, other necessities from home repair to toilet paper, and perhaps most importantly, investments which will earn more money. The poor family has $5,380 left over to survive on for the year.
Rich Family | Poor Family | |||
Income | 200,000 | Tax | 20,000 | Tax |
Energy | 9,600 | 1,600 | 4,800 | 800 |
Food (10% VAT) | 24,000 | 2,400 | 7,200 | 720 |
Clothing (10% VAT) | 6,000 | 600 | 1,000 | 100 |
Totals | 39,600 | 4,600 | 13,000 | 1,620 |
Tax as Percent of Income | 2.3% | 8.1% | ||
Remaining Income | 155,800 | 5,380 | ||
This misses another important point: Rich people can afford bigger homes with higher utility usage, but they can also choose to cut their expenses by living more simply. To survive financially, poor people haven’t a choice. Another important point this brings up: It takes wealth to afford the feel-good politics of environmentalism and runaway government spending.
Returning to the bailout-driven deficit: Who’s getting the bailout money? Wealthy corporate executives can afford to contribute $2,300 to each candidate of their choice during an election cycle. Their corporations can afford to contribute millions. The industry their corporation is in can afford to spend tens or even hundreds of millions. A previous article shows that after spending these millions, these same businesses and industries are the primary beneficiaries of the bailouts. The average American can’t afford to contribute $2,300 for the entire election, and curiously, doesn’t get much of a bailout, either.
Because of its lust to regain the power lost during the last two elections, and its vanity over being “right,” the Tea Party movement squanders a golden opportunity to make tax reform a populist issue that would halt Washington’s reverse-Robin-Hood, tax-and-payback scheme. Since the armed citizen stands in the way of big government, the Tea Party’s willful denial makes it no friend to the civil right of self-defense.
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For in-depth analysis of tools to promote the right of self-defense, read Four Hundred Years of Gun Control: Why Isn’t It Working?, which deconstructs the gun control agenda and motivates more people to support our civil right of self-defense.
Check out other Gun Rights Examiners:
- Atlanta: Carrying a firearm openly is not illegal in Georgia
- Austin: 'Assault rifles' found in Austin dumpster, or media bias?
- Boston: M.D.’s fixing what ails the country
- Charlotte: Armed self-defense: Beyond the basics
- Cleveland: New Prohibition for a new generation
- DC: Congress joins states in making parks safe for gun carry
- Denver: When do you actually own a new gun?
- Los Angeles: Sovereignty 101, Part II: No Alternatives to the State?
- Minneapolis: A great couple of days in the Midwest
- National: Is Sotomayor Obama's 'declaration of war' on gun owners?
- Seattle: Why Sonia Sotomayor is simply wrong for the Supreme Court
- St. Louis: The difference between 'sniper rifles' and 'precision rifles'
- Wisconsin: Gun rights advocates make progress
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