Our elected officials selling us out
Taxes are a necessary evil. Taxes are necessary to provide the services provided by government. Taxes are not the problem, the stewardship of those tax dollars are, however. A tax is levied for a specific purpose and how the money is to be used is spelled out. Social Security is a prime example. The tax is collected for a specific purpose (retirement income). However, anytime the government sees a pool of money they find a way of tapping that pool and spending it on items other than what it is intended for.
Temporary taxes are enacted for a specific purpose but as per usual “temporary” is defined as forever. Everyone in Pennsylvania is still paying for the aftermath of the first Johnstown flood with every bottle of spirits they buy. Gasoline taxes are earmarked for highway repairs. However, government keeps calling for a higher tax because our roads and highways are deteriorating. I could go on and on, ad nauseum, with examples of this poor stewardship, but I will stop here.
I often wonder at the gullibility of the American voter. All some politicians have to do is promise a chicken in every pot and they will get elected and/or stay in office and in charge. It really doesn’t matter if they provide the promised chickens nor if they are even honest.
They line their pockets with tax dollars and bribes, kowtow to the multibillionaire contributors that see they are re-elected. The average citizen pays for this but usually reaps few of the benefits. To cover the increases and laws they could never get passed, or at least not without a big fight or jeopardizing their jobs, they create more agencies to create regulations (which are never voted on, just imposed by some person not accountable to anyone). These regulations are just like laws, only no one can be held accountable for implementing them.
I am sad to have lived long enough to see the beginning of the end to freedom in our country. Memorial Day was designed not as a long weekend for picnicking, shopping, and partying. It was to honor those who died keeping our country free. In the foreseeable future there will be no freedom if there is no change in elected officials.
They seem determined to ignore the wishes of the people they are supposed to be protecting and serving, and either by law or regulation destroying our freedom and eliminating that pesky United States Constitution that protects those freedoms.
Our elected officials are selling us out. They sign pacts and accords that take jobs from us and move them to foreign soil. They refuse to enforce laws preventing “illegal” immigration, then raise taxes on us driving us closer and closer to poverty. Profit has become a dirty word, never mind that profit provides the capital to create jobs, allow people a return on investments, and increases the standard of living of everyone. Profits provide the government with a source of revenue. This capital provides a source of income to run the government instead of driving the average taxpayer into poverty.
I read an article about a “severance” tax on the natural gas being taken from Pennsylvania. This probably won’t have any effect on our burdensome tax structure or help ease the tax burden on any of the citizens. In fact it will help increase our tax burden. Most of the taxes already on the books that are supposed to be paid for by corporations or the rich are passed on to those least able to afford them – those on fixed incomes and the already over-burdened taxpayer.
I think it is very telling that while we are facing a new health care program that weakens the services and health care for seniors and forces everyone else to pay for health insurance coverage (which will not be inexpensive), but the same elected officials that imposed this on the rest of us still have their own taxpayer-funded Cadillac health care plans and, as usual, excluded themselves from this burdensome, and limited benefit plan.
Terrence M. Sellers is a resident of Waynesburg.