I attended a town hall meeting last night in Beaumont Texas.  The event was sponsored by the same folks who sponsored the, so-called, tax opposition tea parties in this area. While the event was billed as “non-partisan,” the featured speaker was U.S. House Rep., Republican Ted Poe.  

On a positive note, I didn’t see any Obama placards with Hitler moustaches painted on them.  And, the crowd (200 or so people) was fairly well behaved.  However, Rep. Poe, an opponent of health care reform, and by the way a staunch Bush/Iraq war supporter, did nothing to clarify or dispel any of the crazy rumors floating around about the subject at hand.  

Early on in the presentation, the main speaker, leader of the tea party people, said that one thing he’d like everyone to agree on is that health care is a privilege not a right.  This assertion was greeted with resounding applause.  More that all the other rhetoric this “assumption” disturbed me the most.   

I often listen to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity on conservative talk radio and the health care, privilege vs. right  theme is a frequent topic.  People can start health savings accounts, they say. Many of the uninsured simply choose not to buy health insurance, they say.  Why should we (read responsible Americans) subsidize those who are simply irresponsible, they ask.  And, they assert, that health care is something that one must earn through hard work.  That health care is a luxury and is owed to no one.  That our parents and grandparents came to this country and no one offered them anything free.  The poor, they say, don’t even pay taxes; they don’t deserve tax dollars going to support their health care. 

To this, I say...Whoa, whoa, whoa, not so fast.  The poor, especially the working poor, do pay taxes.  In fact, because most taxes are not based on income the poor pay a far greater percentage of their income in taxes than either the rich or the middle-class. Some of them are paid indirectly through property owners and others but the poor pay them nonetheless. 

Here is a sampling of taxes paid by “all” Americans: 

From www.goodcitizen.org 

Accounts Receivable Tax

          Passed on from businesses 

Building Permit Tax 

         Passed on from landlords

CDL license Tax

          Passed on from suppliers

Cigarette Tax

Corporate Income Tax 

         Passed on from corporations

Court Fines (indirect taxes)

Dog License Tax

Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)

Fishing License Tax

Food License Tax

          Passed on from suppliers

Fuel permit tax

          Passed on from suppliers

Gasoline Tax (42 cents per gallon)

Hunting License Tax

Inventory tax

           Passed on from suppliers

IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)

IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)

Liquor TaxLocal Income Tax

          Generally more likely paid than Fed income tax

Luxury Taxes

Marriage License Tax

Medicare Tax

Property Tax

          Passed on from landlords

Septic Permit Tax

          Passed on from landlords

Service Charge Taxes

Social Security Tax

Road Usage Taxes (Truckers)

          Passed on from suppliers

Sales Taxes

Road Toll Booth Taxes

School Tax

State Income Tax

          Generally more likely paid than Fed income tax

State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)

Telephone federal excise tax

Telephone federal universal service fee tax

Telephone federal, state and local surcharge taxes

Telephone minimum usage surcharge tax

Telephone recurring and non-recurring charges tax

Telephone state and local tax

Telephone usage charge tax

Toll Bridge Taxes

Toll Tunnel Taxes

Traffic Fines (indirect taxation)  

Trailer registration tax

Utility Taxes

Various state, local and federal excise taxes

Vehicle License Registration Tax

Vehicle Sales Tax

Well Permit Tax

Workers Compensation Tax

 Additionally, most of our nation’s doctors, nurses, and other health care providers get their education through state supported colleges and universities. 

 These same health care providers, medical clinics, hospitals and the like receive the protection and support of police and fire departments, city and county road maintenance and construction departments, water and sewage districts, state National Guard units and a sundry of other services without which they could not operate. All these services funded in large part through local taxes. 

And, as far as having earned health care goes, consider:

Much of our food is harvested and prepared by the poor.  Our trash and recycling is hauled off by the poor.  The poor get our messes cleaned up and our hotel sheets changed and our cars washed. They get our coal out of the ground and our litter off the roads.  They work the most menial, physically demanding, mind numbing, dreary, body wracking, dirtiest, nastiest jobs in our society.  And, if they pay little or no Federal income tax on these wages, it is only because the wages for such grueling work are so low that they don’t raise the recipient above the poverty level. 

Not to mention that our military, which defends our liberty with their lives, is populated, especially in the lower ranks, by patriots, many of whom are poor. 

And when it’s all said and done, and we have used them for our own devices until we can use them no longer, we still ask the poor for one more thing: to dig a hole and bury us in the ground. 

I’m sorry but in my humble opinion the poor have earned at least the basic human right (yes, I said human “right”) of affordable health care.