Research Paper On Taxation Among Americans

Submitted By bbazile1
Words: 794
Pages: 4

Taxation among Americans

“The wisdom of man never yet contrived a system that would operate with

perfect equality.” – Andrew Jackson Webster defines tax as, a strain, money paid to the government, or to make demands on somebody or something. I personally agree with the last definition, “to make demands on somebody or something”, because taxes are not optional which is not the problem, but instead the amount of taxes and who’s paying the majority of taxes. What most people do not know is that taxes were originally temporary, levied only to pay for wars; then reintroduced to become permanent, and only be used to punish the rich, or at least that is how is was portrayed to the middle and low class. After the idea of a permanent income tax was accepted by the majorities the rich found a way around them with things such as corporations. In my opinion, taxes are a wonderful thing; it can be both harmful and helpful. When things such as corporations are used as a way to avoid paying ones dues it becomes harmful. The way corporations are taxed is every expense is funneled into the business such as gas, payroll, dining, clothing and almost anything else one could imagine, and then after all of that is added together the total is subtracted from the years total earnings, and the remaining amount of funds is taxed. Do you see the problem that with this? Anything that you do can be counted as a business expense. Family vacations can be called business trips, dinner dates can be counted as dinners with potential clients, and shopping sprees can be categorized as professional attire, which is a tax deduction. To give you an idea of how much taxes effect you, if at any point in life you are single and earn one million dollars in a single year as a single individual you will pay around $300,000 depending on your state of residence; granted that was a major exaggeration because of other deductions it is still the reality we all face as individuals. Now lets say a corporation earns $10,000,000 in one year they are going to have $9,500,000 in miscellaneous bogus deductions that have been funneled into random business accounts and expenses, and that $500,000 that is left over they are going to be taxed on that. That is where I see the problem occurring. Why should these businesses not be taxed the same as the average working American? The average working man pays over a fourth of their income in taxes and they are working for these corporations. Where is the justice or logic in that? There is a common ground on issues such as this, the rich agree to a tax increase every few years and the middle and low class agree and turn a blind eye to it after they feel as though they have won the battle. After this takes place the rich just funnels more into expense accounts, which is not illegal but highly unethical. The more one claims they spend they less they pay which in turn allows them to gross more.