Common Sense: Stop the Money Merry-Go-Round

What do Bill Gates Sr., and Washington, D.C. have in common?  They both have good intentions but they're both killing us.

Bill Gates's dad for saying rich people should keep paying up -- even after they're dead.  Washington for saying everybody should pay more -- even while they're alive.  Both aren't winning this reporter over.

It's not that I don't think their hearts are in the right place.  It's just that I'm sick of paying for it.

First the estate tax -- or the death tax as it's known. Bill Gates Sr. likes it. I do not.  He says it's good because it forces the wealthy to give more after they're gone because they acquired so much while they were here.

I say it's bad, because it's sick. It's like someone reaching into your casket and rifling through your pockets to grab any loose change. And you're dead.

Problem is, it's a lot of change and you're a lot dead.  And what's more, for most folks, it's change they've already paid taxes on, when they weren't a lot dead.

Mr. Gates, who's a good fellow, still says it's a good idea, because it would do a lot of good.  Maybe it might.  But isn't that the same argument Uncle Sam has used all these years to take still more from us?

I say enough.  This money merry go-round must stop.

And I'm not the only one saying it. Scores of very rich African-Americans, including BET's Robert Johnson, are saying the same thing. They have this crazy notion of wanting to give that money to their kids and not to the government.

That doesn't make them evil or selfish.  It makes people who hint that they are, clueless.

Good government isn't bad. But demanding you pay through the nose for it is.

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