Is Income Tax Unfair? Blog 5, Lakeisha Richardson

A big debate hitting the U.S presidential elections this term is income tax. Ravi Agrawal journalist from CNN wrote an article titled “We’re all makers and takers.” The article talks about the debate over rather high income earners are paying too much in income tax or too little. According to the article, only 53% of U.S citizens pay income taxes. In India, only 2.8% of the population pays income tax, which is only slightly higher than the 1.72% out of China’s population of 1.34 billion. Some people believe people receiving higher income should not have to support the rest of the population. Agrawal mentions a quote from Mitt Romney stating that “his ‘job is not to worry’ about the ‘47 percent of the people’ who ‘pay no income tax’ has divided America.” Ravi Agrawal writes while it seems as if citizens who pay no income tax are receiving all the benefits, in reality everyone is benefited, and we are all “makers and takers.” In the United States the 53% of citizens paying income tax still benefit from subsidies we receive or products such as gasoline. While gasoline may be $4 a gallon here, many other countries such as Europe, India, and China pay at least twice that amount. We benefit from having police, fire and rescue, and even the highway system.

Everyone around the world benefit from government services and/or programs made possible through income tax payments from its citizens. In the U.S this includes getting water, food, electricity, gas, radio services and numerous other needs for a far less price than you would if there were no income tax payments. Income tax helps keep families safe and secure. Only a small amount of the world pays income tax. China and India are one of the largest countries on earth. What happens if people decided it’s not fare they have to pay income tax, but others don’t?  Many families depend on government programs, especially those in poverty. Many families around the world live in poverty. Cutting down on tax will not help the problem. Is there a way to make tax payers feel better about paying tax while at the same time helping families stay (or get) secure? Families around the world safety depend on the funds coming from taxable income paid by some citizens around the world.

http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/26/were-all-makers-and-takers/?hpt=wo_r1