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I’m a full time student, working as a consultant on a part time basis around my school schedule. This is how I have been doing things for as long as I can remember. This year for some reason it bothers me more than ever as I gather up my information for tax season to see how high the tax rate is for someone like me. This past year I made around $14,000. I live at home so no major living expenses, but I do commute every day to school, pay for my school supplies and books as well as eat lunch out each day while at school. This year I will be paying nearly 20% of my income to taxes, because I work on a 1099 basis. One out of every five dollars I make, I will never see. My question is, how is someone in that position ever supposed to be able to sustain themself in the real world? And why am I the little guy who’s making next to nothing being hung out to dry by the government?

Teenagers and students in their early 20’s make up the base level of the work industry, we do that jobs that are boring and repetitive. We make next to nothing, work lots of hours and try to cram in social lives or free time to do what we like. How is the government taking 20% of $14k going to help anyone? Taking 20% from say Bill Gates, or 20% from a CEO, now that would help the country. From the beginning we should have had a flat tax policy. No loop holes, no excuses, no write offs, you give the government 10% of what you make no matter how much or how little. Not only would the government make more money in the end, but the little guy like myself would have a shot at actually creating a life for myself down the road. I hope that President Obama can see this and will bring change to this situation. I applaud him for his efforts on freezing and setting max pay for these Wall Street jerks, but now it’s time for the government to take back some of that money we threw away on the first bail out by taxing those that received it on a flat rate basis. Imagine, CEO gets $500k the maximum allowed at the moment, chances are since the companies are all broke right now, that came straight out of bailout funds. Now, if the government instituted a flat tax rate then $50k would be going straight back to them to start recouping what they dished out. In 10 years time, any debt incurred by the government from the stimulus package would be repaid and we would be back on track to a healthier and more equal democracy. Basically we would be giving out interest free loans over 10 year periods. Now that is democracy functioning at a higher IQ.