The Bakersfield Voice

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Here it is, election time again and the lies and half-truths are flying around like flies at a picnic.  It is often reported that a candidate wants to tax big business more and increase taxes on the rich.  Increasing taxes hurts everyone and here is why.

Let’s start with taxing the rich.  How does taxing someone else ease your tax burden or financial situation?  Your taxes will not go down if someone else is forced to pay more.  How many jobs have you gotten from a poor person?  It is the rich that offer employment opportunities, not the poor.  If the rich get taxed, they will just cut back on the workers they can employ and who gets hurt then?  It is not the rich; it is the poor person that is now out of a job.
 
Now, let’s discuss taxing big business.  A business looks at its tax rate as part of the cost of doing business.  Let’s say a business needs 30% profit to stay in operation.  If the raw materials it uses go up, or its labor costs go up, or the rent goes up, or its taxes go up, that business will always pass those costs on to the consumer in the form of a higher prices for their products.  Have you noticed a small soda at a fast food restaurant now costs you more than it did two years ago?  When the minimum wage went up, that raised the restaurant’s operating costs.  Big business passed that increase on to the customer, which is YOU.  You might say, “Let the business do with less profit.” A business will NEVER do with less profit.  If the profit margin is not good enough, the owner may cut costs by cutting employee benefits, reducing the number of employees, closing down the business or move the business out of the country causing the workers to lose their jobs.  Again, poor people get hurt the most.  Tax increases to businesses always end up effecting YOU.

We need to stop thinking that raising taxes will solve our economic problems.  Reducing taxes benefits the poor as much as it benefits the rich, with more employment and cheaper products that we use every day.  Write or call your local, state and federal representatives and tell them it’s time THEY learn to do with less.