Sam Gibbons: “let us have a reality check. How can we have a debate about tax cuts without discussing who pays the taxes? That is…”

“let us have a reality check. How can we have a debate about tax cuts without discussing who pays the taxes? That is right, who pays the taxes? Now, many people might find this quite odd; bizarre, in fact, in circumstances in today's politics, but I think most people would have to agree with me that one side never, ever talks about who pays the taxes. In fact, in all my years of politics, I have yet to hear a Democrat talk about who pays the taxes. Just this week, I have heard perhaps 100 speeches by Democrats attacking the Republican tax relief package and have not heard a single Democrat discuss the question of who pays the taxes? This goes without saying, of course. None of the networks ever do a story on who pays the taxes. For example, I wonder how many Americans are aware of the fact that the top 50 percent of income earners pay 96 percent of the Federal income taxes. That is right. The bottom 50 percent pay only 4 percent of the load. Now, just think about that for a second. I ask, why do my Democrat colleague refuse to discuss the question of who pays the taxes.”