Early in last week’s presidential debate, Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton, along with her debate partner and alleged moderator Lester Holt, raised the issue of Donald Trump’s tax returns.
Mr. Trump hasn’t released them. Mrs. Clinton demanded they be released and then claimed the tax returns would probably show Mr. Trump did not pay any income tax. The irony of this is rich, coming from a woman who has used a non-profit as a tool to help build a $200 million fortune for her and her husband. It is even more hypocritical that the Clintons gave $1 million or 96 percent of their charitable giving to the “Clinton Family Foundation.” Most sane Americans today view any foundation with the name Clinton on it as nothing more than a scam for the Clintons to make money.
Comrade Clinton went on to rail against not only Mr. Trump but all of the other wealthy Americans, who according to her, are not paying “their fair share.” The funny thing about liberals is they only want others to pay a “fair share.”
The real problem with Mrs. Clinton’s railings about the “wealthy” paying “their fair share” is that there is never enough money to satisfy liberals. And anyone who pays taxes should be outraged at the way the government spends money.
The Department of Defense recently spent $2 million to develop robotic music computers that can play with human musicians. The government spent $300 million to try and train so called “moderate” Syrian rebels. The problem was they were not moderate and most surrendered at the first opportunity. Sane people ask why this money was even spent.
Last year, the National Institute of Health spent $2.6 million to see if a motivational phone could help obese truckers lose weight. The Social Security Administration continues to pay $6.5 million to people 112 and older. It is safe to guess anyone 112 years old or older is both no longer with us and is a Democrat voter.
Since 1996, the Department of Defense has lost $8.5 trillion. They simply cannot account for it.
Yet, Mrs. Clinton thinks that Americans should fork over more in tax money every year.
One of the dirty secrets of politics is that probably half of the spending coming out of Washington has one singular purpose. That is to get incumbents reelected. Congressmen and senators fight to bring in new tax dollars to their states or districts. They fight to stop cuts to any programs that would take tax dollars away from their state or district.
This year, the Congress is forcing the Navy to buy even more Littoral Combat ships, even though they have been a disaster and the Navy doesn’t want them.
Why?
Because of powerful Members of Congress and senators want them.
Assuming for the moment that Mr. Trump paid no federal income tax, there is nothing wrong with that. There is not anything illegal or even immoral about it.
In the 1932 case of Gregory v. Helvering, the famed jurist Learned Hand wrote, “Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one’s taxes. Over and over again the Courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone does it, rich and poor alike and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands.”
The real problem is not what Mr. Trump did or did not pay in taxes. The real problem is not the wealthy do not pay their “fair share.”
The problem is politicians like Mrs. Clinton who believe the taxpayers exist only to serve as her personal piggy bank. The problem is with the far left who views real Americans as nothing more than cash donors to big government. The real problem is the Democrats view Americans as nothing more than serfs or chattel for the government.
As Americans view the looming bankruptcy of the nation that has been brought upon us by politicians like Mrs. Clinton, the nation would be well advised to remember the words of Alexis de Tocqueville:
“The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.”
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