Day: January 13, 2026

What If Billionaires Paid Taxes?

I know a fanciful idea that probably will go nowhere….as much as I dislike AI the author of this piece asked AI that very question and here is what it responded…

The tax system feels upside down sometimes. You work a regular job, and a big chunk of your paycheck goes to taxes. Meanwhile, you hear stories about billionaires paying almost nothing. So, I asked ChatGPT: What would actually happen if the ultra-wealthy paid the same tax rates as everyone else?

It turns out, at least according to ChatGPT, the current system isn’t just unfair. More than that, the country could be getting hundreds of billions of dollars every year if things changed.

ChatGPT started with some shocking numbers about current tax rates. According to research from the National Bureau of Economic Research, the top 400 wealthiest Americans paid an effective tax rate of about 23.8% between 2018 and 2020.

Meanwhile, the average American paid around 30%, and high earners who mostly rely on wages paid closer to 45%. In some years, the richest 400 families actually paid less than the bottom 50% of households.

The most extreme example ChatGPT cited was from Oxfam, which found that in 2021, the wealthiest 400 families paid just 8.2% in federal individual income tax compared to a national average of 13%.

So, the people with the most money are paying the lowest rates. ChatGPT explained this happens because of capital gains preferences, tax loopholes and sophisticated tax planning that regular people can’t access.

When I asked ChatGPT to run the numbers on what equalizing tax rates could raise, the amounts were, quite frankly, staggering.

The most conservative estimate suggested that making billionaires pay taxes at the same rate as working-class Americans could generate $500 billion to $1 trillion per year in additional revenue.

Other scenarios were even more dramatic. If the top 1% paid just 10 percentage points more in taxes, that could raise $300 billion annually or $3 trillion over 10 years.

A more aggressive approach like raising billionaire tax rates by 25 percentage points could yield $800 billion or more per year. Yes, you read that number correctly.

ChatGPT also looked at specific policy proposals. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s wealth tax could generate $113 billion annually, while Sen. Ron Wyden’s billionaire income tax might add $56 billion per year.

https://www.gobankingrates.com/taxes/tax-laws/asked-chatgpt-what-would-happen-if-billionaires-paid-taxes-at-same-rate-as-working-class

A fascinating answer…..

Personally I think that everyone should pay the same taxes regardless….since corporations are considered humans now they too should pay the same tax as we on all income.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Do ICE Agents Have Immunity?

Donny’s Goon Platoon has made of habit of killing American citizens and now it appears that they have absolute immunity for their actions.

Under normal circumstances they do not….but nothing about Donny’s tearing up our rights is nothing normal.

But there we are…..

Vice President JD Vance’s claim Thursday that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who fatally shot Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis is “protected by absolute immunity” drew immediate pushback from experts who said the legal landscape around a potential prosecution is far more complicated.

Speaking at the White House, Vance appeared to try to stymie any efforts by Minnesota prosecutors to pursue a criminal case against the agent.

“The precedent here is very simple. You have a federal law enforcement official engaging in federal law enforcement action – that’s a federal issue. That guy is protected by absolute immunity. He was doing his job,” Vance said, echoing others in the Trump administration. “I’ve never seen anything like that. It would get tossed out by a judge.”

That assessment was quickly met with skepticism by experts who said the vice president was overstating the law around immunity for federal officials. Vance’s comments come amid nationwide protests of ICE officials and criticism of the agency’s efforts to carry out a historic deportation campaign with little to no oversight.

“The idea that a federal agent has absolute immunity for crimes they commit on the job is absolutely ridiculous,” said Michael J.Z. Mannheimer, a constitutional law expert at Northern Kentucky University’s Salmon P. Chase College of Law.

Mannheimer said that more than 120 years of case law on the issue of so-called supremacy clause immunity has shown that federal officials can be criminally pursued by state prosecutors for conduct taken in the course of their official duties but that it’s up to courts to ultimately determine whether they can be shielded from the charges.

“Officers are not entitled to absolute immunity as a matter of law,” said Timothy Sini, a former federal prosecutor in New York.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/08/politics/ice-immunity-jd-vance-minneapolis

Sadly under the leadership of Donny, the Goon Platoon, does have immunity even as it flies in the face of the law….

The modern version of the Brown Shirts are set to expand their numbers so these thugs can harass citizens in the homes and further expand their ability to function without regard to the law.

These ‘officers’ are criminals more so than the people that pretend to be hunting and as such need their legs cut off…..

This is a disgusting and pathetic path that Little Donny has decided to travel and I hope it bites his left cheek off.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”