Re: Give It Back

At 08:49 AM 6/21/2001 -0700, you wrote:
>You made an interesting argument in your May 31 article on monkeyfist.
>
>In fact it's similar to one of the same arguments that Bush has made all
>along: that your income is your property (it's your money) and that you
>should so with it what you chose. Including giving the money to a charity.

Michael -

I recognize the irony of saying what seems, on the surface, to be the same
thing Bush said.  But there is at least one important difference: when the
Republicans say they want to give the money back, they want the people to
spend it, to put more money back into the corporations that rule our world,
to stimulate the economy, etc.  I'm saying that the money should be given
to the charitable organizations that really need the money, the ones that
the government should be supporting instead of this bogus faith-based
nonsense.  These are causes that the government, in my opinion, *should* be
channeling my money to benefit, but I can't see any administration --
liberal or conservative -- supporting them. They certainly haven't in the
recent past.

>I don't recommend that you advise people to give their money away. If more
>people did that, then it might actually make a good case for the tax cut. You
>don't want this do you?
>
>If you really don't want your money back and do not really want tax cuts,
>the only prudent thing to do is to indulge yourself with all the money and
>recommend that everyone else do the same. If you and everyone else went
>out and bought a $150 pair of shoes, we could then make the case that the
>tax cut was bad. You could then write a scathing editorial about how
>greedy taxpayers used their own money in an inappropriate fashion. At the
>expense of people who didn't get the money because they made the mistake
>of not paying taxes.

But that's exactly what they want us to do, inject the money back into the
economy.  Besides, if I don't want the money, I certainly don't want the
equivalent of the money in shoes.  And I'm not at all interested in writing
a scathing editorial about greedy taxpayers.  Inciting greedy behaviour and
then complaining about it is not at all sensible.

>Suggesting that taxpayers give their money away doesn't help your case.
>
>Michael Jones

One final point I need to make.  I'm not suggesting we give the money back
to charitable organizations to prove a point about people, I'm urging that
we take control of our money and put it to the use that *we* intended.  Bush
has made a mess of our tax money, and this is the only way we have to put
things right.

Thanks for your comments.

Niel