A Tax Day Plan for Righting the Republic

[marmar]

from TomDispatch:


A Tax Day Plan for Righting the Republic
Just Doing What’s Popular Would Make Us Healthier, Wealthier, Wiser, and Less Indebted

By Mattea Kramer


After heroic feats of arithmetic and a your-guess-is-as-good-as-mine interpretation of opaque rules and guidelines, millions of Americans will file their taxes by this Monday, April 15th.

Then there’s the bad news.

For anyone who takes a peek at where his or her income tax dollars are going, Tax Day can be maddening. Outsized chunks of our taxes fund the military, rising healthcare costs, and interest on the federal debt. Comparatively tiny amounts go to education, science, alternative energy, and the environment.

Category by category, this is contrary to what Americans want -- and what we the people want is pretty clear. Despite near-constant news about how polarized our nation is, a careful look at opinion polls indicates that a strong majority of Americans actually have a coherent to-do list for Washington: we want more jobs, smaller deficits, more education funding, reduced reliance on fossil fuels, higher taxes on the wealthiest, plus -- the kicker -- Medicare and Social Security benefits preserved. You know, it’s the typical story of wanting to have our cake and gobble it down, too. Right? ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175686/tomgram%3A_mattea_kramer%2C_a_people%27s_budget_for_tax_day/#more

[cbrer]

1. Great read

We need more sources of material that point out our commonalities.

We need leaders that find and promote the general welfare, and the advancement of America as a beacon of hope and right.