Reply #9: I got married... [View All]

on the cusp of that period (1945-1970) in 1961. We struggled, especially the first 10 years, but given that all who owed them paid taxes in this country we did not feel like we were spinning our wheels just to survive. When we concentrate on the tax rates and advocate for a flat tax we are not looking at what is left to live on. During those years most working class people like ourselves had more to live on than many of us do now. Life wasn't idyllic or easy but then too our expectations were more in line with what we could actually do.
The flat tax then was known as sales tax and there were many exempt items, such as food and OTC medicines - even magazines for heaven's sake. The rich were only a sub-set of the entire body politic and not the dominators of the whole culture.
Now,of course, we know they were already hard at work to dismantle the very systems and institutions that helped us live a stable and forward looking life.
For most of those I have known and met who were like us money in and of itself was not the goal. What we aimed for is not to worry about our families health, education, and ability to sleep at night in a home not owned by someone else.
All of these things began to change when RR took office and unions and regulations became targets of supply-side economics. That is the legacy our children and grandchildren have to live with.