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Show LfzJ Your Man In Washington By U.S. Senator Orrin G. Hatch What About Your Income Taxes ? "I thought it was going to be better this year." "Where's that break I was suppose to get this time?" "They said it would be easier to figure out, but I guess it's back to the tax man and additional costs." If that's the way you felt this year when you sat .down to do your income tax, you weren't alone. The discouragement is widespread. Enough so, that even the President has a tax-cutting program. Last year he said, ". . . our present income tax structure is a disgrace. It needs to be simple, equitable and progressive. Those that are able to pay ought to pay. The working families of this country, the middle income families, ought to be j helped by removing the unnecessary and unfair burdens that have rested on their shoulders." I Unfortunately, the Washington Post reports ' "President Carter's new tax-cut package would 1 only heighten the disparity. Carter has proposed replacing the present $750-a-dependent personal exemption with a new $240 credit. This would shift the burden further toward the middle and upper-middle-income brackets." The Post goes on to say that middle income families earn 50 percent of the money but pay a whopping 94 percent of the income taxes.. "Those in the lower tax brackets," the Post reports, "enjoy a shrinking tax burden. The taxes paid by the lower half fell from 10.3 percent in 1970 to 7.1 percent in 1975." ' With this kind 0f disparity, is it any wonder Americans are using every loophole, tax advantage and shelter' they can find to keep from slipping into a higher tax bracket? It is a no win situation with increasing mllation i pushing incomes further into "tax debt." This j stifles productivity. It discourages creativity and I ambition. It strangles advancement and economic progression. And it fosters mediocrity. Can you think of anything that makes you j more angry than those who don't pay any tax at all? Why does that make us angry? The answer is simple. Because we are . paying so much. Unfortunately, like so many Washington programs, this attempt at making the tax dodger pay is going to hurt the middle income the most. It is discouraging to realize ! that the more you earn the further behind you will get in income tax requirements. ! For immediate relief from this set of circumstances, the best ! answer is an across-the- ' board tax cut. This would stimulate the economv bv j j i adding jobs. Then when the economy starts to j recover, let's put a ceiling j on spending and gradually j balance the proportion of j income tax paid according j to the percentage of j income earned in each j category. |