ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Why I don't care about your tax bill

Updated on May 3, 2010

The Republicans and Tea Partiers are making a lot of fuss about "re-distribution" of wealth and how their freedoms are being taken away every time they pay taxes.  We should all have the "freedom" to make as much money as we want and be able to keep it all, unencumbered by regulations or taxes. Well guess what?  I could care less what rich people pay in taxes every year, I got problems of my own.  And this is why I don't care: http://us.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2010/gulf.coast.oil.spill/?hpt=C1 Right on the heels of the Massey Energy mining accident comes a oil spill with a huge potential to ruin the lives of the little guys who work in the gulf.

British Petroleum wanted to set up an oil rig in our Gulf of Mexico to tap into the valuable oil reserves so we could have the fuel to power our cars, homes and businesses.  There was plenty of blah-blah about them being "good corporate citizens" and "we care about the environment."  So we let them drill and they made plenty of money doing it.  

Well, because of substandard materials and workmanship (thank you, Halliburton) the livelihoods of thousands, perhaps millions, of people will be affected.  Fishermen and shrimpers will be the first to feel the effects.  Marine wildlife will be killed or contaminated and the people who made their livings catching, buying, selling and serving seafood caught in the gulf will suffer.  There won't be any way to accurately and adequately compensate all who've been affected.  Sure, BP says it's going to pay for the whole cleanup, but are they going to pay everyone who's job has depended on the gulf?  Probably not.  There's just no way to estimate the damage.  And watch them raise the price of their gasoline to pay for it.

Unfortunately, the rich have been lumped in with the mega-rich and maybe it's not fair to tar them with the same brush, saying they're at fault.  However, the rich tend to side more with corporations because the rich invest in them and want to see a good return.  The rich also tend to decry regulation of any kind, be it industrial (think mining) or environmental. 

If the wealthy deserve the right to make money and not pay any more in taxes than they already are, I deserve the right to be able to actually make money.  I'm not looking to make a killing in the stock market, I just want to pay my bills and not have my livelihood destroyed by their greed.  The oil spill isn't the only example of this.  Wall Street greed led to the creation of complex and flimsy mortgage investment instruments and when that pasteboard market crumbled, so did the building industry all over the country.  A lot of really good, hardworking folks lost their jobs.  I'm really sorry the haves don't like all the regulations, but they're not very good at policing themselves and until they are, I'm going to support any soak-the-rich tax the government proposes.  It's as simple as that.  After all, someone has to pay for the unemployment, food stamps and Medicaid that will be needed because people have lost their livelihood to this oil spill.  The rich are the ones that benefit from corporate greed, it's only fair they pay for the damage they've caused.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)