Fixing the Federal Income Tax Inequities

Hillary Clinton recently told us the rich aren't paying their fair share of taxes.  That's an interesting statement in a country in which 47% of the wage earners pay absolutely NO federal income tax and the remaining 53% carry the entire load.  The folks at the very top are contributing in excess of 39% of their income to support all the programs the lower 47% are using.  That's simply wrong.

I've written before that we need some sort of minimum federal income tax percentage that would apply to all wage earners.  I don't care if it's only 1% at the lowest income levels - everyone needs to have a vested interest in the federal government.  When the feds are spending someone else's money it's easy to simply ignore what they're doing, but when they're spending YOUR money, you tend to pay more attention both to what they're doing and who you're sending to Washington to make those decisions.

Unfortunately, this country will never enact a tax like that.  For one thing there are now so many voters who pay nothing that no politician is likely to offer this idea for fear of being voted out.  That person would also be declared a "hater" who wants to poor to suffer..etc, etc, etc..ad nauseum.

So, how do we get the bottom 47% to kick in to the total federal income tax?  Here's what happens when I have 8 hours on the road to do nothing but think about crazy things:

We need a National Lottery.

WAIT!, you say, THAT'S GAMBLING!  Yes it is.  And I'll use one of the left's own arguments to support it.  When the left is pushing condoms in schools they tell us that "kids are going to have sex anyway, so we better make sure it's safe".  Well, poor people are going to gamble anyway, so let's quit giving the money to Vegas casino corporation, Indian tribes, or the local neighborhood numbers runner and start collecting that money for good old Uncle Sam.

Studies show that lottery players tend to come from lower income groups.  After all, if you don't have a lot of money the lottery becomes ever more attractive.  Can you imagine what a National Lottery with a huge potential payoff would generate in revenue from those people who aren't currently paying a dime in federal income tax?  It's not going to retire the debt or even fix the deficit, but it's more than the IRS is collecting now.

Granted, this post is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but if you stop to think about it, this system would work.

And money spent on lottery tickets won't be going to cigarettes, booze, crack or hookers.  But knowing the Democrats they'll come up with a bailout for that stuff.