April 15, 2010
Tax day. Most of us have already paid, but we will keep paying all year in withholding, state and local taxes and, if the Democrat Congress has its way, a value added tax. In the UK, the VAT is currently 17.5 percent. Some think it should go to 20 percent. This is on top of an income tax and huge taxes on gasoline that has driven the price over $7 a gallon.
Government never has enough of our money. Politicians think we pay too little. Their spending habits have put us on the brink of financial disaster, but they don't seem to care. Social security and Medicare are long past due for reform. We need private accounts we own that earn interest; health savings accounts to better take care of our own health care needs. But politicians want us beholden to them. It adds to their power.
Unless we demand less from politicians and more from ourselves we will get bigger and more expensive and inefficient government, along with so much debt, it will mortgage the future and possibly bring us to our knees to dictators who hold the purse strings. Happy April 15th!
Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.
