Conscious Conservative View, Taxes Are Too High

     Like millions of other proud Americans, I recently put together all of my forms, wrote my check to the US Treasury and marched my tax records down to the Post Office.  Unlike many, I decided to take a close look at my tax documents and calculate how much of my earnings actually goes to taxes each year.  Without revealing too much of my business, I will say that my family's annual income is close to the median and probably in a range with a majority taxpayers out there.

     My taxes beak down like this:

                  FICA/Medicare                                         13.3%
                  Federal Income Tax                                    9.5%
                  State Income Tax                                       2.2%
                  State/Local Sales Tax                                1.8%
                  Property Tax                                              1.5%
                  Gasoline Tax                                              1.0%
                  Utility Taxes                                               0.5%


                  TOTAL                                                    29.8%

     As you can see, about 30% on my earnings are confiscated each year by various government entities.  Include the multitude of other irregular taxes (rental car, event ticket, environmental or airport fees), this amount can easily equal 1/3 of a family's income.  I challenge everyone to just look at the categories I listed above and determine their personal tax burden.  For just about everyone, the amount is excessive.  In my case, I pay twice as much in taxes as I do for utilities, 4X as much as I pay for groceries and 8X as much as I pay for housing.  People now pay more in tribute to the government than they pay for their basic needs.  That fact as much as anything else shows that TAXES ARE TOO HIGH!!!