TO THE EDITOR:
Gwen Moritz’s commentary on “The Entitlement Mentality” was great [June 24 Editor’s Note]. Her message is perfectly on point. It is bad enough when we destroy initiative with well-meaning but poorly executed assistance to poor people, but when we engage in corporate and farm welfare, it is just that much worse.
Farmers (collectively considered an American icon) not only are the beneficiaries of direct support from taxpayers, but many often avoid any significant income taxes themselves by continuing to deduct improvements made to their operations. Then when the more valuable operation passes on to their children, the stepped-up basis, which represents a generation of income, escapes taxation permanently unless it exceeds a huge estate tax exemption. It’s a real racket.
Unfortunately, the sense of entitlement is so ingrained in our culture that most people don’t even recognize it when it is right in front of their noses. Why pay your taxes when a lawyer says he can “reduce or eliminate the amount you owe”? Or a borrower with a cash business tells his lender that he really can afford to repay the loan he is requesting even when his tax return says he can’t, the explanation being something along the lines of “I don’t tell Uncle Sam everything I make.”
The rest of us (law-abiding chumps) are left to foot the bill for the food stamps and the farmers. It is disgusting. And now the IRS has pulled some boneheaded shenanigans that undermine its credibility when its budget really should be doubled to try to catch all the cheats and reduce the deficit.
From the bottom to the top of the socioeconomic ladder, everybody feels entitled to somebody else’s money whether acquired legally or otherwise. Thanks for the opportunity to get worked up and vent!
Steve Smith
Clinton