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Published: June 19, 2009 3:00 a.m.

Letter (Web version): Car trade-in program unfair to taxpayers

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OK, when is enough, enough? So many unprecedented bills, orders and policies have been rammed through our federal government over the past year that it is really getting difficult to remember all the things that We the People should be mad at. I have decided to pick a topic as the straw that should be breaking the taxpayers back – today.

Our federal government is attempting to help finance your purchase of a new car. That’s right, the United States of America is going to issue vouchers for up to $4,500 for the purchase of a fuel-efficient vehicle when you turn in your old “gas guzzler.” Sounds great, right? You get free money, a new car, and you will save money on gas.

Wrong. And here is why.

Where will the $4,500 vouchers come from? Answer, the American taxpayer. That’s fair because we are all American taxpayers, right? Wrong again.

The top 50 percent of wage earners pay approximately 97 percent of all federal income taxes. What does that mean? It basically means that half of the population is being forced to help buy cars for the rest of the population. And the kicker – that same half of the population was forced to finance the car manufacturers to begin with via the government bailouts. Fair? Hardly.

The bad news is that, unfortunately, this policy will pass through government as easily as the dozens of other unethical, unconstitutional and completely inequitable policies that have slipped right past the citizens recently.

When half of the population are beneficiaries of such unbalanced and irresponsible policies, how and when will it end? When the other half has nothing left to “give,” which at this pace will happen sooner than we think.

My advice? I would get the extended warranty with that new car. You might be driving it for a long time.

AARON KNIGHT Monroeville