Patriotic Taxes

If you are a democrat or even an independent voter that plans to vote for the democratic ticket in November, I implore you to read this post so that you can help me answer my questions and make sense of it. If you can do that, you might convince me to vote for the democratic ticket.

Burg lit a fire under me tonight with her post today. For the last week I have been writing a post in my head about the threat of increased taxes. Burg's post forced me to actually put it out there.

Growing up I listened to my Dad talk about middle America getting the screws put to them with ever-increasing taxes. It's not the very wealthy that suffer. It's obviously not the poor that suffer (they are the ones benefiting), it's middle America that suffers. I never understood what my Dad was talking about. It just didn't make sense to me. Now, it does. Somehow the definition of "upper class" is different for both political parties. In one political party, I am part of the upper crust. In the other, I am part of the middle class.

In our house, we pay a mortgage, a car payment, property taxes, weekly daycare costs, credit card payments, monthly asthma medication for my son, grocery bills; we buy our own diapers, formula, baby food, milk, cheese, bread, etc. There are times we live by the seat of our financial pants. There are many luxuries that I forgo in an effort to do my part to save money and scrape by. I don't allow myself some simple pleasures. No manicures, no fake nails, no pedicures, no waxed eyebrows, no highlights in my hair, no text messaging on my cell phone, no internet access on my cell phone, no downloaded musical rings on my cell phone, a hair cut only twice per year, the cheapest wine I can find ($2.99 a bottle for Golden Gate found at Albertson chains across the country and not half bad, but also not my wine of choice), generic brands of almost every food I buy, clothes for my kids on ebay and at second hand stores, and many many other things.

If my taxes are increased, where am I going to cut back? Please, tell me. I beg you to tell me where I should cut back. Should I sell my house and live in a cheaper one so I can help those that are less fortunate? Should I sell my car and buy a moped with a side car to drive me and my kids back and forth to work and daycare each day? Tell me, what should I do? I need to know this. I can't survive without knowing where this extra money taken from me is going to come from.

My hubs and I both work very hard for our money. How is it fair that the money that I am being paid for my hard work gets taken from me? How is that fair or even patriotic that those that receive help from the government get so much? How is it fair that they can get a daycare supplement and I pay $330 a week (that's over $17,000 per year, by-the-way)and can only claim $6,000 of that per year on my taxes? How is it fair that I won't take my son to the emergency room for an asthma attack until I have given him at least 2 breathing treatments at home (on a nebulizer that I paid $400 for) because I can't afford and extra $100 for the emergency room co-pay, when people granted free health care for their kids can go without even doing one breathing treatment?

I don't begrudge those that receive assistance and are truly grateful for it. Those that try to save money in other ways. Those that don't have fake nails, that don't cells phones with internet access and text messaging, those that don't have highlighted hair, those that don't buy cartons of cigarettes and that don't buy fancy coffee every morning. I know there are people out there like this. I know it in my heart, but I see people at the grocery store and at super-chain stores that do the exact opposite all the time. Those are the people that burn my butt.

Here's my suggestion, should I be forced to become patriotic and pay increased taxes. Instead of taking my money and spreading it over the "poor" evenly, give me a name and address of a person to sponsor. I would rather just cut them a check off the top of my salary and mail it off to that one person...maybe I would get a thank you note that way - probably on nice personalized stationary because a large chunk of my income affords that for my sponsored American. Perhaps my sponsored American can send me a photo, so I can post it on my refrigerator. I do hope the picture captures the essence of the luxuries that my help affords. Perhaps they can pose nicely in their new clothes, freshly highlighted hair, fake nails, while text messaging on their blackberry.

Now that I have gotten all of this of my white trash McCain/Palin supporting chest, I feel better.