bush
Freeloading: What a Deal!
17 Mar 2009 15:18 Filed in: Tax Stat Analysis
First, the Tired Donkey wants to point out that the statistics he sets out below (from 2004—things have only gotten worse since then) take into account all government taxes and spending, both federal and state. The mind-numbing differences between what people pay and what people get, however, are caused primarily by federal taxes and spending alone. This is so for two reasons: (1) state taxes are much less progressive in general than federal taxes, and (2) donkeys use a lot more state services and therefore get more value out of them (roads are disproportionately used by donkeys because donkey’s need more cars to carry their loads; donkeys educate their children and so use a disproportionate share of public education funds).
Now, before the Tired Donkey reveals the statistics, he wishes to make one other point: these statistics are from the era of the Bush administration which was treated by many donkeys as if it were a friendly administration. Take it from the Tired Donkey, the Bush administration was no friend to the donkeys. In fact, the Bush adminstration was the biggest donkey enemy in the history of American government as the Tired Donkey will reveal tomorrow. They just hid their perfidy behind donkey rhetoric, and the Tired Donkey bets many of you fell for it. Wake up! The government—whether in the hands of irresponsible Republicans or the hand of irresponsible Democrats—has an interest in one thing: getting votes. And this means they must court the Freeloaders. And how do they do this? By increasing the load on the most productive donkeys, of course. All of them—Republican and Democrat alike—are Myrmidon Donkeys. So let’s see how bad it is:
In 2004, the top 20% of households got $0.41 for every dollar they paid in taxes. The bottom 20%? Well, they got a much better deal: they got $8.21 from the government for every dollar they put in. No wonder this donkey is tired.
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