If you have some wealth, you pay more than your share
In 2004 (the last year for which tax statistics are available), 50% of taxpayers paid 97% of the taxes. You were probably among those carrying that burden. If you were in the top 5% of taxpayers with an annual gross income (AGI) of around $137,000 or more, you shouldered a staggering 57% of the nation's entire tax burden. Finally, those of you in the top 1% of income -- $328,000 or more AGI -- were the true slaves to the system, ponying up 37% of the total tax.
Didn't our founding fathers bolt from England because of taxation without representation? They'd be crying in their porridge if they knew how many Americans pay to carry the load for others, how for some their vote is free while others pay so much for theirs.*
I've suggested to my friends that those who pay the most should get a speed pass at the polling place and receive a proportionate number of votes. I’m just trying to meet payroll, feed my family and do good work for my clients, I tell my friends. Usually, they disappear from the table, mumbling something about an urgent biological need. I suspose that high-minded debate comes at a cost.
In
the original 13 colonies, British subjects were irked because they paid
lots of taxes, but they had no representation in parliament. "No
taxation without representation" was a popular slogan preceding the
revolution and became a rallying cry that led first to acts of protest
(like the Boston Tea Party) and ultimately the Declaration of
Independence.
Reverend Jonathan Mayhew is credited with
coining the phrase "No Taxation Without Representation!" in 1750.
Boston politician James Otis was credited with the phrase, "taxation
without representation is tyranny."