Other people’s money will run out, too

Columnist Todd Dorman's “Just who are tax avoiders” (Aug. 28) was an intellectual shell game. Dorman quoted the Tax Policy Center that 46 percent of U.S. households pay no federal income tax. True. But then he infers that “conservative politicians and pundits” call these people “tax avoiders.” Not true. The issue is not tax avoidance but the survival of this republic.

Karl Marx, author of the ‘Communist Manifesto' wrote: “Democracy is a form of government that cannot long survive, for as soon as the people learn that they have a voice in the fiscal policies of the government, they will move to vote for themselves all the money in the treasury, and bankrupt the nation.”

The issue is that 46 percent of the U.S. working-age people do not pay federal income tax but enjoy federal benefits. They will vote for politicians who favor continuing the “bread and circuses” at the expense of those who pay federal income tax.

Due to a layoff, I am one of those low-income people Dorman wants to help with other peoples' money. Thank you, no. The problem with Dorman's approach was refuted by then-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money.”

Ed Dolan

Central City