The Patriot Post® · Thou Shalt Not Covet

By Mark W. Fowler

“You shall not covet … anything belonging to your neighbor.” —Exodus 20:17 (New American Standard Bible)

In this endless election cycle, politicians of all stripes demonstrate their callousness toward the electorate and their cunning about keeping their jobs by offering to bribe voters with their own money, encouraging further violation of the most violated of the Ten Commandments. The execrable Democrat nominee is proposing a tax deduction of $50,000 for startup costs for small business and $25,000 in assistance to first-time homebuyers and a $10,000 tax deduction. The real net effect of this will be to exacerbate both demand and the cost of housing. She also proposes an expansion of the childcare tax credit. Additionally, she supports financial support for illegal immigrants, including assistance for illegal immigrants seeking transgender surgery, plus free healthcare and housing assistance.

Her generosity with other people’s money is typical of socialism and characteristic of the most liberal senator when she was in that body. The other side of this is increasing taxes on corporations, increasing the capital gains tax, and a billionaire tax for the wealthy. Every election cycle involves members of Congress complaining that the rich do not pay their fair share. But enlightened voters know, and federal politicians should know, that the power to levy taxes lies with Congress under the Constitution. If the tax code is unfair, members of Congress should grow a spine and fix it. If it needs fixing.

In reality, the tax code is progressive and always has been, and the rich pay a disproportionate amount of income taxes. According to Erica York of the Tax Foundation, data on federal income taxes in 2023 showed:

• The average income tax rate in 2020 was 13.6 percent. The top 1 percent of taxpayers paid a 25.99 percent average rate, more than eight times higher than the 3.1 percent average rate paid by the bottom half of taxpayers.
• The top 1 percent’s income share rose from 20.1 percent in 2019 to 22.2 percent in 2020 and its share of federal income taxes paid rose from 38.8 percent to 42.3 percent.
• The top 50 percent of all taxpayers paid 97.7 percent of all federal individual income taxes, while the bottom 50 percent paid the remaining 2.3 percent.

Politicians embrace a sense of virtue by railing against the rich but create a moral hazard at the same time by encouraging resentment toward them. Apart from politicians who seem to magically increase their wealth while in office (Nancy Pelosi had a return on her stock portfolio of around 65% in 2023 — excellent luck, apparently), wealthy individuals obtain their wealth by offering the public something they want, by saving their money, and by living well within their means. All virtues Americans should embrace.

Owning a home is associated with civic virtue, increased grades for children, increased civic participation, and other things, but the association is not causation. Homeowners do well generally because they exercise financial discipline, have children within wedlock, and have a sense of ownership. It is the innate character of homeowners rather than home ownership that empowers them.

A large part of the cost of housing is related to red tape, the unnatural interruption of the market by government-mandated shutdowns, and the high interest rates caused by the government’s attempt to control the inflation it created. Solving these problems will go much further toward housing market equilibrium than the injection of more free money. Capable, functional individuals should be self-reliant. Reliance on government and government’s attempt to practice benevolence seldom produce the desired results.

Here is a thought. Maybe the nation would be better off if politicians stopped pitting us against each other, stopped bribing us with our own money, and stopped printing money recklessly. Housing contractors want to sell houses, and would-be homeowners want to buy houses. If left alone, they would find a way to a mutually satisfactory arrangement. This would be more effective than government meddling in solving the problem.