When low income people have a significant expense such as taxes it can interfere with their ability to purchase basic necessities, like medical care, food, clothing etc, When high income people have a significant expense such as taxes it will not interfere with their ability to purchase basic necessities, it only interferes with their ability to purchase a yacht or a summer home. Higher taxes have much less impact on the quality of life and health of the rich. That is why progressive taxes are fair and appropriate.
So, it's my responsibility to subsidize all low income people? Where is that in the Constitution? In fact, in the Declaration of Independence, the wording is "
that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
The key word is Pursuit, not Guarantee, of Happiness.
What is definitive are the terms LIFE and LIBERTY. Nothing ambiguous or couched in those.
Life is the the free exercise of our own mind, body and talents to the end of which they can take us.
Liberty is the guarantee that what our Life produces IS OURS, no one else'.
Pursuit of Happiness is the guarantee that we will not be hindered in our Life, or our Liberty, by a government or any other outside force.
Progressive taxes are a heartwarming idea, that steal our the product of the lives of those that are successful, and are imposed in a form that steals our Liberty (Tyranny), and done so in a naive attempt to Guarantee Happiness for others at the expense of the few.
As long as over 51% or more of the population can vote people into office under the auspices that they will receive the Life and Liberty of others in the form of tax subsidies taken from others at the point of a gun or under threat of imprisonment, then the LIBERTY of this country and that of its citizens... doesn't exist.
Now, we can talk about our social safety net, which I support. And we can talk about our other programs that help the poor, which I support. But if we do, we will also need to talk about how to reform those programs so that they survive and are less wasteful.
And, we need to talk about EIT, AMT, and making everyone pay into the system; even just a little bit. That way everyone has ownership and a willingness to make the system survive. Similar to the difference between the way person takes care of a house they own, versus the way most people that rent do not care because someone else will have to pay to repair and maintain it.