I can already smell the unmistakenable aroma of fresh cut grass and hot dogs on the grill! I took the family to the annual San Diego Padres Fan Fest on Saturday. We don't usually have a lot to cheer about when it comes to our sports teams here in San Diego, but hope springs eternal.
I decided to walk by our local convention center on the way to the ballpark. I wanted to see all of the hoopla surrounding the California Democratic convention that was taking place here in America's Finest City. Many of the marquee names like Nancy Pelosi, Jerry Brown, Van Jones, etc. were here addressing the faithful.
As soon as I got close, I was approached by young people carrying clipboards with petitions. They were urging me to sign a petition to "tax the millionaires." Wanting to get to the ballpark early and get some of those millionaires' autographs, I had to decline the invitation. I did not get much further before being approached by several more petition gatherers getting quite aggressive and chanting, "tax the millionaries, tax the millionaires!" It almost made me want to stop and look around for any of these so-called evil millionaires so I could report them to the IRS.
It really became quite annoying after a while. It was walking through an obstacle course. I can't bob and weave like I used to, but I did my best. It made me stop and think, why don't we just be done with all of this nonsense and tax everybody at a flat 100% rate? Then there can be no more questions. Let's just turn all of our gross receipts over the the state and let them decide who gets what from there.
I see in the president's new budget proposal that he wants to take Capital Gains taxes from 15% up to 23.4%. He also wants to take the treatment on stock dividends from 15% up to 43%. Why even mess around with such increases. It is just a drip, drip, drip, over the years anyways. Let's just be done with all of this nonsense and take it to 100% and end with the debate.
Nobody could cry foul. Warren Buffett's secretary could no longer resent the boss for his lower tax rate. The teachers, firefighters, police officers, professional baseball players would all pay the same rate, no one could quibble anymore. Wait a minute, maybe we should charge the millionaires 150% and the billionaires 200%. How else would the system be fair?
On my way home from the ballpark I was passed by a small group of about 50 or so scruffy looking folks chanting "ho, ho, hey, hey, occupy is here to stay!" They were carrying signs stating that they were the 99%. I wondered where everyone else was; I only counted 50 or so in a city of several million. Another sign read, "give me your money bitch." Now, that's a good message to teach to my kids! I guess these kids are too young to remember the U.S.S.R. What happened with that experiment?
Anyway, I decided to get away from it all after church on Sunday and take my dog for a walk on the beach. I kid you not, out of nowhere comes a scruffy-looking kid with a backpack and clipboard. He tells me to "sign here to tax the millionaires!" Like I said, let's just be done with all of this nonsense and go with a 100% flat tax on everyone. Do you think that would be enough money for our big, creeping, spreading bureaucracy? I highly doubt it. We would more than likely still have to borrow from the Chinese to satisfy this insatiable beast.
No matter how much we raise taxes, there never seems to be enough. I always seem to hear that this will be the last time, no more after this -- the lottery will take care of the schools --honest. It seems to me that all of the low-lying fruit has been picked and now we have to really start reaching up into the furthest brances of the tree to go after more and more taxes.
Maybe we should go to a government that runs leaner and does not requires so much fuel. Maybe we should require government to run like a family or a small business by living within their means. Maybe we should listen to Paul Ryan. Maybe we should elect a turnaround expert to run our country.
The alternative is just go to a 100% flat tax for all, because that is the direction that we are headed. Greece anyone?