As the liberal left continues its class warfare campaign, two of its biggest charges are that conservatives and Republicans are in the pocket of Wall Street and that the “rich” don’t pay their fair share of taxes.

A look at some real numbers should offer a reality check. Opensecrets.com reports that of the top 15 donors to politicians from 1989-2010, 12 were predominantly Democrat contributors. Unions, who do not support Republicans as a rule, made up nine of these top contributors. A whopping 83 percent of the money from these top 15 went to Democrats. So let’s follow the money to the correct (not the right) pocket.

As for “fair share” and taxes, the National Taxpayers Union’s website reports that the top 1 percent of earners (who earn 19 percent of the income) paid 38.2 percent of the taxes in 2008 up from 37.4 percent in 2000.

The top 10 percent of earners paid 70 percent, and the top 25 percent paid 86.6 percent in 2008 compared to 67.3 percent and 84 percent in 2000. Meanwhile, the tax contribution of the bottom 50 percent decreased in 2008 to 2.7 percent from 3.9 percent in 2000, during a Republican administration, I might add.

Remember, Bush’s “tax cuts for the rich”? Many Americans pay no income tax at all, is that fair?

The reality is that America doesn’t have a taxing problem, it has a spending problem.

Greg Theriault

Skowhegan

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