Why do people read The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette?
Posted by Mike Sylvester - 12/15/09 @ 2:16 pm - Filed Under Local Politics, State Politics
As the readers of this blog know I cancelled my subscription to the JG quite awhile ago. I prefer the News-Sentinel. I get the NS every day of the week except Sunday; when I get the JG.
The Editorial in the December 13th JG was typical of the liberal JG and makes me sick to my stomach.
The article is called “ Address the real tax problem.”
As the readers of this blog know my firm prepares tax returns; heck we will prepare over 500 individual and over 200 corporate tax returns this next year.
The gist of the article is that Indiana does not have a progressive income tax. The JG is correct, Indiana does NOT have a progressive income tax.
Indiana instead has a proportional tax; meaning that each Indiana resident gets a few MINOR exemptions and then each Hoosier has to pay a 3.4% on their Indiana taxable income.
This system makes perfect sense; everyone pays the same percentage of their income in taxes.
The poor pay less than anyone else by this system since they make less to start with.
A progressive tax system instead penalizes the rich by making the rich pay a higher percentage of taxes than those who make less.
I feel that we need to make MORE people pay taxes; not fewer. Everyone utilizes State services so everyone should pay State income taxes.
The below example from the article really irritates me:
Per the JG a family with a single parent and two children making $17,165 per year has to pay a paltry $108 in Indiana income taxes.
The JG feels that $108 is too much for a family of three to pay.
Indiana should leave its tax system alone; it is one of the best things about the State of Indiana. The Indiana tax code is simple, it is fair, and it is proportional.
In fact the Federal Government should scrap their insane progressive tax code and adopt a system similar to Indiana’s.
Every American should have to pay income taxes.
Mike Sylvester
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11 Responses to “Why do people read The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette?”
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I can’t agree more that everyone gets some sort of benefit from public services, and as such should have to pay into it…
The article argues that taxing very low incomes discourages these people from working. Wha? I know it’s politically incorrect to say this, but isn’t the real truth that it’s an entitlement mentality that discourages them from working? I’m just saying…
Also, the JG article seems to use the logic that ’since everyone else is doing it, so should we’. Um, how is that any different from when we ask our kids ‘If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?’ Give me a break, JG.
The federal progressive tax wouldn’t be so terrible if it was just a progressive tax. Ideal? No. Workable? Yes.
You answered your own question. The JG offers Sunday delivery.
“Every American should have to pay income taxes.”
Only Americans with income should have to pay income taxes.
$108 is a little steep when you make less than $20K and have 2 kids.
I’d rather say that *no* American should pay income taxes. *That’s* a fair tax.
I believe a true consumption tax is more efficient. It promotes savings and investment instead of punishing it.
But in the absence of that I do think a progressive tax is the next best choice…
Robert,
Are you actually saying that you, a person who is about as pure of a Libertarian as I have ever met; favor a progressive income tax?
Mike
Jeff,
I also would rather have a consumption tax!
Mike
We’ve tried the NY Times on Sunday. It’s liberal, and although there are signs of intelligent life it’s Saturday’s news. Haven’t tried the Chicago Tribune yet so we still get the Sunday JG, which is suffering from serious shrinkage. The Perspective section is like pornography. You know it’s trash but, even though nobody forces you, you read it anyway to get aroused.
Hey Jeff, this is why I fall to the left of you:
I assume that subsistence living is a fixed cost, and improving one’s quality of life requires *investment* beyond that. I also assume that as a society, maximizing quality of life is a good thing.
Proportional (fixed percent wage) or consumption (sales) taxes allow for the very least *investment* (as percentage of wages) for those who are at or near subsistence living. They have little upward mobility. This may still result in a high *mean* quality of life, as it allows incredible amounts of investment by the frugal rich. I see this leading to class stratification.
A more progressive system would seek to allow equal or greater self-investment (as percentage of wages) on part of the poor, in order to promote upward mobility and *mode* quality of life.
While I fall into the frugal rich category, I realize that my quality of life is tied not only to my own investments, but to the quality of life of the entire community. I’m thinking of things like voting, crime, health, culture, pollution, and education.
That’s why I’m drawn to a solution that aims to raise the *mode* quality of life rather than the *average* quality of life - even if it means *I* pay more for it.
I understand the argument that my money would better help the community if I could choose among free market charities to redistribute my earnings (or become an employer)… but I honestly don’t believe enough people would ever take that step. And thus I’m okay with the government taking some from all (or most) of us, at gunpoint. And I’m comfortable that they ask for a larger proportion from me than folks who scrape to get by.
Hey Mike,
While I may or may not agree with your article or the articles in the Journal Gazette, they do present each day news from around the world, essential news, that is taken from around the wires. This works well for me as an educator. I do not simply rely on the editorials of one newspaper or the next to make my subscription decision. The NS simply lacks in news outside of our area, but of course, this is not exactly what other citizens are looking for in a newspaper.
The Journal Gazette can easily be praised in areas outside of op-eds.
I enjoy the Journal Gazette, for other reasons.
For educators, please see this site, excellent, I dare say! Here it is:
http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash/
Charles