Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 10-26-20

Editorial/Columns
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Voting Matters
PART 1 OF II
f you are thinking about
not voting in the Novem- ber elections, that could very well be the biggest mistake you’ll ever make in your life- time. In fact, the best thing that we should do to honor the lives of John Lewis, Bre- anna Taylor, George Floyd and other Black men and women who have lost their lives to needless fatal conflicts with law enforcement officers is VOTE.
Voting is also the best thing we can do for those men and women who died for the right to vote. Make sure you vote early before November 3rd.
Don’t wait until the last minute to go vote.
It is necessary to vote for candidates who understand and support the struggle of Blacks in America. Our votes have always mattered, espe- cially in the election of presi- dents such as Harry Truman, John Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
Moreover, State Constitu- tional Amendments, state leg- islators, county commissioners and school board member elections are on the ballot as well. These elections are just as important as the presiden- tial elections, if not moreso.
There have been elections that have been won by one vote. Thomas Jefferson won in 1800 by one vote in the House of Representatives; Nevada’s 2002 and 2011 Council elections were won by one vote and the 1910 election for New York’s 36th Congres- sional District House of Repre- sentative to name a few. Thus, your one vote CAN make a dif- ference.
In the 1974 election for the Mayor of Tampa, Civil Rights leader and the first African American to run for the Mayor of Tampa, Alton M. White, could have been elected mayor if every registered Black voter had voted.
There were more regis- tered Black voters in the City of Tampa at that time than the total number of votes cast in that election. His opponent William “Bill” Poe, hired White as his Executive Assis- tant, who ended up spearhead- ing the redevelopment of the Ybor City area and upward mobility for Blacks in Tampa.
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C. Blythe Andrews 1901-1977 (1945)
C. Blythe Andrews, Jr. 1930-2010 (1977)
America Needs A Fair Tax System
We know there are millions of moderate and medium-income Americans who wish they only had to pay $750 in federal income tax. Indeed, the com- plexity of the American tax system seems to favor the rich.
Try as we may, we will never be able to take the tax de- ductions that the Fortune 500 and rich people are privy
to.
At least 60 companies making a profit of over $1 billion
to $777 million without paying a dime in income tax in 2018 is hard to accept, especially if you had to pay federal taxes.
Knowing that millionaire Donald Trump paid no fed- eral income tax for 15 years and only $750 last year, makes a pretty good case for a flat tax rate for everyone.
With a flat tax rate applicable to both corporate and in- dividual taxpayers, the tax rate would be equitably pro- portionate for everyone. A 10-20 percent flat rate should generate enough income to fund our federal budget.
Some of the deductions that are currently allowed to corporations should be revised. Deductions for executive stock options, that “companies consistently take are far more stock options for tax purposes than recorded as a ‘book’ expense.”
In 2018, the sixty companies reported that “their fed- eral tax rates amounted to effectively zero on 79 billion pretax income earned in U. S. operations.” Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reduced the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, a 14% tax cut: you can bet your bottom dollar your tax rate wasn’t cut 14%.
Moreover, each time corporate taxes are cut, expenses for social services are cut, too. In 2017, some cuts were made for education, food stamps, healthcare, welfare and subsidies for student loans.
In actuality, the richest 1% of taxpayers will get an av- erage tax cut of $50,000 according to the Americans for Tax Fairness.
In essence, “that’s” over 75 times more than the tax cut for the bottom 80% of taxpayers, which will average $645. “Blacks and Latinos again benefit from tax cuts the least.”
It is time for a fair and equitable tax system in America. Only when taxpayers insist that our Congressional repre- sentatives adopt and implement a fairer system will any- thing change. If not, then we need to change our Congressional leaders.
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