Wesley Clark’s tax plan bothers me — not the rolling back the windfalls for the super rich — when he proclaims that families of four with incomes of $50,000 and under will pay no taxes and every family earning beyond to $100,000 will receive a $2250 tax credit per child. This proposal only aggravates the animosity of those in favor of the Bush status quo favoring the rich but tossing peanuts to the unwashed. In one sense Bush is right on lowering the tax rate on the poor to 10%, which is what it had been before Senator Bradley pushed for “tax-reform” in the late 80s by increasing the minimal rate to 15%.



Further whenever politicians speak on taxes they never specify whether the incomes they mention are gross or taxable — a world of difference. A net income of $50,000 is a hunk of usable cash and shouldn’t go untaxed, especially in a time of so much talk about low-paying jobs and having to pay for a war.



My contention is that everybody should pay their fair share of taxes — even the newsboy — in order to appreciate the need for, and cost of government; thereby, if only 1% it is at least a token of sacrifice for living in the greatest nation in history, despite the current move to make it second rate. The single percentage point would also be the incremental rate per $1000 of taxable income regardless of filing status.