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Let's thank Mitt Romney for releasing his tax returns and documenting that there are two distinct classes of Americans -- the tax-sheltered class and the non-tax-sheltered class.
Romney has done nothing unethical or dishonest in preparing his tax returns, but the same cannot be said about the Congress. Through tax code manipulation and in the interest of funding their election campaigns, members of Congress have deliberately created two classes of Americans. Romney paid approximately $3 million on income of $21.6 million, about 13.9 percent. He probably also paid Social Security and Medicare taxes of about 0.1 percent of his total income.
Contrast this to a professional middle manager who pays approximately 25 percent of his income in federal income taxes and another 15 percent in payroll taxes. Admittedly, the employer pays half of the payroll taxes, but that is Congress' way of convincing taxpayers that the money is not coming out of his or her income. In reality, that employer portion is definitely coming out of the employees' compensation. The middle manager is paying about 40 percent of his or her income to the federal government.
Comparing the 14 percent paid by Romney against the 40 percent paid by the middle manager makes it quite obvious that Congress meant to establish two classes of Americans. Through congressional tax code manipulation much of America's wealth has been transferred from the non-tax-sheltered class to the tax-sheltered class. Isn't it time to direct members of Congress to correct this injustice and redistribute much of America's wealth back to the non tax-sheltered class?
Wally Hollinger
Okatie