WHITE RIVER VALLEY — I am for raising taxes of the rich. Those who have the money should pay more. The rich have lived the good life for so long they have become accustomed to more equal treatment that the vast majority of Americans can ever expect to experience. The rich have been having a party and don't mind sending the working class the bill.

While the work-a-day hamster wheel turning average taxpayer has to scrape by week to week on scant wages, provided to them by the rich, the billionaires are heard crying about their plight. We hear so often how raising taxes on the rich would cripple the economy, eliminate jobs and stunt investments in new ventures. I wonder, have these people taken a good look around the economy lately? We, through our elected representatives, gave the rich huge tax breaks several years ago and, yet, today, the unemployment rate is hovering near 10 percent nationally.

If giving the richest among us more money is the road to a thriving economy how much longer will it be until everyone is benefiting from the raid on the treasury to ensure millionaires have more millions? A huge investment it was. Billions upon billions of borrowed money to pad such worthy causes as Paris Hilton's Trust fund and bank bailouts. The needed money was directed at the least money needing population in the country with little accounting for its use. Luckily, there is a running tabulation of the funds. It's called the national debt.

I am for taxing the rich. And, the old canard that taxing the rich is bad for you and bad for me is the lie we have been told so often its is believed by large numbers of working class folks. Let's be honest. If the richest among us are forced to pay more taxes it won't hurt us in the least. The rich, at a higher tax rate, will have to forgo such things as four trips to Hawaii a year instead of five. The rich will need to cutback on their fleet of aging Rolls Royces and maybe buy a Ford or a Chevy. They will need to delay buying a new beach front home for a year, or two, while the nation has the funds to fight two wars and fix the health care system.

The screams of the rich will ring in our ears. The tears will flow. The life led by the rich will come to an end as they know it. Having the rich pay more taxes will help me far more than it will hurt them to pay.

To forestall any hint of having their taxes raised, the rich have resorted to the well used bag of tricks to deflect attention away from their highly prized stock portfolio. Let's talk about saddles on dinosaurs. Let's talk about Sarah Palin's new book. Let's talk about non-existent death panels for seniors. Let's talk about Creation Science which isn't science.

It is time to tax the rich. They had the party now they can pay the band. Meanwhile, the working people will worry about their futures and ask: How can we pay our debts and keep the lights turned on?

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Steve Foster has a degree in criminal justice. He writes about social or political issues.

Opinion, Pages 4 on 10/08/2009

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