Charity
Bigger Government Encourages More Poverty

Over the Christmas holidays I had to stop mid-conversation for fear of exciting a close family member. He’s a lifelong Democrat and there is no hope for saving him from that ailment. He also has heart trouble and tends to get overly excited if you disagree about things political so, I don’t talk about it much over there. Not that politics isn’t discussed at his house, it is. It’s just a one sided conversation and I usually have bite marks on my tongue before I leave. Such is the life of a robot.
I dropped out of the aforementioned conversation when I heard this from another family member:
I’m against Obama but when I see the Republicans giving tax breaks to the rich I just don’t think I can support them either.
This seems to be the mindset of a lot of people who cling to the Democrat or Independent label, and it’s an illogical mind twister. This is the type convoluted thinking that Statists like Obama want to promote and what we Conservatives/Restorationists should strive to overcome.
Now, let’s examine that sentence. When you say “I’m against Obama†are you against everything Obama does? Since you’re not here to answer that, let’s say for the sake of brevity and hopefulness that you are.
So that brings us to the other half of the sentence, “Republicans giving tax breaks to the richâ€. This has class envy written all over it. It also tells me you’ve been buying into at least some of the Obamedia rhetoric.
First off, the term “giving†is misused here. It says that it’s the government’s money to give. It is not. It also implies that you accept the flawed premise that the rich don’t pay their fair share of taxes. What is most disturbing to me is the lack of understanding of the God given right to personal property. When you shift ownership of property from the individual to the government, it soon devolves into tyranny.
John Adams said:
The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.
We have been on that road for a while now. It is time to stop.
Assuming everything the federal government does is *cough* worthwhile: military, infrastructure, postal service, social programs, and so-on, let’s focus on who pays Federal Income Tax and how much, as a percentage of the total. (You can find the dollar amounts by clicking the links.)
Who pays taxes?
According to Scott A. Hodge, President of the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax research group based in Washington, D.C., there were nearly 142 million Americans filing tax returns in 2009, roughly half the population.
Who doesn’t pay taxes?
There were 42.5 million, or 32.4% of filers in 2004 that didn’t pay taxes, which was up from an average of 22% for the previous 5 decades.
Contrast that with 2008, under a Republican President and a Democrat controlled congress:
Two Records Set in 2008: Most Nonpayers and Highest-Earning Nonpayers
Nonpaying status used to be a sure sign of poverty or near-poverty, but Congress and the President have changed the tax laws to pull much of the middle class into the growing pool of nonpayers. The income level at which a typical family of four will owe no income taxes has risen rapidly, now topping $51,000.As a result, recently released IRS data for the 2008 tax year show that a record 51.6 million filers had no income tax obligation.[1] That means more than 36 percent of all Americans who filed a tax return for 2008 were nonpayers, raising serious doubts about the ability of the income tax system to continue funding the federal government’s ballooning expenditures.
Who pays the most?
The top 1% of taxpayers has the largest burden. In 2008, those filers carried 38% of the total tax income and that percentage is consistent with past results. One problem as I see it, and as noted in the quote above, is the shifting demographics.
Who pays the least?
The bottom 50% of taxpayers pays the least or 2.7% of the total income tax accumulated, which is down from a 1999 figure of 4%. That’s half of the filers paying little or next to nothing. I’d say that this one statistic is enough to warrant a flat tax, that is, if I wasn’t against the Federal Income Tax altogether, but if we’re going to have one. Make it a flat consumption tax.
Who gets a subsidy?
What? A Subsidy!?
Yes. An interesting reminder came out of my reading for this post. I had forgotten that under President Bush (Progressive, but not as bad as Obama by a long shot), the IRS was given new responsibilities: encouraging poverty.
In a nutshell, single mothers under a certain income threshold get a subsidy for each child. We are paying poor folks to have babies!
Our benevolent benefactors might as well open up an ‘Uncle Sammie’s Home for Wayward Wimmin’ on a corner in every major metropolitan city for cryin’ out loud!
Government funded charity distributed through the welfare system hasn’t been replaced; it’s been expanded and enhanced! We now offer subsidies to people to breed more poverty. Yea! Keep in mind, this doesn’t include food stamps, social programs etc., which are funded from the Social Security system and are also expanded due to the greater need now that there are more poor babies being born (see how that works?), we are talking about the IRS being used as a redistributive tool.
Again, from Scott A. Hodge and the Tax Foundation:
Of the 42.5 million tax returns that pay no income taxes, 52.9 percent [‘bot – 22.5m] received some form of a refundable credit – either the EITC or the child tax credit. In 2004, Uncle Sam paid out about $33 billion in “refundable†checks to the families and single individuals who qualified for the Earned Income Credit and another $9 billion to families who were eligible for the child credit.
