Fast Approaching the Tax Tipping Point

The public was recently inundated with the news that 47 percent of American households would pay no federal income taxes for 2009 whatsoever. Yes, they still enjoy the benefits that taxpayers enjoy, like “national defense, public safety, infrastructure and education,” but they do so free of charge.

In other words, the 53% of people who pay federal income taxes not only pay their own share but the share of those who live on the government’s dole as well. And while this may come as a shock to everyday citizens who work hard, pay their bills, and treasure their independence too much to be financially beholden to anyone or anything, including the government, there is nothing about it that shocks the minds of those who planned it.

Therefore, taking up where Presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Lyndon Baines Johnson left off, President Obama and his cohorts continue to push polices and legislation guaranteed to bring us to a point of no return: a point where the majority of American households pay no federal income taxes while a minority pay the taxes for everyone.

Such a point will be reached when non-taxpayers constitute 51% of our population. This is both the tipping point, beyond which substantive tax reform will become impossible, and the goal of a Democrat Party that knows dependents will always vote for those who promise the most freebies to their constituents.

It doesn’t matter that those constituents will be permanently impoverished. All that matters is that the Democrats will be in power. No wonder Rush Limbaugh has been warning his listeners that Obama is “in the process of creating and building a permanent underclass.”

This was obvious on February 17, 2009, when Obama extended unemployment benefits so as to guarantee that people who lost their jobs could look to the government for a taxpayer-funded paycheck for ten months. And to make the deal more enticing, although “unemployment benefits are normally taxed as regular income, [the bill Obama signed] … exempted the first $2,400 of unemployment from 2009 income taxes.”

In other words, not only does the great and powerful Obama provide willing citizens with an allowance on which they can live, but he also does his best to make sure that the allowance is tax free.

I forgot to mention that of the 47% of American households that won’t pay any federal income taxes this year, a percentage of those non-taxpayers “will [still] get additional money from the government because they qualify for refundable tax breaks.” (This is just a fancy way of saying people will receive a monetary reward for not making enough money to owe federal income taxes.)

And in addition to money, Obama makes the idea of living off the government more palatable by throwing tax-sponsored goods and services into the deal as well. For example, under Obama, families that qualify for government benefits like “‘Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income, School Free Lunch, Food Stamps or Temporary Assistance’ are also eligible for a government-subsidized cell phone with 68 monthly minutes and free emergency calls.”

Throw in the ObamaCare legislation that became the law of the land this year and the deal becomes even sweeter. Now wards of the state can lie in bed till noon, then wander to Starbucks in their house shoes and use their tax refund (for not paying taxes) to buy an iced latte before setting up a “free” doctor’s appointment on their government-sponsored cell phone.

As I wrote at the start of this article, we are fast approaching the tipping point where 51% of American households will pay no federal income taxes. Once we hit that number, it’s going to be nearly impossible to convince the majority, comprised of non-taxpayers, to give up their “free” cell phones, their “free” health care, their government checks, and all the other services they receive in lieu of being self-sufficient and independent. A recent Rasmussen poll substantiated this by announcing they’d found that “lower income voters are more likely than others to believe the nation is overtaxed.”

Imagine that. Those living for “free” in this country are the first to complain that their lives are too costly.

Over two centuries ago, Benjamin Franklin said he feared the day was coming when Americans would trade their freedom for the feeling of security. What would he say now if he could see that one of the central goals of the Obama administration is to encourage people to do just that?

Willing citizens are actually being invited to give up their freedom in exchange for a phony security bought and paid for by a minority of taxpayers who have no say in the matter. Shame on those who accept the invite.