I really get tired of hearing that high earners don’t pay their fair share of federal income taxes. Currently, the top 1 percent of taxpayers pay approximately 40 percent of all federal income taxes, according to the Tax Foundation, while the top 5 percent pay about 60 percent. I’m sure that many of the other 95 percent of American taxpayers would like to see this figure move up to 100 percent.

In this regard, 44 percent of Americans paid no federal income tax in 2019. According to most estimates, 61 percent of Americans paid no federal income tax in 2020. It’s easy to vote for this government spending policy or that when you have no skin in the game.

In the same vein, I tire of hearing how landlords take advantage of tenants. Landlords have told the Associated Press about tenants who they say failed to pay rent during the eviction moratoriums, although they were gainfully employed, bought new cars or even went on vacation.

The federal, state and local governments saddled landlords with carrying the unpaid rent without excusing them from paying their mortgages, maintenance expenses and real estate taxes. How was that fair? What did the unemployed tenants do with all their stimulus payments and bonus federal unemployment benefits of $300 to $600 per week?

If you really want to see who’s not paying their fair share, perhaps you might want to look in the mirror.

Charlie Pearson
Gorham

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