BCT Editorial – 5/24/09

This page was last updated on May 30, 2009.

Sin taxes; Editorial; Beaver County Times; May 24, 2009.

The editorial subtitle is “Senate panel considers hiking alcohol levies to fund health care.”

The editorial says, “The real sin here is that relying on these taxes masks the true cost of the programs they are paying for.” No kidding! After confiscating as much revenue as possible, the #1 goal of any tax is to hide its magnitude. That’s why some tax bills specifically prohibit a business from itemizing the specific tax on its invoices. That’s also what’s behind the myth of the “employer contribution” to Medicare and Socialist Security. Though the entirety of Medicare and SS taxes come out of the employee’s pocket, the feds require accounting sleight of hand to make it appear the employer bears half the burden. Then there are business taxes, double-taxation of corporate profits, and on and on.

What I’d like to know is why the Times suddenly decided to note how government tries to hide the magnitude of taxes. Will one of these affect the Times?

What was the “sin tax” the editorial didn’t mention? Why the regressive income tax, of course. In this case, the “sin” is being “rich.” Why else would the effective tax rate on the top 5% of income earners be about 21% while it’s only 3% for the bottom 50% of income earners? Further, IRS data (2006) show the top 5% income earners pay 60% of total federal income taxes while the bottom 50% pay only 3% of total federal income taxes.