Hidden vs Transparent Taxes: Some Things to Think About

Why should the lower income households in our society be tricked into paying taxes that businesses are legally allowed to hide inside of the prices they charge for the products, goods, and services the lower income members of our society depend on?


Why should people earning the same gross income be made to pay taxes at different effective rates simply because one is a renter and the other is a homeowner?

Why should two households with the same gross income and the same number of dependents be made to pay taxes at different effective rates simply because one household is married and the other is not?

Is it even respectful of the neediest members of our society to keep them from knowing how much of the very limited amount of money they have to live on is actually used to pay the taxes businesses are legally allowed to hide inside of the prices they charge?

For a moment let’s agree that discrimination is treating groups of people who can be identified with different labels in a different manner.  Labels that describe a person or group of people based on race, skin color, gender, religious affiliation and so forth, have already been identified as having been, and sadly still are used by some to justify discrimination.

Well, terms such as married or single, home owner or renter, business owner or employee, are also labels.  These labels are currently used in parts of our tax code to justify treating people differently in terms of how many deductions they do or do not get, and what their effective tax rate is going to be.

To me, this feels like financial discrimination based on labels such as married or single, home owner or renter, employee or business owner.  Because of these labels, two households with identical incomes can end up being treated differently under our current system of hidden taxes.  How is this “fair and equal?”

Thank you for taking time to read and ponder my opinion on this topic.
An Opinion Article by Dave Kemper
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It has been said that: "One definition of insanity is to do the same thing, the same way, over and over and over again, each time expecting to achieve a different result."
Therefore, we must either CHANGE the way we live, or we bind our future to our past as if with CHAINS.
"I do not consider myself to be better than anyone else.  But I do believe in exercising my right to not stay stupid."

David W. Kemper, Author
© Copyright 2014 by David William Kemper.  All right reserved
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