I find life so strange these days…..folks who (figuratively) don’t have a nice China pot to pee in are up in arms about “spreading the wealth.” Now, when I grew up, my family was definitely at the top of the heap – we were wealthy, socially prominent Democrats. We knew where we came from (good Virginia people) and what our responsibilities were. As Marvel Comics character Spider-Man so aptly said, “With great power comes great responsibility.”
Back then, we never called it sharing the wealth. We talked about giving back to your community. Each year, every child in my school “shared the wealth” and donated baskets of food and clothing to families less fortunate. Year after year, my father and grandfather gave thousands of volunteer hours to civic organizations – trying to leave the city in which we lived a better place. When I questioned my father about his relentless public service which would never benefit him directly (after all, it was many years after his death that the Baltimore subway and light rail system became fully functional), he said, “We do these things for the next generations. We do this so that our city continues to thrive economically. And we do this because we who can must serve the needs of those who cannot.”
I was raised with that same sense of responsibility. Because I am able, I have served long hours on school boards, community boards, and donated my time in service to education and the arts in my city. Although I am not financially wealthy now, I spread my wealth, my knowledge, and capacity, to make this world a better place for our children and for every child who comes after.
I work in a school, and I pay my taxes, my 25% taxes. It galls me to see stock brokers and hedge fund managers, mortgage bankers and corporate officers take advantage of a system of taxation that allows them to avoid their fair share of taxes, to avoid paying their 25% tax rate. In my mind, the truly fair system is a progressive tax, where people with more disposable income pay a higher percentage of that income in taxes than do those with less income.
Even in the United States, 81% of economists agree that a system of progressive taxation is beneficial. The US system of tax brackets ranging from 10-35% is progressive. If the top tier pays their 35% share, then I’ll pay my 10% share. In today’s US economy, I’m paying a 25% share while those at the top pay little or nothing. The system is broken, but the solution is not socialism; it’s not even “spreading the wealth.”
It’s a return to the halcyon days of a progressive and fair taxation system. One which was in place 8 years ago. Before the Republicans with their de-regulation and redistribution of wealth from the poor up to the wealthy, tore the American economy to shreds.
Although my father was a mortgage broker, a Realtor, and a banker, he didn’t dodge his fair share. He didn’t take advantage of a system that might have allowed him not to pay taxes while others less well-off paid their share. He gave back to the community, he insured that the business community not only paid their taxes, but they spread their wealth and expertise around. And life was good.
