Kilroy Was Here
November 07, 2004
 
The Kilroy Platform: Fair Taxes for All
My dear American friends:

America needs your help. We are at war. Our economy is sputtering. Wages are flat or declining.

Right now, as our children graduate from high school and college, there are not enough new jobs for them. Right now, as our brothers and sisters are being laid off from manufacturing firms, there are not enough new jobs for them. Over the last year, for every 2 jobs our economy has added, our schools have added 3 people looking for work. This cannot continue.

As it was during the Civil War, during the Great Depression, during World War II, our great nation has once again reached a watershed--a crossroads where we need the sacrifice of our citizens in order to prevail.

And our platform is asking you for your help. For those of you who are making more than $200,000 a year, America needs your help. We need you to give more to this country.

If you believe, as we do, that our forefathers, our soldiers, our country has given far more to us than we can ever repay, then join with us to help this country in its time of need.

Taxes

The Kilroy Platform understands that even the most efficient and effective government needs resources to fund it. It is our sacred duty to do our part in funding our military, our currency, our government.

But we should do so fairly.

Right now, the Republican government punishes work and rewards leisure. Those dollars that are earned by sweat can be taxed as high as 35%. Those dollars that are earned by signing the backs of dividend checks or capital gains are taxed at no higher than 15%.

That is unfair. Why should we punish people for working? Our country was founded on the work ethic: that our national character is stronger when each of us is working to make our lives better.

Why is the dollar that the fireman, the teacher, the policeman, the autoworker, the nurse, the doctor, the lawyer, earn through the practice of their craft taxed higher than the dollar earned by the wealthy endorsing their checks?

A country that rewards work should not have a tax system that punishes work.

Now, the Kilroy Platform understands that investment is needed to create jobs and run the country.

Because of that we do not believe that dollars earned from investing should be taxed higher than dollars earned from working.

They should be taxed the same. All income, whether it's source come from labor, wealth, the lottery, or inheritance, should be taxed at the same rate.

We do not believe that labor is more or less important than investing or inheriting. All sources of income motivate people. As a result, they should all be taxed the same.

The Kilroy Platform is not advocating a flat tax. We still believe a progressive tax system is a fairer system of taxation.

Not all dollars are equal. The dollar that's used to buy milk for your children and pay for your mortgage are more important than the dollars we use to buy yachts and Jaguars. Since we have to fund the government, we would rather fund the government with dollars that might be used to buy yachts rather than dollars used to buy bread. As a result, we feel that a progressive tax system is the fairest way to do this.

But we don't feel that we should change the tax rates just because a dollar comes from labor rather than leisure. We need to reward work, not punish it.


Comments:
If you receive capital gains (perhaps from exercising options received as part of compensation for labor), you are really receiving a share of the profits of a company. The profits of that company are taxed at an effective rate of about 30%. (http://www.factcheck.org/article225.html) . So when you receive your final check from selling the stock, you've received only 60% of the original profits made by the corporation. That's an effective tax rate of 40% right there.

So what's regressive about that?
 
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