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All the Democratic presidential candidates espouse the need for increased funding for existing entitlements and are promising new entitlements. There is a reason for this.

A large proportion of their constituency enjoys the proceeds of government largess. The Democrats hone this dependency. Without this voter block the Democratic Party would collapse. Thus, they must feed the beast that keeps them relevant.

Most of the class warfare rhetoric spawned by the Democrats is based on the inequality of income. The US Census Bureau's statistics show the top 20% of households report $14.30 of income for every $1.00 at the bottom.

This figure is skewed by excluding taxes, the $750 billion in social safety net programs and the disproportionate number of people in each category. When adjusted for these factors, the top fifth of the population has $4.21 of income for every $1.00 in the bottom tier. They also contribute 33% of the labor, according to the Heritage Foundation.

The safety net includes: $522 billion in cash, food, housing, medical care, and social services such as subsidized day care, plus the $257 billion subsidizing medical care for the elderly (Medicare). The soon to be $300 billion for elderly prescriptions is also excluded from the income inequality ratios. Without new programs, by 2012, income redistribution will exceed $1 trillion.

Currently the US Treasury collects about $2.7 trillion annually and is $9 trillion in debt. Adding national healthcare and government paid college will require an additional $2 trillion annually by 2010. Increased funding for the current entitlements and education, to the level the Democrats demand, will require an additional $600 billion. To pay for these programs the government will need an additional $2.6 trillion/annually in new revenues.

The Democratic candidates have explicitly stated that the taxes required for these new entitlements will not impact the middleclass or the poor.

Perspective is important. The figures of the U.S. Treasury, Office of Tax Analysis, show that the top 20% of households, those earning above $84,000, pay 82% of the federal income taxes, and 66% of federal taxes overall. These households can include two wage earners, each making $42,000 a year.

This is the group (the top 20% of households) that the Democrats consider wealthy. The US Treasury would have to confiscate over 70% of this group's gross, earned income to fund their entitlement programs.

According to the Tax Policy Center of the Brookings Institute, state and local taxes, on average, will claim at least 24.3% of the gross personal income of families in 2007. These revenues are generated by sales and income taxes, property and excise taxes, license fees, road tolls, etc.

In summary, those households earning more than $84,000/annually would have to forfeit 85% to 90% of their gross income to local, state and federal governments to bankroll the Democratic call for shared responsibility.

This formula would destroy the nation.

Learn more about this author, David Mclinn.
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