Greetings, The recent discussion of taxes and casinos, regressivity and fairness have led me to write again about this issue with regards to Minneapolis.
As Victoria Heller knows we are severely under taxed here in Minnesota. Our tax rate should be much higher and should be much more progressive. In other words, the burden of taxes should fall harder those with more ability to pay. The Republicans seem fond of saying that "families should be able to keep more of the money they earn." What you don't hear in this statement is that by "families" they generally mean those who earn in the top 1% of income these 2.7 million folks nationwide earn about 50.1% of all the income in the country. Further by "earn" they mean dividend income, inheritance and gift income as well as profits from the sale of stocks, bonds, real estate, etc. some of which has been held in the "family" for decades or longer. To lower the tax burden of these "families" means the burden must fall harder on the the rest of us. (I'm assuming here that very few on this have TAXABLE income in excess of $350,000 per year.) This means the tax policy become more regressive. Property tax because it is not entirely related to ability to pay is a very regressive tax, the sales tax too is a regressive tax especially when it excludes service like lawyers and accountants but includes services like hair salons or barbers. Income tax is more progressive especially when the higher earners pay a higher RATE. Now if we agree that we are under taxed, a good tax like a casino or the lottery which are quite regressive but good earners, can be a real boon to an area like Chicago and Lake where many poor people feeling especially undertaxed will be able to blow more of there after tax income on the hope of a big win. I put my money where my mouth is. Despite earning less that $12,000 last year with my ffamiliy of 5 I played the PPowerball lottery every time the jackpot rose above $121 million dollars. (It only happened twice) This year I lowered my standards to $60 million and still only bought about 10 tickets. Its my way of adding a little to the state budget that is so far in the red. Let's tell or elected leaders that we are uunder taxed. Tell them we want to pay more for better service. Tell them to tax the rich more than the poor. I'm willing to pay more, you should be too. -- In cooperation, Erik Riese Seward: a great place to live, work, learn, and play! (612) 724-3217 home ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
