The Cost of Tax Day
Today is Tax Day, and the National Taxpayers' Union has come out with the calculation that Americans are, in fact, spending more time and money to file their annual income tax. Yet while just about half (52 percent) of the public in a recent Gallup poll say the amount they pay is "too high," six in 10 regard the amount of income tax they have to pay this year as "fair." Just 35 percent say it's not fair. Still, Americans say about half of every tax dollar is wasted by the federal government, and majorities (70 percent) say only "some" or "not much" of their tax money goes to government programs they personally support.
Read more about where your tax money really goes in Where Does the Money Go?, by Public Agenda staffers Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, and by visiting FacingUp.org, our ongoing project on the long-term challenges facing the federal budget.
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Every Tax Day, gay Americans pay our federal taxes. Yet we are denied equal benefits such as Social Security survivor benefits, Social Security benefits for our children and inheritance benefits --just to name a very few. The federal government's refusal to acknowledge the marriages or civil partnerships of gay couples denies those couples 1,183 separate rights. Does anyone think this is fair? Gay tax dollars help the U.S. work for everyone. We deserve all of the same rights and benefits as every other citizen. I am a lesbian who has worked and paid my taxes for 35 years. I was raised to believe that everyone should be treated fairly under the law. How about it? Whether you are gay or not, I hope you will think about this issue. If you agree that "Equal Taxes, Unequal Benefits" is not fair, please speak out about it. It's an injustice that hurts millions of Americans.
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