What if Americans had to confront the tax issue in their daily lives instead of basically once a year?  Yeah, we see it in our paychecks occasionally and bitch.  However, most of us don’t comprehend the impact of taxes on a regular basis.  We especially don’t understand how the tiered progressive system works that we live under.  Personally, I have direct deposit and unless I go look at the paperwork, I just see the final tally. 

Imagine going to the grocery store, or any store for that matter, and having to confront this each time.  Let’s put a plan similar to Obama’s in to play on the usage side, and let’s call it the Barack Usage-Side Tax Equalized Disbursement Plan (BUSTED) Plan. 

In this new BUSTED world, each American would be issued a passport-like document that has his/her family’s Adjusted Gross Income Total After Tax Equalizer, or AGITATE, number.  The AGITATE number would be a multiplier that would take into account a family’s income, number of children, college tuition (if applicable), child care credit (if applicable), mortgage interest credit, a savings credit if they make savings deposits, and credit for purchasing a “clean car” if they did so in the previous year.  That number would be a multiplier any where from -1 to +5.  That multiplier changes throughout the year as the credits are used up.

So, say Joe and Jane Six-Pack head to the local Wal-Mart to make their weekly purchases in January.  They have two kids, one in college, a mortgage, and they make about $60,000 together.  Their multipler is 1.15.  After picking up all their groceries, they head to the line.  Their purchases ring up to $75 total.  Now, the Wal-Mart associate applies their multiplier, and they have to pay $86.25 on top of any local and state taxes. 

Behind them in line is Blaine and Buffy Carrington.  They have no kids, a big mortgage, and they make $225,000 together in their business (which employs five people by the way).  Luckily, they bought a brand new Free-us, which lowers their multiplier slightly to 2.25.  They have to pay $168.75 for the EXACT same groceries.  They have to pay more so they can help level the playing field and subsidize a family like Lee and Lila Lester, who are right behind them in line.

Lee and Lila have three kids, two of which are in day care.  They both earn minimum wage, which brings their income to about $27,000.  They rent so they have no mortgage, and they manage to save a little bit each month.  Their multiplier is -0.75 — yes NEGATIVE 0.75.  After the clerk rings up the EXACT same $75 worth of groceries, she hands them $56.25 out of her till. (To be fair, later in the year, after all their credits are used up, they will just get the groceries for free instead of getting money back.)

How would you feel if you were confronted with this on a WEEKLY basis?  You’d look at the BUSTED plan a lot differently, wouldn’t you?  You’d compare your AGITATE number against the next person.  You’d see some people paying a huge amount of money while others are GETTING PAID.  And if you have that lower AGITATE number, there’s little motivation to move up and out of that situation.  And if you have a higher AGITATE number, you’d have more motivation to make it smaller than bigger, especially when you see the extra is just being GIVEN to the next person in line.

Let’s look at next year’s numbers.  The Six-Packs have no significant changes, so their AGITATE number stays at 1.15.  The Carringtons’ business is doing very well, and they now make about $275,000.  However, they lost their car credit this year, and since business is up, they moved into the higher AGITATE bracket, which tacks on 0.5 extra no matter what the number.  Their AGITATE number moves to 3.45, which makes their $275,000 income look like a lot less.  In order to make up the slack, they either have to slow down business or lay off one of their employees.  The Lesters welcomed another bundle of joy last year.  They now have four children.  One did move to school, so they still only have two in day care.  Their number moves to -0.8, which means they will be paid more by the cashier.

THAT’S REALLY HOW IT WORKS!  We just don’t see it because it happens once a year.  Obama’s tax cuts are actually WELFARE payments, just like the Lee and Lila scenario above.  And the Carringtons could be this guy who confronted Obama about his tax plan.

Don’t think so?  Think again.  We’re all going to be BUSTED under Obama’s plan.