"An Open Letter to the Tea Party and American Conservatives
Imagine, if you will, a country where there is:
No Obamacare
No Obama
The Fair Tax is the law of the land
The Income Tax code is simple and the forms are easy to fill out
The IRS is as toothless as a plate of Jello
There is a complete Laissez Faire free market
No Labor Unions
No Government involvement in Business, Health Care, Labor matters or pretty much anything else except national security.
Do you like what you see? If you do, then maybe you should leave the Socialist USA and head to the Tea Party Heaven – Communist China.
No Obamacare
Yep – no Government mandated or sponsored health insurance here in China. In fact, the health insurance industry itself is pretty useless. In China, when you need health care you go to the hospital. A doctor checks you out, gives you a list of medicines, supplies and procedures you will need and you take that list to the hospital cashier. There you simply hand over cash – to pre-pay for all your medical expense. No such thing as an “assignment of Benefits” here. You pay for it all – up front. You then take the receipt back to the doctor who then actually treats you. If you admitted to the hospital you repeat this process the next day, and every day until you are discharged. If you don’t have the cash, you don’t get health care – it’s that simple. If you die, you die. Your next of kin will have to pay your medical bills if they want your body though.
No Obama
He’s not President here.
The Fair Tax is the law of the land
The Chinese Government’s principal source of revenue is the Value Added Tax – or the “Fair Tax” as it is called in the USA. It is a National Sales Tax that is added to the price of goods as they are manufactured.. You don’t see it, you don’t even see it – it is part of the retail price you pay. After all, we only protest about taxes we see – Income Taxes, Property Taxes, Retail Sales Taxes, Payroll Taxes. If it’s simply a part of the price of what we are buying we don’t see it – but we pay it anyway.
The Income Tax code is simple and the forms are easy to fill out
The Chinese income tax is so simple there ARE no forms to fill out. Wages are paid monthly and taxes are assessed on your monthly wages and are withheld by your employer. No deductions, no credits, no exclusions, no carry-forwards, no recordkeeping. No forms to fill out – ever.
The IRS is as toothless as a plate of Jello
I asked a Chinese CPA about the tax costs of operating a business in China. He asked me how much tax I wanted to pay. I answered “none”. He said “OK, done.” I asked if the government ever audited a company’s books to see if they are paying the correct amount of tax. He asked me “what’s an audit?”
There is a complete Laissez Faire free market
No price controls here. Very few laws regulate business or the market.
No Labor Unions
You read right – in the Worker’s Socialist Paradise there are no labor unions, because Chinese workers never had it so good. They have a minimum wage law, but no Workers Compensation Laws, no Unemployment tax or Unemployment benefits. There is a Social Security tax but (see the toothless IRS section) contributing to it is voluntary and unenforced, so it is seldom done.
No Government involvement in Business, Health Care, Labor matters or pretty much anything else except national security.
These stories you heard about how the Government runs every facet of your life in China are pure fiction. The government has little to do with people’s everyday lives, and there is only interaction with the government during some extraordinary event, like a birth, death, marriage, move from one place to another, or ask for some government benefit like a passport – but that is no different than the USA, isn’t it? As far as labor matters are concerned, once again, the government doesn’t get involved. What you and your employer agree to is fine. If the boss decides not to pay you one month, your options are quit, sue him (and lose your job) or suck it up and hope you get paid next month. No Department of labor to run to like in the USA.
So, my Conservative, Libertarian and Tea Bag friends – the next time you want to complain about the Socialism of the USA just remember – you are free to leave and you will find Communist China much more to your philosophical liking."
--From some blog, re-posted at Fark.com.
Discuss dispassionately....
Dave
