Taxation without Representation?

By Steve Collier, Colorado Springs

There are those that tend to view our country in one of two prisms: a country of perfection with on-going challenges or a challenged country that will always be far from perfection. I argue for the former.

But one of our country’s founding principles that led to such famous insurrections such as the Boston Tea Party is ensuring that each of our countrymen are represented based upon their taxation. But today, could one argue there is taxation without representation? I ask you to dwell on the following: The payment of taxation is, in its very essence, justified as part of a citizen’s general obligations to obey the law and support established institutions, to include policing, fire department services and roadway infrastructure as examples. Each of the aforementioned services are afforded to all who pay taxes.

But wait! Therein lies the problem with the previous statement. We have heard time and time again, especially throughout our recent presidential election, that the rich pay too little or too much in federal income taxation. According to Stephen Moore, a senior economist for the Wall Street Journal, the wealthiest 1 percent of our country’s population earned 19 percent of the income in 2007, but pay 37 percent of the income tax. More alarming, the top 10 percent pay an astonishing 68 percent of the tab. Meanwhile, the bottom 50 percent of income tax payers—those below the median income level—earn 13 percent of the income but pay just 3 percent of the taxes. In a word ladies and gentlemen, unconstitutional.

So why is it then that the wealthiest of us who pay an exorbitant amount of taxes don’t have additional representation in their respective government institutions and those who pay no taxes have no representation in government? Simply put, equality for all. Many will hear these words and instantly label me as un-supportive of the poor, a proponent for the rich and just plain uncaring for those in dire financial straits. And to those who claim this I say sit down and remain silent. Let us remind ourselves that in the United States, “all men are created equal.” No better evidence of this can be found but in our president. So if each of us are equal in our own right and have had the fortunate outcome of being born citizens of the U.S., then why don’t we all shoulder the burden equally as we all use and/or rely on the same resources. Ladies and gentlemen, I challenge you to embrace the flat tax program.

Our complicated federal and, sometimes, state income taxes represent overburdening and complex tax systems. And this same system leaves more than half of our citizens out of their obligation to pay these taxes for use of services the government provides. Yet, I ask you that is it allowable for a the few wealthy in our system to shoulder the burden of our entire country? This is simply preposterous. If a flat tax system were introduced, according to Robert Hall and Alvin Rabushka, senior fellows with the Hoover Institution, all business and individual income would be taxed at rate of 19 percent. Most deductions would be eliminated altogether, resulting in a drastic simplification of the tax code and a tax return form that would fit on the back of a postcard.

But how does one’s country continue to prosper in these economic times, even with a flat tax introduction? The need for Congress and government institutions to exercise extreme fiscal restraint has come to a head. If the 111th Congress continues on the same route as the two Congressional sessions before it, the continuation of earmark and pork barrel spending will most certainly lead our country to an economic reckoning the likes of which our generations have never seen.

Fiscal responsibility, one of the Tea Party's biggest rallying cries, will overcome this situation, I have no doubt. But it must be fiscal responsibility with any and all parties, Democrat or Republican. Because there is much more than any political party at stake; an entire nation rests not only on righting our financial ship, but ensuring each and every one of our citizens pay their fair share. You may ask why this is so important? Because I believe it comes down to one word again: equality. We all inhabit our country and use its resources. We should then all pay into her -- equally.

So how do we get there, to a flat tax system? Using our Republic’s number-one ability for change: vote. We must educate and inform the masses of the need for equality in the tax system. Then we must reach out to them again, showing them that fiscally-minded politicians are the ones capable of such fiscal change and spending restraint. It is true that fiscal responsibility lost its way between the 108th and 109th Congresses. But today offers us great hindsight. Americans decided by a small margin to give Democrats the ability to run our country. And many believe the direction they will go will not benefit any American, just those institutions that continue to fund their campaigns. Americans need to look no further than Congressman John Murtha, who has funneled millions of dollars of taxpayer money (that's money you and I earned, by the way) to a small airport in his district that employees more TSA workers than it has travelers. Congressman Murtha has also succeeded channeling $4 million of NO-BID CONTRACTS (see: Washington Post) to his nephew's company in the same area.

Tea Partiers look around and are proud of our Republic, where every man and woman has the right to their vote and no one else's. The only thing Tea Partiers are afraid of more than anything is selling out on their principles. We must show the country that her best years lie ahead, and the direction to those years is not found through larger government, increased taxation or the continued weight of burdening and archaic tax system that shoulders the future on the very few versus the overwhelming majority. Our Founding Father's philosophies on smaller government and personal responsibility that has been etched into our psyche oh so many years ago continue to ring in our ears. We must continue to embrace and remember the legacies of Lincoln, Teddy and Reagan before us. Our country will prosper, but only if we entrust it to its citizens and not to out-of-touch career legislators. And even if those legislators are Democrats or Republicans, any politician who believes the country is best suited by principles other than those I have described are not Americans at all! A true description of a sheep in wolves clothing.

One beautiful way to showcase our fiscal mentality is through the flat tax system. I believe if Americans embraced this system, our country’s future could be brighter than any time before, while all her citizens shared and shouldered the burden of ensuring her brightness remained.