How Can We Lower Taxes When They Don't Even Pay Any

I pay a lot of taxes. At least I think so. Federal income taxes are just under 30%. State income taxes are just under 10%. There are also a lot of payroll deductions for unemployment insurance and workman's compensation, that I am never elegible for. Sales tax is over 8% here and probably going higher. I'm not even sure how high gas tax is but it is the highest in the country. I pay property tax on my house. That's about $3,000 a year.

I would guess by the time all the dust settles every year, my wife and I pay at least 50% of our income in taxes and get damn little back.

I'm not all that upset about it. It's always been that way. What pisses me off is the way major US corporations whine, cry and demand lower tax rates. Corporations get huge perks back from the government. Energy, mining and forest product companies get leases virtually for free. Agriculture gets subsidies and cheap irrigation. Ranchers get government grazing rights. The financial industries get huge government backstop funding. Every major industry gets major concessions from the government concerning taxation.

It turns out that 2/3 of all American Corporations pay no taxes whatsoever and the rest pay damn little. As one financial analyst on Wall Street said, "Corporations have a fiduciary duty to their share holders to maximize profits in all the ways that they can." This includes paying off politicians to pass laws favorable to corporations, their operating expenses and tax burden. It's not a Republican/Democrat issue. They all sell out. Republicans just know how to put together a more attractive package and get more money. Democrats can more easily be bought for a good meal, a gram of cocaine and a friendly whore, whereas they are just preliminaries for Republicans. We aren't even giving better breaks to smaller, expanding corporations that might provide increased hiring opportunities in years to come. It is the biggest, mature, profitable sectors of Corporate America that pays the least in taxes and is more likely to get subsidies.

For the most part these companies pollute as much as they can get away with. They fight collective bargaining on the part of their employees and don't give a shit about heath hazards or dangerous workplace conditions. They bully and ride roughshod over the people who inhabit the areas where they are active.

It's been 28 years since Corporate America had any active oversight whatsoever. Bush has watched, smiling, as they ass raped the American people. Neither McCain or Obama plans to change a damn thing.