Everyone Should Pay Taxes, Even the "Poor"

The President and the Republican leaders met today and, of course, the Gabber-in-Chief took it upon himself to pontificate about "working together" on the expiring Bush tax cuts. The Democrats want to "tax the rich" (people making over $250K) while the Republicans want to keep all the tax cuts in tact. Why not compromise and pass the "NO EXCUSE TO BE POOR TAX ACT"?

Currently there are about 47 million people who do NOT pay any income tax. Yes, they pay Social Security taxes.  This group of people also receive most of the "freebies" (food stamps, health care/medicaid, etc) from the government.  This enormous group receives far more in benefits than they pay into the system. Democrats talk about fairness. I agree. The USA is the greatest nation on earth and it is a privilege to live here and, if you work, you should pay something in income taxes. If you get everything for free, you will not appreciate what you have and will always ask for more and more and more.

The beltway blowhards love to come up with clever names for big pieces of legislation, like "No Child Left Behind". Let's call this bill where everyone pays some income tax the "No Excuse to be Poor Tax Act". Because if you live in this country, we are all rich. Everyone should pay taxes, even the poor people. How about a minimum tax of 5% up to $20,000 per year in income? So if you make $20,000 a year, your tax would be $1,000, a small price to pay for all the safety net programs that are in place for this income group.