Broadly speaking, the 42.5 million zero-tax filers are: low-income, young, female-headed households, part-time workers, and beneficiaries of the $1,000 per-child tax credit or the Earned Income Credit.
And the situation isn’t improving:
In 2008, 25 million tax filers received $51.6 billion in EITC benefits. Of this amount, $50.5 billion was refundable in excess of their income tax liability. Also in 2008, some 25.3 million filers received $30.7 billion in child tax credit benefits, with more than 18 million of these filers getting $20.5 billion in refundable checks. Many families are eligible for both the EITC and the child credit. These are not refunds of overpaid tax; they are payments to people who have already gotten back everything that was withheld from their paychecks during the year.
What’s the solution?
Less government. Duh! Reign in the social spending. We can no longer afford (and never could afford), to offer government charity using the IRS or any social program to re-distribute our money/property. It is killing our nation and promoting a mindset of entitlements that is bankrupting and destroying our society. We are squashing people’s will to achieve and succeed by taking from those who will work and giving to those who will not. It is our duty, out of compassion for them and our working countrymen to cease these destructive social programs by systematically phasing them out.
How?
Continue the commitments we have made thus far, but put a dead end date on them. We need to elect like minded Conservative/Restorationist politicians who understand these things and will fight to get these destructive policies reformed and repealed.
I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.
~ Benjamin Franklin
November was just the beginning. We have to fight ever harder to retake our country from the hands of the Statists. If we do not, well, that alternative is the worst imaginable for the individual, for America and for the world.
Further reading:
H/T The Classic Liberal and Motor City Times.
Addendum: I understand this is only one part of a larger, multifaceted problem of high taxes and excessive government spending on all fronts. I only bring it up to refute what the media and the Statists want to program you with through sheer repetition.
Some say, and I agree, that the spending comes before the taxes as a method to justify more taxation. It’s the spending, stupid! Yes.
Therefore, a real, measurable and verifiable shift in thinking and action by our lawmakers needs to occur to stop the downward slide or our country. The only way to accomplish this is through education and activism. A majority of the voters need to make that same shift in their thinking with respect to private property. Our personal property and our earnings should be sacrosanct, untouchable by the Federal monster unless a last resort. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
Some, like my family member have given up, thrown up their hands and said, “There’s nothing we can do. We can’t change Washington, so why bother?â€
To him and them I say, look at what you, your children and your grandchildren lose if you don’t! Yours and their freedom, or what’s left of it, that’s what.
Will you sell them into slavery by ignorance and inaction?
You already know my answer.
It’s well beyond time to answer for yourself and your family.
Happy New Year, Comrades!
—————————————-
UPDATE:
Linked by:
The Lonely Conservative – Many thanks, Milady.
Big Fur Hat @ iOwnTheWorld – Much Obliged, Sir.
Bride of Rove – Sharing a life – lol – Thankyouverymuch
Doug Ross – Makes my day.
Linked by a Pixie! – How cool is that?
Tired Robot

The benefit went great. We served about 800 plates of bar-b-que and including the auction, raffle and donations we raised over 14,000 dollars to help a family in need.
One of the local unions allowed us the use of their trailered bbq pit. Here it is yesterday morning at seven just after being loaded up with brisket, sausage and boudain. It stayed cooking until about six that evening. Whew! What a day.
Lots of friends and family on hand to help and there was a huge outpouring of support from the community. Many thanks to everyone involved. You guys are the best!
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I hear my couch calling.
- A trainwreck in Maxwell
- Alamo City Pundit
- Empower Texans
- Holding the Line in Texas
- Jefferson County, TX Election Info
- Jefferson County, TX Republican Party
- Karen Brantley Writes
- LandShark 5150
- Michael Berry
- Mr. Conservative
- RagingElephants.org
- Southeast Texas TEA Party
- Texas GOP Vote
- Texas Legislative Update
- Texas Libertarian Party
- Texas Rainmaker
- Texas TEA Party Patriot Groups
- The Peter Morrison Report
- The Thinker
- Truth for American Teens
- Votexas.org
- 100 Search Engines For Scholars
- AFA Conservative Voter Guide
- American Civic Literacy Report
- C-SPAN
- CATO Institute
- CATO@Liberty
- Climategate Book | Brian Sussman
- Congress.org
- Docs 4 Patient Care
- GovTrack
- Heritage Foundation
- John Birch Society
- National Legal and Policy Center
- Open Congress
- Operation Black Storm
- Presidential Speech Archive
- Project Vote Smart
- Roll Call
- Russell Kirk Center
- TEA Party Patriots
- TEA Party Patriots Contract From America
- Tenth Amendment Center
- Texas TEA Party Patriot Groups
- Truth for American Teens
- US Elections.com
- Washington Watch
- zeitgeist2012 on OBGYN Blasts New York’s Abortion Abomination
- zeitgeist2012 on Give!
