Does LVRJ publisher Frederick want to raise taxes on half of Nevadans?

Written by Brian Frederick

Published

In his April 11 column, Las Vegas Review Journal Sherman Frederick is yet again taking his cues from Fox News and the Drudge Report, highlighting an AP article which reported that “about 47 percent [of U.S. households] will pay no federal income taxes at all for 2009.”

Frederick's reaction: “This, folks, is socialism, American-style. If not corrected, it threatens to end America as we know it.”

He also quotes a CPA friend of his who says: “Obama is getting what he wants. A Marxist state. Shame on us for letting this happen.”

Here's Frederick's conclusion:

But America wasn't created to encourage the lazy to lift their feet while the rest of us pedal.

Seems to me all Americans ought to pay something -- even a small amount -- to enjoy the freedoms of America.

However, as the AP notes in the very same article Frederick cites in his column, the vast majority of American households do pay taxes to “enjoy the freedoms of America.”

From the AP:

The vast majority of people who escape federal income taxes still pay other taxes, including federal payroll taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare, and excise taxes on gasoline, aviation, alcohol and cigarettes. Many also pay state or local taxes on sales, income and property.

And here's what the conservative Tax Foundation says about Nevada:

Nevada levies a 6.85% general sales or use tax on consumers, which is above the national median of 5.85%. In 2007 combined state and local general and selective sales tax collections were $2,402 per person, which ranks 3rd highest nationally. Nevada's gasoline tax stands at 33.1 cents per gallon, which ranks 8th highest nationally. Additionally, Nevada's counties are permitted to levy “local option” gasoline taxes. Nevada's cigarette tax stands at 80 cents per pack of twenty and ranks 33rd highest nationally.

But to Frederick, the fact that so many people don't make enough to pay federal income taxes amounts to Marxism. His solution, naturally, is that these people should pay more in taxes.

Makes sense only in Frederick's United States of Drudge.