April 17, 2006
They explain that the official government pie chart is, by contrast: "a distortion of how our income tax dollars are spent because it includes Trust Funds (e.g., Social Security); and the expenses of past military spending are not distinguished from nonmilitary spending."
In other words, they're pumping the services with money that's already there and hiding military spending by excluding things like the debt from older military spending.
What all this means is that, once again, we're paying for ill-conceived and illegal wars while "starving the beast" at home. The result is a debacle like Katrina and a skyrocketing debt.
Meanwhile, the LA Times reports that millionaires and the middle class have something in common (no, it's not a sudden disdain for Merlot): they "pay taxes at almost the same rates.
"
The Times answers those who ask whether the Forbes-ian predictions that a flat tax would produce a huge bump in the economy has come true or not:
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While most news outlets feature the government's hide-the-salami tax chart (second below) downplaying military spending and emphasizing direct aid to citizens, the War Resisters League has created a more accurate one (first below) reflecting the reality of our taxes' final resting place.
As you might've guessed: more military, less services.
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They explain that the official government pie chart is, by contrast: "a distortion of how our income tax dollars are spent because it includes Trust Funds (e.g., Social Security); and the expenses of past military spending are not distinguished from nonmilitary spending."
 |
In other words, they're pumping the services with money that's already there and hiding military spending by excluding things like the debt from older military spending.
What all this means is that, once again, we're paying for ill-conceived and illegal wars while "starving the beast" at home. The result is a debacle like Katrina and a skyrocketing debt.
Meanwhile, the LA Times reports that millionaires and the middle class have something in common (no, it's not a sudden disdain for Merlot): they "pay taxes at almost the same rates.
"
The Times answers those who ask whether the Forbes-ian predictions that a flat tax would produce a huge bump in the economy has come true or not:
"The answer is probably yes  if you're a millionaire. And probably no  if you're almost anyone else. Flattened, and thus lower, tax rates have contributed to huge increases in the wealth of the wealthy, but so far most people haven't seen significant economic improvement."(War Resisters)
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