(NNPA) - I'm reminded of Emperor Nero playing the violin as Rome burns to the ground. Our elected officials continue to write pork barrel projects and take our deficit into territory that threatens our very future. We are in debt by $13 trillion dollars and virtually ignore that. By printing more paper dollars we increase our reliance on our number one debt holder – China. Greece has fallen with Argentina, Portugal, Ireland and Spain getting ready to drop in like fashion. The bailouts are coming from the International Monetary Fund, IMF, which gets 17 percent of its funding from the American taxpayer. My brothers and sisters, we are on the verge of the greatest depression in the history of the world and our politicians are spending money we don't have.
The only way out of this mess is to seriously control our spending and lower the current budgets. But, oh, the wolves are of another mind. I believe what they are going to try and do is use that age old oppressive system used when kings and pharaohs would get into financial trouble.
They are going to tax us in a hellish fashion. There is even talk about emulating the evil European tax system. That is the Value-Added Tax commonly known as the VAT. It is the VAT that causes Europeans to pay $8 for a gallon of gasoline; $20 dollar hamburgers; $600 for a hotel night. The VAT in the United States would change our entire civilization and create poverty and government abuse like never before.
The VAT is a scheme of many tax levels. For every transaction there will be a VAT assessed. In England, the VAT is 20 percent of each transaction. Here is how it works. Arabs drill oil from the ground and sell it to British Petroleum. Zap goes a 20 percent tax. BP takes the oil home and runs it through a refinery. Zap goes another 20%. BP sells it to a major distributor and zap goes another 20 percent. That major distributor sells it to a minor distributor and another 20 percent is added on. The minor distributor sells it to your gas station and zap goes another 20 percent.
Eventually there you are pumping gasoline into your car. That oil which originally cost about $1 a gallon as raw oil is now hitting you for $8 dollars.
If there is a VAT most of you have probably already bought your last car. Let's say Ford now has a car they manufacture and sell to dealers for about $25,000. With the VAT in place the taxation of all the parts assembled to that one car would take it up to approximately $40,000. When the dealer buys it the VAT would take it up to $48,000. When you select the car from the dealer the final VAT will take the cost up to $57,600. That will take a family car to areas reserved for the rich and powerful only. The population of the rich and famous is going to shrink in this nation. We will quickly be going to European standards – very old money wealth for a few and massive socialistic nanny state kept population of the masses.
May God save us from the plight of Europe and other socialistic societies. Remember, millions of Europeans fled that system to come and enjoy our form of capitalism.
Why on earth would our politicians try to emulate something that doesn't work? The answer to that question is really rather simple. They want absolute power. Absolute power reserves the wealth for them and makes us indebted to them and destined to a future of servitude. This is a power grab, a supreme power grab and America's democracy is threatened.
It is time for us to make it very clear to those who want to control us and reduce our nation into servitude, we will fight and rebel via a super flushing at the election polls this fall. If they can't reduce taxes between now and November, then it becomes the responsibility of the voters to fire them all. That's right – don't fight to keep them from raising taxes, demand they actually lower them! They have gone too far already.
Imagine a nation with no income taxes and no corporate taxes. The citizens would have serious money to purchase, invest and save. Corporations would have no taxes to pass on to the consumers. The cost of living would significantly drop. This ideal nation would simply have a national sales tax on the end users of all products. The more you have; the more you spend and the greater the tax coffers will be to fund the nation. You may say I am dreaming. But if any great people can save this world, it will be those living in America. Watch out when they start talking about the VAT. Your future will be at stake.
Alford is the co-founder, president/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce®. Website: www.nationalbcc.org. Email: halford@nationalbcc.org.
