Socialism by Increments

Do you know how much tax you pay? Consider this example: to buy a Chevrolet priced at $20,000 in Indiana you must pay a 7% sales tax plus licensing and excise tax. To manufacture your car General Motors, suppliers and dealerships must also pay taxes. These include corporate income taxes, real estate taxes, inventory taxes , employee social security tax and so on. Of course these hidden costs are included in the price of the car. How much does all of this add to the price? According to a Harvard economist the answer is 18% or about $3000.
So to purchase your Chevy you must earn an extra $3000 for the government tax burden. However, your earnings are also taxed. For simplicity let’s assume your net federal income tax rate is 15% after deductions. In Indiana you will also pay state income tax of 3.4% plus a 1% local option tax. Do the math and we find that we must earn about $24,800 to keep $20,000. So, adding it all up, the total tax burden in this case is $7,800 or 39% of the purchase price. Taxation is nearing the point where the USA will soon be a Socialist economy.

Bush as Hitler?

In the January 29 H-T we were subjected to yet another hysterical rant against our president and, by extension, our country. Kevin Haggerty’s column is so venomous and so beyond reason it is absurd. He tells us President Bush is in the same league as Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot. Where does the H-T find these screeching and preaching left wingers? Why give him a column to spew such hate filled rhetoric? In Iraq we are trying to create a free and democratic society. Do we get credit for these intentions? No…we are told our president is a Hitler. Mr. Haggerty is the type of writer the H-T seems to attract that can find nothing good about our country. Now is a time when anti-American propaganda is common in the world, put out by our enemies and even some of our so-called friends. Too many people are ready and anxious to believe anything bad about the USA. The Iranian parliament ends its sessions by chanting “death to America”. Chavez, the Castro-wannabe in Venezuela, says America is a terrorist state and the most evil country in the world. Is this where Mr. Haggerty gets his ideas?