Tax day just went by on April 15 and this got me pondering. Where do our tax
dollars go? Our money goes to defense
and international security assistance, Social Security, safety net programs, interest on the
national debt, benefits for federal retirees/veterans, transportation,
education, federal prisons and scientific medical research. Then I remembered seeing an article
about celebrities who owe taxes, which ticked me off. We are hurting as a nation yet the self-absorbed
find the IRS as an inconvenience of their time. This is a very small list of elitist who flaunt their wealth. They owe an exuberant
amount in taxes.
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Burt Reynolds he owed the state of California
$225,000 back in 1996
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Austin’s own Willie Nelson $16 million in back taxes.
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Nicolas Cage is constantly on the top ten
offenders. I find this ironic, when the
star of “National Treasure” owes $6 million.
·
Marc Anthony owes ‘$2.5 million in back tax
bills. Then in 2010, he received two
additional bills totaling over $3 million for unpaid taxes on real estate.’
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Say it isn’t so Prince owes $ 500,000
·
Rob Lowe literally forgot to pay $269,956 to the
Feds. Forgot! Forgot!
Get with reality April 15 dude…
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Oh Martha Stewart once again your hands are
slapped with $220,000 on an East Hampton mansion claiming she hardly spent time
there why should she pay taxes on it?
·
Seriously!
The one that shocked me was the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Tim
Geithner. Uhh ...what is your job?
·
The IRS finally makes a stand with Wesley Snipes,
which owes $17 million in back taxes. The
IRS finally shows celebrities they do not screw around. Snipes was sentenced to three years in prison. He began serving his sentence in December
2010.
The lesson? If you
earn money from it, so should Uncle Sam.
These people do not realize who they are hurting. We work, pay our taxes, and know the
consequences of not paying the IRS. So many celebrities wear a "humanitarian" guise portraying they want to do good for our society. By
these “superior” Americans not paying taxes, we skimp on programs such as scientific
research, helping the homeless vets, and social security benefits.
I ask myself is this who I want to support with my hard earned money?
I have made a choice. If they do not care about us “lowly” Americans,
well I do not care to partake in any movie, cd, or magazine they make. . .I
have an idea. Want to do good for our society--
Pay your damn taxes!
I always want to discuss about Taxes, but you posted it already in her blog so I will just elaborate on that a little more.
ReplyDeleteEveryone pays taxes in one form or another- mostly income and sales taxes. But why do we pay these taxes? There are many services offered to citizens that could not be managed effectively under any other system.
I do agree with Ingrid that the federal government uses our tax dollars to support Social Security, health care, national defense and social services such as food stamps and housing. Services provided by taxes in South Carolina are public schools, safe highways, health care, prisons and social services for low-income citizens.The city or county where you live provides water and garbage service, police and fire protection and also contributes to public schools.
But.... why must they be paid for with taxes? Why shouldn't we just pay individually for what we use?
The answer is simple: Because no one could afford it. Each person would have to pay the full fee for the service regardless of their ability to pay. Our tax system is based on our "ability to pay." The more money we earn, the more taxes we pay. And the opposite is also true. If we earn a small income, we pay less taxes.
You lists some of the celebrities who owe a lot of taxes that support my next point.
Yes, we can all admit that these services are necessary. So it's not a question of Should we pay taxes?, but Should we raise taxes on the rich?
For more than a century it's been generally recognized that the best taxes are progressive-- that is, proportionate to income.
Various Republican leaders have trotted out the idea of a flat tax, meaning a fixed percentage of income tax levied on everyone. And in their hearts they may be anxious to emulate Maggie Thatcher's poll tax-- a single amount that everyone must pay. Isn't that more fair? Shouldn't everyone pay the same amount?
Why? The rich should pay more taxes, because the rich get more from the government.
Let's take an example with insurance: if you have a bigger house or a fancier car, you pay more to insure it.
Investments in the nation's infrastructure-- transportation, education, research & development, energy, police subsidies, the courts, etc.-- again are more useful the more you have. The interstates and airports benefit interstate commerce and people who can travel, not ghetto dwellers. Energy is used disproportionately by the rich and by industry.
As for public education, the better public schools are the ones attended by the moderately well off. The very well off ship their offspring off to private schools; but it is their companies that benefit from a well-educated public.
How about social spending? Tempting as it is for the rich to take all the wealth of a country, it's really not wise to leave the poor with no stake in the system, and every reason to agitate for imposing a new system of their own. Think of social spending as insurance against violent revolution-- and again, like any insurance, it's of most benefit to those with the biggest boodle.
So, I'm with you Ingrid, and not just both of us, everyone has to pay the damn taxes! (your pic is cute)
On Friday, April 27, 2012, Ingrid wrote a post about taxes on her blog entitled "Where are your feet?" Ingrid writes that while regular hard working American citizens are working our tails off and still paying taxes, Hollywood movie stars, famous singers and actors, or people who are in the lime-light all the time somehow think that they are exempt from paying their taxes. Um, excuse me? No. I agree with Ingrid in saying that is NOT acceptable. Martha Stewart says she shouldn't have to pay $220,000 worth of taxes on her East Hampton mansion because she hardly spent time there? Un-freaking-acceptable. If you have the house, you should have to pay taxes just like everyone else. A celebrity is not exempt from paying taxes just because they are in the lime-light all the time. Our tax dollars go towards defense and international security assistance, Social Security, safety net programs, interest on the national debt, benefits for federal retirees/veterans, transportation, education, federal prisons and scientific medical research, so they are very good causes. Celebrities are human beings just like us, so they should have to follow the rules, just like we do.
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