Taxes Are Not The Answer
Jul 19, 2011 Political
When taxes are raised there is a certain level at which they fail to produce the expected results. People who are taxed find ways to avoid paying the taxes or have incentive not to earn as much. The very wealthy find tax shelters and the middle class gets socked. This is true at the national level and is worth remembering as we debate the debt limit. The Democrats want to impose taxes (that and spending is all they know) on the wealthy which they define down to $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples. The Democrats want these folks to pay their fair share even though they shoulder almost the entire tax burden. Lower taxes increase revenue and higher taxes suppress revenue but the Democrats do not care. Even Obama, who said that raising taxes during hard economic times was not wise, wants to raise taxes.
Any politician who votes for this scheme should be removed from office.
Even the middle class will look for ways to avoid taxes. Yes, those who always scream to tax the rich look for ways to avoid taxes. In Baltimore the City imposed a tax on beverages (the bottle tax) and though it has brought in about 5 million dollars that figure is 1 million lower than was expected and at least 70 jobs have been lost because of the tax. Now officials want to repeal the tax because it is killing jobs and not performing as expected.
And they have figured out what I said all along. People in the city can drive to a neighboring county and buy beverages and avoid the City’s bottle tax.
Well, not all of them have figured it out. The Mayor expects the repeal to be defeated and is not unhappy about that. In addition, a candidate for Mayor has stated he wants to impose a new tax, one he claims will lower the crimes that involve shootings.
Otis Rolley wants to impose a $1 per bullet tax on ammunition sold in the city. Rolley believes that this additional tax will make it harder for criminals to afford bullets and therefore will lower the number of shootings in the city.
First of all, as with the bottle tax, people can drive to a neighboring jurisdiction and buy bullets. There are plenty of stores that sell ammunition surrounding the city and people can go there and avoid the additional $20 to $50 per box of ammo. Come to think of it, a box of 500 rounds of 22 caliber would incur a $500 tax!
People could also order their ammo through the internet and have it delivered to their house or to the house of a relative who lives outside the city.
People will avoid taxes no matter how much they claim to support them. One only needs to look at Warren Buffett, John Kerry, Tim Geithner, Charlie Rangel and a slew of other Democrats who always seek higher taxes but work hard to avoid paying them.
And putting all that aside, what makes Mr. Rolley think that people who obtain firearms illegally, carry them illegally, and use them illegally will worry about obtaining ammunition legally? I imagine some enterprising person will purchase a lot of ammo from surrounding counties and sell it to people in the city. Rolley will create a black market of ammo dealers who will look to make a buck by circumventing the tax.
Only a liberal would believe that a person who breaks the law will suddenly follow another law designed to impede his criminal activities.
Raising taxes is a bad idea and allowing liberals to get into office is an even worse one.
A side note to Mr. Rolley. The city has a high crime rate with or without guns. The city needs to lock criminals up and keep them in jail instead of operating a revolving door justice system. And allowing law abiding citizens their Second Amendment right to carry arms would make criminals think twice. They would never know who is carrying. But this is Maryland and the Democrats in this state love to trample on our Constitutionally protected rights.
Cave Canem!
Never surrender, never submit.
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Tags: beverage tax, bullet tax, liberals, lies, Obama, otis rolley, tax avoidance