SCHWARZWALDER: Are we all dependents now? - Washington Times
Terms such as self-reliance, rugged individualism and risk-taking are embedded in the American lexicon. We identify as a people who turned a continental wilderness into the world’s most productive nation. We claim to honor successful entrepreneurs and esteem profitable innovators.
Yet, not only are the wealthy often vilified and their firms dismissed as predatory (e.g., President Obama’s recent riffs against Bain Capital), but a quiet and rather hidden reliance on government undermines our claim to be quite as economically brave as we might wish to believe.
According to George Mason University's Mercatus Center, nearly 150 million Americans receive some form of federal assistance. Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, unemployment benefits, food stamps, various tax credits, business deductions, agriculture subsidies and many other federal payments land silently in our eager hands on a regular basis.
There is no reason why, given how burdensome and complex our tax code is, ordinary Americans should not be able to claim deductions for such things as charitable giving, raising and adopting children, or the cost of a home mortgage.
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