We all know the familiar feeling of frustration and disappointment when we
compare the year-to-date amount to the current on our paychecks. I know personally, it
feels like money that I have earned is being taken from me. But I understand the importance of payroll taxes and what they’re being used
for. It’s a basic aspect of being a citizen of a country with any taxes at all.

That difference between the YTD amount and the amount I’ll actually receive
still stings every time I read it, though. That natural emotion is exactly what
conservative members of the GOP use to their advantage when painting a dramatic
picture of attacks on America’s wealthy.

In the upcoming months, our TVs are going to be flooded with classist
rhetoric regarding income tax. In a recent advertisement by Gov. Scott Walker, the
governor claims that he’s kept his promises by holding the line on property taxes
and balancing the budget without raising taxes, coupled with his mission to reduce
the “tax burden,” as stated on his website.

The validity of his statements aside, Walker paints a picture of a worker
finally being able to keep the money he earns, ignoring the fact that property taxes
and other “tax burdens” contribute directly towards public schools that taxpayer’s
children attend, roads that taxpayers drive on and the salaries of public employees
that attend to taxpayer’s need. The advertisement also makes it appear as if public
employees were not paying towards their pensions and healthcare to begin with.

The root of the issue behind his anti-taxation rhetoric pits the wealthy
against the poor. The GOP has been portraying the nation’s underclass as a lazy
group of welfare-dependent people who too long have been living richly at the hard-working American’s expense.

The reality of the situation is far from that claim. My experiences living in
Chicago are a perfect example of the dichotomy between the rich and poor in the
United States. Taking the red line from the north side of the city all the way to the
south side is like a trip down America’s income bracket. The “bougie” north side
neighborhoods like Lakeview and Lincoln Park are gleaming with clean streets and
top-rated schools like Hawthorne Elementary Scholastic Academy, a rare Chicago
Public School with a 10 out of 10 GreatSchools rating.

Conversely, the
neighborhoods of the south side can only boast high crime ratings and schools like
Chicago Vocational, where only 6 percent of the school met the 11th grade PSAE reading
standard, as reported by schooldigger.com.

Economically, the difference between the north and the south side is
breathtakingly drastic. While you can shop for matching cashmere sweaters for your
baby and dog and buy them both organic food on the same block in Lincoln Park,
the south side has been deemed an “urban food desert” by experts due of the lack of
basic produce availability in the area, as reported by Time. Despite the fact that stepping off of the red line on the south side is like
stepping into a third world country, the GOP continues to paint the poor as unsightly
members of society that lack the entrepreneurship and motivation the rich possess.

On his site, Walker characterizes tax cuts as a
method to promote entrepreneurship and restore Wisconsin’s competitiveness.
While this may be valid in his vacuum devoid of the 15 percent of Americans who lived
in poverty in 2011, as reported by Yahoo!, it is hardly fair to say achieving the American Dream is equally difficult
for those living in poverty and those born into American’s wealthy.

The old “pick
yourself up by your bootstraps” logic glosses over the immense hole the poor
have to dig themselves out of just to get a decent education, let alone escape the
paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle.
The U.S. has an income inequality gap larger than that of Bangladesh, Ethiopia
and Nigeria, which are all third-world countries, according to the Central Intelligence Agency.

For the 15 percent who lived in poverty in 2011, every dollar is worth infinitely more to them than to someone in the top income bracket.
My frustration with my YTD account is put into perspective when I can afford to
spend $3 on coffee when 17.7 percent of Madison is living in poverty, as reported by the Cap Times.

You might call me
a filthy commie because of how I justify that, but I find true patriotism to mean
bringing the whole country to a basic level of economic decency, not earning as
much as you can and screwing the rest.
The GOP has based its tax policy on the notion that the rich deserve their
wealth and all that entails. As if the poor somehow do not.

Meher Ahmad ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in International Studies and Middle Eastern Studies.