LETTERS: APPLY BRAKES TO TAXES

To the editor:

The Americans for Tax Reform, a tax-research organization, has calculated the tax burden of U.S. citizens in terms that are easily understandable. The results of their studies are as follows. The average American taxpayer will pay all wages and salaries earned between Jan. 1 and May 6 of this year to various levels of government as taxes in one form or another. If the current government deficit is included, then that date is extended to May 16.

An even more telling calculation is what is referred to as the Cost of Government Day. In this calculation, all the costs of having a government including taxes, fees and the enormous costs associated with government regulation are totalled up. The Americans for Tax Reform estimates that the average American worker toils from Jan. 1 to July 9 just to pay for the high privilege of having a government.

What are the obvious conclusions to be drawn in light of this information? First, that the taxes that working Americans are forced to pay are extremely too high. Second, we must force our government to now just govern within its means but to become once again the guardian of its citizens, not the plunderer of its own people. Third, we as a nation must be free of big, overgrown government in order to prosper and enjoy the fruits of our labor.

I feel a righteous anger when I hear tax-and-spend liberals in Congress (mostly Democrats) and our president (again a Democrat) say that the government can't "afford" a tax cut. We as citizens and suppliers of the resources that make our government run need to send a clear message to such politicians that we as taxpayers can't "afford" to be taxed into poverty by a greedy and bloated government. Certain socialist governments in Europe now have tax rates that approach 70 percent. It is certainly possible that young people in America will see taxation levels that high if the trend isn't reversed now.

The elections in November will certainly be pivotal in our nation's history. Now is the time to elect more fiscal conservatives to federal, state and local offices. We need to replace our current tax-and-spend president with someone who is serious about significantly reducing the tax burdens of American workers as well as reforming and limiting the size of the government. We need serious reform of the tax code, which may include scrapping it altogether and going to a simpler and fairer system such as a flat tax or possibly even an alternative to the income tax. We need a governor in Missouri who will be honest with the citizens and stay within the guidelines of the Hancock Amendment that provide for a public vote on major tax increases. We need a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution that will force the federal government to do what each of us have to do, which is simply spend no more money than we take in.

Tax reform is only on of many issues that are vital to the future of this nation. My hope is that voters will choose wisely in November.

JOHN HELDERMAN

Whitewater