Get the facts on taxes, debt

Dear tea party, I have a little history lesson for you.

1. The Boston Tea Party was not about high taxes, the taxes on tea were actually lower than the smuggled tea they preferred. It was a protest against the East India Tea Company that Parliament granted a monopoly to.

2. The Founding Fathers were NOT opposed to taxation. They granted the federal government the power to tax in Article I Section 8 Clause 1. One of their first acts was a tax on whiskey, that was enforced by none other than George Washington.

3. The Founding Fathers were not opposed to debt. Alexander Hamilton felt a national debt was the best way to gain the support of other nations and build our nation’s infrastructure.

4. The average American is paying at least a 20 percent lower income tax rate in 2011 than 31 years ago.

So please have your facts straight next time you campaign in 2012. Third party factions come and go; therefore, it takes a credible movement backed by facts and a majority of voters to make change in American politics.

Thomas Kuhn

Gurnee