Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Conservatism
4. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work, because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is the beginning of the end of any nation.
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How true. I've got three kids who I will be involved in sending to college the next 10 years or so. One returns as a Junior in college next fall; one is a Freshman in college next fall; the last is an eighth grader next year. I have made too much money for them to get any financial aid for college. Thus, I will need to keep making pretty good money over this period of time to get them through college. But when they are out, my house will coincidentally be paid for at the same time. I can honestly say that if the tax structures have changed substantially by then -- and if the Democrats are left in charge of things, I'm guessing it will -- I'm going to cut back my money making.
If I were collecting money from a trust fund, sure that would be stupid, perhaps, to take less because the government was going to take more otherwise. If I had unearned income, windfall profit type of income, sure, again it would be stupid to deliberatly earn less. But this is not my case. I make my money by working hard and by working more, I make more money. By the same token, by working less I make less.
In my situation, and I don't think it is unique, there is another way of looking at this. If my marginal tax rate is 50% -- the government is taxing the last dollar I earn at 50% (social security, medicare/medicaid, income tax, any other new taxes) -- then the government pays 50% of the money I lose by working less hours. Suppose I normally work 200 hours per month but dial back to 160 hours per month. Let's say that I earn $100/hour. If the government takes 50% of the last fraction of income, I'm only losing $50/hour for those 40 hours not worked and the government is paying (in the form of uncollected taxes) the other lost $50/hour for those 40 hours. I grant this is a little convoluted to think about in this way, but it helps to reveal things.
So, in my situation, I would be inclined to have more of my time to my self -- for leisure activities -- when my income is too highly taxed. With the house paid for and the kids through college, this would be very feasible. I contemplate with some delight the prospect that I might actually be able to join the ranks of those who are net beneficiaries of the government's largesse. While I will vote against the scoundrels who vitiate our economic system and gum up the machinery of capitalism, I'm pragmatic and will analyze the system to identify the optimal use of my time and skills. And as the #4 sentence above, this is not good for the nation. And I'm not the only one who would respond in this way. I'm not going to brook free loaders riding on my back. I'm also not going to brook paying off an obscene deficit that Democrats ran up to buy votes for themselves, not if I have anything to say about it.
Five sentences
