Flat Tax vs Progressive Tax

In class we have recently studied taxes and the many different types of taxes. The United States has a progressive tax, meaning that people that earn more money pay more taxes than those who have a lower income. This raises the question of why the United States doesn’t have a flat tax, in which all people would be taxed the same percentage, regardless of income. Personally I think that both have their own benefits as well as flaws.

                Progressive taxes can be beneficial especially for lower income families because those families don’t have to pay as much money for taxes. However, for the rich people, many feel it is unfair that they are taxed so much higher. I think that it’s correct to not tax low income families or people experiencing poverty. However, you cannot punish the families with a higher income because often those people have worked hard to put themselves in their current position.

                Flat taxes are beneficial because it is equal for everyone, regardless of income. However, this could be negative for low income families due to the fact that a certain percentage of the little money they have will be taken away for taxes. I do feel it is overall the fairest way to tax people, because you aren’t punishing anyone for the amount of money they make. Overall I think a flat tax rate would be easier to manage and more fair to everyone. If you set a certain tax rate, although everyone is using the same rate, the higher income families are still going to pay much more money for taxes than the lower income families. I also agree with the statement from the first article that stated that it would be much easier for people to figure out what their annual taxes will be with a flat tax. Flat taxes would make everything much simpler and be more fair to everyone.

                I don’t think that progressive taxes are entirely bad. In some ways, I think that maybe the rich or high-income families should be taxed more. Not all rich people had to work and spend money for college to become rich and I think that in cases like that, they should be taxed more. However, overall I think that a flat tax would be the simple and fair way to go.

The holocaust and Nanking

We recently read articles about Dr. Josef Mengele, Germany, and the Holocaust, as well as articles about Dr. Shiro Ishii, Japan, and the Rape of Nanking. The massive atrocities and killings of people were both some of the worst to ever occur in world history. Although methods used by Japan and Germany as well as the various doctors were different, each had their own horrific ways.

Dr. Josef Mengele and his works were very gruesome and included the killing of many innocent people, including a very large number of children and twins. Germany as a whole targeted European Jews and also Gypsies and murdered and estimated 6 million people total. The methods used to kill these people varied from gas chambers, deprivation of food or water, dissections, and many other torturous methods that were very gruesome. The holocaust is one of the most tragic events to occur in world history, and should not be overlooked or forgotten due to the inhumanity of the event.

Dr. Shiro Ishii and Japan also performed very gruesome operations and killings on people that were perhaps even worse than what the Nazis did to Germany. The operations that Ishii performed were so horrific that they were beyond imaginable. His operations included dissecting people while they were alive, cutting people open and removing their organs while they were alive and not under pain killers, and basically torturing innocent Chinese people. Not only did the Japanese kill innocent men and children, but they also raped anywhere from 20-80 thousand women. Japanese soldiers forced Chinese women and children to become prostitutes and in some situations even forced family members to rape each other.

Germans that performed these horrific acts and were captured afterwards were put on trial, however, many of the Japanese were allowed to continue their lives after the war was over. This was because the Americans felt that if they did not act quickly, the research would end up in the wrong hands with the Soviets. Therefore, the Japanese were basically free. The Germans on the other hand were put on trial and many were convicted of crimes and put in prison for life and some were sentenced to death.

Personally I think that what the Japanese did was more gruesome and horrific than the Germans. With that said, however, what the Germans did was by no means right, and was still very horrible. I don’t think that the Japanese should’ve been set free without trials after the war for any reason. Overall both of these events were very tragic and massive killings of innocent lives that will go down as some of the most gruesome genocides in world history.