BY RUSSELL TURNER
MY PIECE OF THE PIE
It never ceases to amaze me when I hear all of the complaining about politics. Many people will jump on the bandwagon when someone starts ripping some politician a new bodily orifice. With all of the complaining a person would think that things would surely change the next election cycle, but very seldom does it happen. All a person has to do is to watch the elections and see how many incumbents are actually tossed out of office. From personal experience I have found that the ones tossed out are usually trying to obey the law and to apply it equally to all citizens. Many people like to gripe about all of the corruption in government and demand changes to be made as long as their piece of the pie is left alone.
Too many decisions in all levels of government are made for political purposes instead of what is lawful and just. Our problem in government stems from elected officials who sacrifice their beliefs and convictions in order to get a majority in the next election. Many politicians, after being elected, like the prestige and power of holding office. I have found an old saying to be very true when it comes to holding public office, “Doing what is right is difficult and seldom appreciated”. I have observed self-serving corrupt politicians attend various meeting and the people attending will immediately start patting them on the back and kissing up; usually they are hoping to get some special favor. On the other hand, the elected official that adheres to the letter of the law is not so popular because he won’t provide the special favors. Sadly this kind of behavior has been going on since man created governments. If it had not been for the individuals who could see the bigger picture our society would have already collapsed.
Recently I read about the mismanagement of the earned income tax credit program {EITC}. The IRS itself admits that roughly one-quarter of EITC payments were issued improperly in fiscal year 2013. The dollar value of these improper payments was estimated to be between $13.3 billion and $15.6 billion. According to J. Russell George, Treasury inspector general for tax administration, "The IRS can and must do more to protect taxpayer dollars from waste, fraud and abuse".
I can bet you if one-quarter of the taxpayers refused to pay their taxes the government class would move heaven and earth to collect it, but for some reason little is done to retrieve the money that was wrongly paid out. Maybe our elected officials are afraid of the liberal press or the people getting a piece of the pie that we taxpayers paid for. For all of the people running for office, they need to do the right thing even if it causes them to be a one-term office holder.
Comments
Post a Comment