True Americans like Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Paul Revere, dumped tea into the Boston Harbor rather than pay a tax of just 3 pence per pound of tea. The total tax burden in the colonies was no more than 3%.
Today's tax on gasoline is ten times greater than the tax on tea. And when all federal taxes are added up, they consume more than half of everything you earn. Unbelievable.
How Much is the Government Really Costing You?
Let's divide the money you earn into three parts:
One-third will be taken from you before you even see it, through "withholding." Another third will be taken by indirect taxes. They will be levied on businesses, but you will pay the price.
Direct Taxes
The federal income tax has taken somewhere between 18-30% of your income during the Bush-Clinton years. It's probably safe to say that government on all levels -- state, local and federal -- has taken one-third of your income in direct taxes (income, property, sales, etc.) (Social Security is a fraud. Social Security taxes go into the General Fund, and are spent by politicians like any other tax. None of the money you have "contributed" has been saved or invested." That's about 15% of what you earn.)
Indirect Taxes
Most Americans fail to consider indirect taxes. Politicians talk about those "evil corporations," and their "windfall profits," and they gain votes from the envious by promising to take money from those greedy capitalists and giving it to voters.
If you run a business, you know that you cannot "raise taxes" on your customers like the politicians can. If you need more money to run your business, you have to sell more of your products or services by getting more customers, or selling each customer more. If a politician walks into your business and demands money, there's only one way you can get it: you have to raise the prices you charge your customers.
All other businesses are doing the same thing. They're getting tax bills from the government, and to cover the bills, they're raising prices that their customers have to pay. That means you.
So even after the government takes money out of your paycheck, they're not done taking your money. They take more every time you shop.
How much?
How would you like to purchase a new $23,000 Ford Taurus for only $12,650?
That's the price you would pay if the government didn't tax every product you buy at every stage of its production, reports Americans for Tax Reform (ATR).
According to an ATR study, hidden taxes significantly boost--by as much as 26% to 75%--the price of every consumer product you buy.
That's because the federal, state, county, and local governments don't just slap a sales tax on a product when you buy it. They also tax that product during every step of its production and distribution.
The accumulated tax burden is staggering. For example, the government hits Ford with at least 20 different taxes when it builds a Taurus. That includes federal, state, and local income taxes for employees, workmen's compensation and unemployment taxes, state and local property taxes, energy taxes, and gas, tire, truck, and highway taxes to get the car to the dealer's showroom. The taxes paid by the manufacturers of the raw materials and components that Ford buys to make your car are passed onto Ford, who passes them onto you.
The bottom line: It costs only $12,650 to manufacture a car, including the dealer's profit. But you pay $23,000. The difference--a whopping $10,350--is pocketed by governments.
The Bottom Line
Governments take one-third of everything you earn through direct taxes.
Then governments take half of what's left to you (your two-thirds) through indirect taxes.
That means that the total burden of government taxes you pay is about two-thirds of everything you earn.
This tax burden causes many wives to take a second job. This destroys the family, the backbone of Civilization. Sam Adams, John Hancock, and other members of "the Sons of Liberty" tossed tea into the Boston Harbor rather than pay a tax of 3 pence per pound. We pay ten times more in gas taxes. Total taxes in the colonies in 1776 were 2 or 3%. We pay 10-20 times more today. America's Founding Fathers would be totally outraged at the burden the federal government places on families. Are you outraged?
Happy Fireworks Day - Part 1 | Part 2
Cost of government gets more taxing under Bush | Doug Bandow, 2003
Your Finances in a World of "Liberty Under God."
"Yes, but, we need to pay taxes to pay for valuable government services, like
Here's what you need to remember about government services:
- UPS and FedEx deliver your packages faster and more reliably than the government
- private schools produce more and better graduates than government schools
- private toll roads are faster and safer than government roads
- faith-based welfare agencies produce lasting improvement in the poor
- government wastes about 50% of every dollar of yours they take from you
- If we closed down these government services, the free market would provide them cheaper and more effectively, and
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you could pay one-half as much as you now pay for these services,
get better services, and experience a doubling of your disposable income |
Would You Keep Your Promise?
The government takes 2/3 of everything you earn.
The government wastes half of everything it takes.
If all government programs were abolished, and all taxes were cut, your disposable income would be 3 times larger that what it is today. You could donate 1/3 of your income to charities -- who would do a better job of helping the needy -- or buy government services on the Free Market for half the price, and that would mean your disposable income would be twice as large as it is today.
If you could check a box on your 1040 that would refund every penny you paid in taxes, provided you promised to donate one-half of the refund to charities and public benefit organizations, would you check that box?
Would you keep your promise and donate one-half of the rebate to worthwhile public benefit projects, or would you spend the money on middle-class bling? (HDTV, SUV's, RV, boat, cruise, etc.)
If other Americans were given the opportunity to check the box, would you trust them to keep their promise?
If not, then you live in a nation of slaves, not the "land of the free."
Take Action
America's Founding Fathers took up arms and risked everything they had to battle taxes which are less than one-tenth as bad as ours. Violence is wrong, but so is apathy.
Take action. Do something.
- Vote for Kevin Craig in November. He's the only candidate who promises never to raise any taxes. At all. Period.
- Send an email to someone you know in Southwest Missouri, urging your friend to support Kevin Craig for Congress.
Here are some other things you can do:
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End the Ethanol Scam
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Get a Tax Refund for your Health Care Expenses
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First, Do No Harm
“Government cripples you, then hands you a crutch and says, 'See, if it wasn't for us, you couldn't walk.'” — Harry Browne
Government policies have crippled American health care. This crippling has then been used as a justification for creating government crutches. And these crutches have caused our health care system to atrophy still further. The trend is not good. We must attack this problem from a number of angles, starting with preventing the federal government monopoly of health care. Learn More »
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THE BIG ISSUE: $53 trillion in unfunded liabilities
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End the Inflation Tax
Inflation is a tax -- a hidden method government uses to pay its bills, and to transfer wealth from you to others. But imagine living in a world without inflation, and the recessions, bubbles, booms, and busts inflation causes. Imagine living in a world where your money buys more and more instead of less and less. Congressman Ron Paul's "Honest Money Act" (HR 2756), and his "Free Competition in Currency Act" (HR 4683), could be big steps in that direction. Learn more »
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Bring John Shadegg's 'Enumerated Powers Act' to a Vote
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Make Congress pass DownsizeDC.org's
“One Subject at a Time Act”
Most Americans probably believe a bill has to have majority support in Congress before it can become the law of the land. Sadly, this common sense expectation is totally wrong. Congressional leaders routinely pass laws that a majority opposes. They accomplish this by combining unpopular bills with completely unrelated measures that a majority supports. This legislative shell-game makes a mockery of representative government. DownsizeDC.org believes every bill should have to stand or fall on its own merits. Toward this end we have crafted the “One Subject at a Time Act” (OSTA). Learn More »
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Support Ron Paul's “American Freedom Agenda Act”
The politicians have done great harm to this country in response to the 9-11 attack. A bill has been introduced that will undo much of that harm.
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I Am Not Afraid
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