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In the 1750s the American colonies felt the need to defend themselves from the encroachments of the alliance of French and native Americans. One of the founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, recognized the need for all to help pay for the cost to defend the colony of Pennsylvania. The oligarchs of their day, the Penns (the family who were the largest land owners), were in agreement that Pennsylvania should be defended but they didn’t want to have to pay for that defense. Franklin was appointed by the colony’s assembly to travel to England and make his case through a complex two-year legal process that eventually resulted in an order for the Penns to pay their fare share of taxes to support the general welfare of Pennsylvania.
Fast-forward to today: Our country finds itself in a similar situation. Rich oligarchs, such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, the Walton family, and Michael Bloomberg pay little income taxes. Companies such as Tesla, Citigroup, Disney, and CVS also pay little to no taxes on billions of dollars of profits. Collectively and individually they wield tremendous economic power and financial influence over politicians. I believe the moment has come, like in Franklin’s time, to require the oligarchs to pay their fair share of taxes to support the general welfare of our country.
America is celebrating our 250th birthday and yet we find ourselves in the same situation that the people of Franklin’s time had to deal with. As we move through the next few months, think about who to vote for. Do you support candidates who are being readily influenced by oligarchs and large corporations? Or will you cast a vote for those who refuse to be influenced by the rich and instead be willing to take on the oligarchs like Franklin did to make them pay their fair share of running our country?
Rick Saucier
Etna