Television talk show host Oprah Winfrey has a tax problem.
When she was younger, she wasn't paying enough. Now that she's wealthy, she is paying too much.
Oprah Winfrey grew up in a poor, disadvantaged household. Oprah suffered from many childhood traumas. She says that she was raped by a relative at age nine and that she was pregnant at age 14. The child died in infancy.
For many people, these type of life experiences can lead to a downward spiral for the victim where the individual ends up on the bottom rungs of society. Living on welfare, and asking the government to feed, clothe, and run their lives for them. In short, the perfect Democratic voter.
However, that isn't what happened to Oprah.
Oprah worked hard, finished school and got a job at a radio station. Eventually she moved on to being a television reporter who did the six o'clock news in Baltimore, Maryland.
Oprah went on to get her own talk show in Chicago, which rose to a #1 ranking.
By the time Oprah was 32 years old, she was a millionaire.
But her success didn't stop there. Oprah was later able to gain ownership of her show and a bigger cut of the money it produced. By the time she was 41 she was worth 340 million dollars.
Eventually, she started her own network and became the first black female billionaire in world history. In September 2010, she overtook Meg Whitman to become the richest self-made woman in America.
So...you're asking....how does Oprah have a tax problem?
As a billionaire, she is paying too much in taxes.
Yes, that's right. She is paying too much.
Americans made a terrible mistake in 1913 by allowing the government to establish an income tax. That act basically made the government a permanent partner in your pocketbook, and lately, the government has been incapable of controlling its appetite or telling the truth about how much they are taking from your pocket.
And as Ayn Rand complained in the epic novel "Atlas Shrugged", they are doing it with the "sanction of the victim." Basically, we Americans are allowing the government to do this to us. However, this does not need to continue to be the situation.
Liberals would argue that now that Oprah is extremely rich, she owes a bigger debt to society. That she needs to pay for all the roads to be repaired, for all the streetlights to stay lit...for the salaries of all the police and fire departments.
I strongly argue the opposite. When Oprah was in her younger days, with her traumatic background, she wasn't paying enough. Now, in her higher-earning years, she is paying too much.
Liberals argue that she owes a greater duty at this current time.
That is false.
Oprah owed the same duty to society at all times.
No more. No less.
When Oprah was struggling to get by as a radio announcer, she was driving on streets paid for by others, being protected by police and fire paid for by others. But it didn't stop her from using those services. Now that she is wealthy, she does not use a gigantically higher percentage of those services, and as such, owes no more than a normal duty. She owes an equal percentage as everyone else.
The insanity of our current tax system is that it allows the looters and the moochers who produce nothing to make demands on those who do.
Think about it.
What is there to prevent the tyranny of the masses?
To prevent the people on the bottom of the tax structure from continually voting for higher and higher taxes on the productive class...until that seizure of assets causes a collapse of the economy?
The answer?
There is nothing to stop them from doing exactly that.
That is why our tax structure needs to be replaced with a fair or flat tax.
Then, suddenly, the liberals who want high speed rail might vote a little more Conservatively when they actually have to pay for something, instead of getting a free ride on the backs of others.
Yes, Oprah Winfrey is wealthy, but she doesn't owe you or anyone else 35% of her income.
She should pay the same percentage that you pay.
No more, no less.