Bottom 50% of income tax payers account for only 3% of total

To The Daily Sun,

My recent letters have been focusing on the false narratives pushed by Democrats and the left-leaning media. The reason is that I’m very concerned that we as a nation are spending ourselves into our next recession. Our national deficit is closing in on $1 trillion dollars per year and not a single Democratic candidate even mentions it. In fact, Medicare for all and free college will only increase the deficit.

Has anyone ever thought about how much each of us “owes” as a result of the national debt? If you divide the $23.3 trillion national debt by the 331 million U.S. citizens it’s $70,393. Not only that but a $1 trillion deficit adds another $3,021 each year.

For those Americans who have worked hard to provide for their families, pay their bills and live within their means this is disturbing. It’s frustrating that we have little control over how our elected officials’ tax and spend. We vote for fiscal conservatives only to find that without a majority fiscal responsibility loses every time.

So why is that? I don’t know but it may be because only 155.8 million people filed tax returns in 2018. That means only 47 percent actually are paying any taxes. This link (https://taxfoundation.org/summary-latest-federal-income-tax-data-2018-update/) looks a little deeper into how much each taxpayer contributes and the bottom 50 percent contributes only 3 percent of the total “income” tax collected. That means that of the 47 percent who do files tax returns, half of them (or less than 25 total of the total U.S. population) pay 97 percent of the “income” taxes our senators and congressmen spend. My point is that tax increases have virtually zero impact on 75 percent of the U.S.population. Let that sink in for a minute.

Senator Sanders message that everyone is entitled to more free stuff resonates with those already receiving free stuff and they are now the majority of all Americans. Ironically, the Democratic elite are now panicking that they can’t stop Bernie’s momentum. The reason is not that they are against free stuff for all but because they don’t want to pay for it. If the 2020 presidential election is a match-up between president Trump and Senator Sander’s the Democratic elite loses either way.

If Trump wins the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act (TC&JA) will remain in place for at least the next four years. As per my previous letter (https://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/trump-hate-is-all-about-taxing-the-wealthy-elitists/article_e39bdbd8-4fea-11ea-8170-e7c27b4256f8.html), that will cost the richest amount us hundreds of billions more in taxes every year. If Bernie wins the cost will be even greater.

As soon as Bernie crushed his Democratic opponents in Nevada a “bombshell” news report came out that Russia is interfering with the U.S. election to support Sanders for president. I think as time goes on the left-leaning media will be dropping more and more “bombshell” stories on why Senator Sanders is a Russian asset and should not be the Democratic nominee. I’ll pop some popcorn and watch the debates to see how low the Democrats will go.

Bruce Jenket

Moultonborough