- William Campbell on About & Comment Policy
- Zilla on The Mother of All Conspiracies
- robot on About & Comment Policy
- C-SPAN
- Daily Mail
- Drudge Report
- Fox News
- Glenn Beck
- Guardian UK
- Human Events
- Invest Bus Daily
- Jeruselam Post
- Mark Levin
- Memeorandum
- News of the Weird
- NewsBusters
- NewsRealBlog
- Red State
- RIGHTNETWORK
- Rush Limbaugh
- Slate
- Smoking Gun
- The Blaze
- The Daily Caller | TheDC.com
- The Powers That Be
- Townhall.com
- Trending Right
- Wash Examiner
- World Net Daily
- WSJ Opinion
- Joy Behar Inadvertantly Finds Solution to Abortion
- Ministry of Truth!
- Clinton Campaign Spied on Trump, Durham Charges
- Facebook Finds Itself in Facebook Jail
- Happy Father’s Day, from Planned Parenthood
- Texas Constitutional Carry Gets Closer to Reality
- Self Proclaimed “Dogefather” Elon Musk Fails His Flock
AmericanSnipers.org
- Argghhh! The Home Of Two Of Jonah's Military Guys..
- BLACKFIVE
- Blogs of War
- Defence of the Realm
- Defense Tech
- DoD Buzz
- Jihad Watch
- Oath Keepers
- Pat Dollard
- Rethinking Security
- The Captain's Journal
- The Cyber Loop
- The Jawa Report
- The Sniper
- ThreatsWatch
- You Served® – Veteran and Military Blog and Military Podcast
- About & Comment Policy
- Give!
- Motivation
- Prime
- God and Government – pt. 2
- Reclaiming the American Spirit
- Aristocracy and Oligarchy – How We Got Here
- Free Speech Impediment (With Every Purchase!)
- A Libertarian Leaning Conservative…
- Medina vs. Perry – A Discussion on Strategy and Open Thread
- God and Government – pt. 1
- Political Projection and Demagoguery
- Woodshed Politics
- This is Your Congress on Drugs
- Apathy, Willful Ignorance and Corruption – What More Do We Need?
- “The Naked Insurance Saleswoman” or “Federal vs State Governance”
- Get Government Out of Health Care
- A Critique on Conservatives
- Thoughts On Liberty
- Your Government Wants To Eat You
- Texas Mandatory Evacuation Law – Hurricane Party Like It’s 1984
- Socia.list
- Texas 11
- US Timeline
- A Charging Elephant
- A Conservative Shemale
- A trainwreck in Maxwell
- Ace of Spades HQ
- Adrienne's Corner
- Althouse
- Always on Watch
- America's Watchtower
- American Digest
- American Glob
- American Perspective
- American Power
- American Thinker
- Amusing Bunni's Musings
- An American Lion
- And So it Goes in Shreveport
- Andy's Place
- Another Black Conservative
- Anthroblogogy
- Arlenearmy's Blog
- At The Point Of A Gun
- Atlas Shrugs
- BackyardConservative
- baldilocks
- Big Government
- Blogs 4 Palin
- blonde sagacity
- Blue Collar Philosophy
- Blue's Blog
- Bonzai from the Right
- Bread Upon the Waters
- Breitbart.com
- Bride of Rove
- Cafe Hayek
- Carol's Closet
- CARPE DIEM
- Cassy Fiano
- Catholibertarian
- Caught Him With A Corndog
- Cmblake6's Weblog
- Cobb
- Conscientiously Conservative
- Conservative Hideout 2.0
- Conservative Perspective
- Conservative Resources
- Conservatives on Fire
- Coordinated Illumination
- Critical Political Thinking
- Cubachi
- Cynthia Yockey, A Conservative Lesbian
- Da Tech Guy
- Day by Day Cartoon by Chris Muir
- DeanO
- Diary of a Right Wing Peace Loving Pussycat
- Didn' I Tell You?
