{"id":1146,"date":"2011-07-22T05:00:50","date_gmt":"2011-07-22T09:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/godonomics\/?p=1146"},"modified":"2011-07-20T09:50:41","modified_gmt":"2011-07-20T13:50:41","slug":"why-cant-we-just-tax-the-rich-some-more-and-fix-all-our-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2011\/07\/why-cant-we-just-tax-the-rich-some-more-and-fix-all-our-problems.html","title":{"rendered":"Why Can&#8217;t We Just Tax the Rich Some More and Fix All Our Problems?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Margaret Thatcher said, &#8220;The problem with Socialism is you eventually run out of other people&#8217;s money.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I had a conversation with a teenager recently who\u00a0parroted\u00a0the typical bumper sticker thinking of our culture: &#8220;Why don&#8217;t those rich people pay more taxes?&#8221; \u00a0 I asked him how much<strong> they<\/strong> are currently paying?\u00a0 He admitted that he didn&#8217;t know. \u00a0I asked him what percentage of the national tax revenue would meet the definition of &#8220;their fair share?&#8221; \u00a0He didn&#8217;t know exactly. \u00a0I then gave him some facts to consider:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>86% of all income taxes are paid by the top 25% of income earners.<\/li>\n<li>The top 50% of income earners pay 97% of\u00a0all income taxes.<\/li>\n<li>The top 1% of income earners pay 39% of all taxes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This young man was shocked. He had never heard these facts. \u00a0As I looked into his eyes, he looked&#8230;almost&#8230;like he was&#8230;THINKING for the first time. He was engaging his brain and chewing over the chasm between his assumptions and reality. \u00a0I encouraged him to look it up.\u00a0 I suggested he research the facts to confirm them.\u00a0 Then I asked him to think some more.<\/p>\n<p>If those facts are true (and they are), does it look like the &#8220;rich&#8221; are paying their fair share? \u00a0If not, how much would be enough? \u00a0Did you know that when the income tax was first proposed by politicians, they promised the national income tax would NEVER be more than 1% tax on ONLY the top 1% of income earners? \u00a0 We are a long way from that promise.<\/p>\n<p>Then I asked him,\u00a0 what happens when the producers of an economy get taxed more?\u00a0 What are the consequences of that decision? \u00a0Hmm, well, unless they have a magic money tree in the backyard, the new money <strong>they<\/strong> pay in taxes is no longer going somewhere else. \u00a0 Where might that money come from? \u00a0 Well, \u00a0when a producer pays more in income tax, they have less money to hire people. Who gets hurt by that decision? The poor and middle class workers. When a producer needs to pay more in taxes, where else might they come up with the money? \u00a0By increasing prices on their products. \u00a0Who gets hurt by that? The consumers who buy their stuff, usually the poor and middle class. \u00a0What happens if they increase the price, but no one buys them anymore? The producer lowers the price and cuts costs somewhere else in the organization by laying off people. \u00a0Who gets hurt by that decision? The poor and middle class.<\/p>\n<p>The rich versus poor mantra that sweeps through the American political scene is so, well, predictable and old hat. It&#8217;s like listening to someone sing 99 bottles of beer on the wall. The verses are so redundant. As a pastor, I care about all the members of my church. I care about my poor friends, middle class friends, and rich friends.\u00a0 When I work with friends trying to find a job, I am hoping there is a company who is hiring so they can make an income. \u00a0 If we punish the people who are hiring or divert their money away from hiring into nameless\u00a0bureaucratic waste, why are we surprised when unemployment remains high?<\/p>\n<p>I want low taxes for everyone, so that the poor and middle class can find work.\u00a0 It&#8217;s not about rewarding the rich. It&#8217;s about fairness, property rights, and opportunity for all. All through the Old and New Testament, God reveals Himself as one who does not show partiality. He doesn&#8217;t treat people differently based on outer appearance, wealth, status, or background. \u00a0God treats all people without partiality.\u00a0 The dialog at the typical water cooler (if there is such a thing anymore) is sadly almost pure partiality today.<\/p>\n<p><em>Romans 2:11.\u00a0 For there is no partiality with God.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>For more information, check out <a href=\"http:\/\/www.godonomics.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">www.godonomics.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>[bcvideo vid=&#8221;919584602001&#8243;\u00a0pid=&#8221;96582452001&#8243; height=&#8221;410&#8243; width=&#8221;480&#8243;]<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;font-family: Times;font-size: medium\">[bcvideo vid=&#8221;919576776001&#8243;\u00a0pid=&#8221;96582452001&#8243; height=&#8221;410&#8243; width=&#8221;480&#8243;]<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;font-size: xx-small\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Margaret Thatcher said, &#8220;The problem with Socialism is you eventually run out of other people&#8217;s money.&#8221; I had a conversation with a teenager recently who\u00a0parroted\u00a0the typical bumper sticker thinking of our culture: &#8220;Why don&#8217;t those rich people pay more taxes?&#8221; \u00a0 I asked him how much they are currently paying?\u00a0 He admitted that he didn&#8217;t&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":353,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,78,81],"tags":[248,319,318],"class_list":["post-1146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-governmentpolitics","category-taxation","category-work","tag-money-and-god","tag-rich-and-poor","tag-taxes-and-poor"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why Can&#039;t We Just Tax the Rich Some More and Fix All Our Problems? - Godonomics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Can&#039;t We Just Tax the Rich Some More and Fix All Our Problems? - Godonomics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Margaret Thatcher said, &#8220;The problem with Socialism is you eventually run out of other people&#8217;s money.&#8221; I had a conversation with a teenager recently who\u00a0parroted\u00a0the typical bumper sticker thinking of our culture: &#8220;Why don&#8217;t those rich people pay more taxes?&#8221; \u00a0 I asked him how much they are currently paying?\u00a0 He admitted that he didn&#8217;t&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2011\/07\/why-cant-we-just-tax-the-rich-some-more-and-fix-all-our-problems.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Godonomics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-07-22T09:00:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-07-20T13:50:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"chadhovind\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why Can't We Just Tax the Rich Some More and Fix All Our Problems? 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He graduated from Moody Bible College in Chicago, majoring in pastoral ministry and communication. His love for ministry and creativity can be seen in many forms: leading teams, expository teaching, acting, and video production. He has served as pastor at two high-impact churches in Georgia: Cumberland Community Church and New Community Church. Chad received an M.A. in Ministry from Moody Graduate School in 2008. He loves volleyball, movies, and hanging out with his wife Beth and their three children.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.godonomics.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/author\/chadhovind"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/353"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1146"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1157,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1146\/revisions\/1157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}