Senator Hatch Wants to Increase Taxes on the Average Family

Senator Hatch is annoyed that the Vast Left Wing Conspiracy accurately quoted him. He says that the Middle and Upper class already pay around 100% of the tax burden, and that should be his takeaway. Fine, lets take him at his word about his intentions, assume his facts are correct, and go from there.

He says there is some fundamental outrage that 51% of households don't pay tax. So he is saying that the median household should have to pay some Federal income tax. That sounds reasonable enough no? The real median household income in 2009, the last year the Census has data of information, was $49,777. That's about 150% of the extremely low Poverty Line. Still, the median income level puts you squarely in the lower-middle class. Working class even. If you want more Americans to pay taxes, these are the people you would be increase taxes on.

So Senator Hatch, I have some questions for you. Are you saying that this average family making around 50K in real income should have to pay taxes? Would you vote to increase taxes on this family? Do you want these families, who quite likely are having trouble paying off their own personal debt to have to help Uncle Sam pay off his? You want to add an additional burden to middle class homeowners who have to pay property taxes to their local government? People, who if they live in certain states like my own New York, have to deal with a regressive system of sales taxes? You would like the Federal income tax to reach down to them?

You want to tax these people instead of taxing Donald Trump's private jet? You would rather reduce the debt by squeezing the tiny portion of wealth held by the lower-middle class rather then going for the 35% held by the top 1%? You want to protect hedge fund owners over blue collar workers?

Senator, you might not have said this explicitly, but this is your implication when you say 51% of households do not pay Federal income tax. We aren't quoting you out of context, or making you say things you don't want to say. You said them, and you meant them. If you are really outraged that 51% of households don't pay income tax, then you should work to reduce the income inequality in this country. As the excellent graph indicates, Americans would like a more egalitarian society. If you work to fix the income inequality plaguing in our nation, then I would give you all the credit your words deserve.

But you don't want to do that Senator. You want the average family to pay a portion out of their meager earnings so that the most fortunate among us don't have to. How Very Serious of you.