- Discover the Networks.org
- Doug Ross @ Journal
- Drunken Wisdom
- Duh Progressive
- Dust of the Balance
- Dustbury
- Error Theory
- Eternity Road
- Everything Is Backwards
- Eye of Polyphemus
- Fausta's Blog
- Feed Your ADHD
- Fishersville Mike
- five feet of fury
- Fleece Me
- Flopping Aces
- Founding Bloggers
- Four Right Wing Wackos
- Front Page Magazine
- Frugal Cafe' Blog Zone
- Full Metal Patriot
- Furthermore
- Fuzzy Logic
- Gateway Pundit
- GeeeZ
- Ghost of a flea
- Goomba News Network
- Gorges' Grouse
- Grandpa John's
- GrEaT sAtAn"S gIrLfRiEnD
- Green Mountains Homesteading
- Grizzly Mama
- Hack Wilson
- Haemet
- Holding the Line in Texas
- Hot Air
- Hotairnews
- Hummers & Cigarettes
- IMAO
- Imperfect America
- In a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
- Innominatus
- Instapundit
- Interesting News Items
- iowahawk
- iOwnTheWorld
- Ironic Surrealism
- JammieWearingFool
- John Lott's Website
- Jumping in Pools
- Just a Conservative Girl
- Karen Brantley Writes
- King Shamus
- Kristin's Mishmash
- Lady Cincinnatus
- LandShark 5150
- Last Refuge of a Scoundrel
- Laughing Conservative
- Left Coast Rebel
- Left Coast Resistance
- Left-Wing Institute For Civil Discourse
- Legal Insurrection
- Legalize The Constitution
- Liberalguy
- Libertarian Buddha
- Liberty at Stake
- Liberty Defense League
- Lilac Sunday
- Linkiest
- Little Miss Attila
- LMAObama
- Maggie's Farm
- Maggie's Notebook
- Makes My Brain Itch
- Mako Snark
- mean ol' meany
- Michelle Malkin
- Mister Pterodactyl
- Moe Lane
- Moonbattery
- motorcitytimes.com
- MOTUS
- Mr. Conservative
- My Bossier
- my thoughts on freedom
- Nation of Cowards
- NewsRealBlog
- Nice Deb
- No Sheeples Here!
- NoOneOfAnyImport's Blog
- North Face Search
- NOT ONE RED CENT
- Obama Fail Blog
- Obambi
- Obi's Sister
- One Conservative Estimate
- Operation Black Storm
- Ordered Liberty
- Outside The Beltway | OTB
- Paco Enterprises
- Pajamas Media
- Paladin's Page
- pamibe
- Paps Thoughts
- ParaPundit
- Pat Dollard
- Patriot Speak
- Phil Kerpen – Economic Policy Analysis and Advocacy
- Pirate's Cove
- Pixie Place
- Political Bullpen
- Political Clown Parade
- Political Debate Forums
- Political Realities
- PoliticalJunkie Mom
- Potluck
- Present Discontent
- Pretty Fly for a Jersey Guy
- Primordial Slack
- Proof Positive
- Pundit & Pundette
- Rabid Sanity
- RagingElephants.org
- Randy's Roundtable
- Reaganite Republican
- Republican Redefined
- Riehl World View
- Right Ideas
- Right Truth
- Right Wing News
- Right, Wing-Nut!
- RightKlik
- RIGHTNETWORK
- Ruby Slippers
- S. Phillips
- Saberpoint
- Sentry Journal
- Sharp Elbows StL
- Si Vis Pacem
- Signal 94
- Smart Girl Politics
- Smash Mouth Politics
- Snark And Boobs
- Spellchek
- StormBringer
- Story Balloon
- Tabitha Hale
- Tea Party News
- teresamerica
- That Mr. G Guy's Blog
- That's Right
- The Anchoress
- The Bitter Americans
- The Black Sphere
- The Busted Nut
- The Camp Of The Saints
- The Classic Liberal Blog
- The Conservative Lady
- The Conservative Pup
- The Current
- The Daley Gator
- The Foundry
- The Freeman | Ideas On Liberty
- The H2
- The Jawa Report
- The Lazy Farmer
- The Lights of Albuquerque
- The Live Wyer
- The Lonely Conservative
- The NeoSexist
- The Observatorium
- The Observer
- The Oh, bama FILES
- The Other McCain
- The Pagan Temple
- The POH Diaries
- The Powers That Be
- The republican Mother
- The Resistance
- The Saloon dot net
- The Silent Majority
- The Sniper
- The Sundries Shack
- The Thinker
- The TrogloPundit
- The Volokh Conspiracy
- The War Planner
- The Warrior Bard
- The Wisdom of Soloman
- theblogprof
- thelotusblog.com/
- Theo Spark
- They Say / We Say
- Thinklets
- This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here
- Thoughts and Rantings
- Thoughts of a Regular Guy
- Three Beers Later…
- TL In Exile
- TOTUS
- Track-A-'Crat
- Trestin Meacham
- Truth and Consequences
- Two Heads are Better than One
- Unintended Consequences
- US Cavalry Veteran
- Verum Serum
- View From The Porch
- Viewed From The Right
- Villainous Company
- Virtual Mirage
- Warrant One Girl
- Washington Rebel
- Watts Up With That?
- Western Hero
- What Bubba Knows
- What Makes Us Right
- What the…?!
- What Would The Founders Think?
- What Would the Founding Fathers Do?
- Woodsterman
- WyBlog
- YankeePhil
- Zilla of the Resistance
M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ||||||
2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
30 | 31 |