Tag: Tax Policies

Unequal Taxation And Revolution

Most of my regulars know that I have this knack of spreading history every chance I get……and since yesterday was Bastille Day I thought I would look at the French Revolution as it might pertain to today’s America.

Deep inequalities in taxation played a key role in fueling the French Revolution, according to a new study published by the ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin (RFBerlin). For the first time, economists have substantiated this with figures. In areas where salt taxes and internal customs duties were particularly high, there were twice as many revolts as in low-tax districts between 1750 and 1789.

“Discontent was also reflected in the ‘petitions’ (Cahiers de doléances) submitted to the king by representatives of the commoners in early 1789. Regions facing higher taxes recorded 72% more complaints about taxes and customs duties in their petitions to the king,” says Marco Tabellini, research fellow at RFBerlin, assistant professor at Harvard Business School and co-author of the study.

The taxes varied dramatically across France. In low-tax districts, households paid 2.5% of their annual income on salt. In high-tax districts, the figure reached 13%.

“This long-standing resentment coincided in 1788 with a particularly dry summer, followed by an exceptionally cold winter, causing bread prices to soar and triggering a wave of hunger riots,” adds Tabellini.

The king, however, wanted to raise taxes in early 1789 because his military support for the Americans in their War of Independence against the British, as well as his lavish spending at the court at Versailles, had ruined the country. France had accumulated substantial debt by 1789, but the king was unwilling to declare bankruptcy.

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-unequal-taxation-fuel-french-revolution.html

I inject this into the reasons why we have a mini electoral revolution taking place here in the US…..taxation is unequal….the working peasants pay their taxes and the wealthy get a free ride…..and as usual the excuse for this inequality is that the wealthy create the jobs…..but they argument falls dead when employment numbers are looking rather dismal.

The masses are looking for people that will act not promise and so far the Dems have done nothing but promise and their actions have been limp and uninspired and not just recently but rather for decades.

The voter always looks for candidates that will improve their economic conditions and after decades of promise neither party has stepped up to do what was promised.

That brings us to today and the popularity of the DSA in elections….the voter has finally decided that since neither party is capable of improving the equality of the people then it is time to look elsewhere…..

We keep hearing the same tired argument from centrist Democrats and Republicans: if we tax the rich, we will lose a valuable source of revenue by displacing them to another state. While research suggests otherwise, Democratic Socialists and the vast majority of Americans who support taxing the rich need not get bogged down rebutting a counterfactual. Instead, we ought to argue that taxing the rich is a core American value because it protects and expands democracy. Taxing the rich is a critical tool that needs to be deployed in earnest at this time of democratic backsliding. As our democracy — the oldest in the world — teeters, the threat to domestic and global stability is of far greater consequence than unfounded parochial concerns deployed to maintain the status quo.

https://democraticleft.dsausa.org/2026/06/08/taxing-the-rich-means-taking-their-power/

Will this trend keep flowing and will we see new blood in the Congress and maybe some new ideas?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

NYC Does It Again

I recently wrote about a policy that the new mayor of NYC will pursue…..city owned grocery store….personally I think it is a great idea and more cities should be so concerned.

The mayor has yet another plan for the city….this time it will help city employees with child care….

Tucked in New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s sprawling universal childcare plan is a little-talked-about milestone: In September, the city will open what appears to be the first free daycare for municipal workers in the country.

The center, called The Little Apple, is a pilot program that could prove to be a model for cities across the country that are childcare curious, but not ready to take the big universal swing.

Housed in a renovated space on the first floor of the David N. Dinkins Municipal Building in Manhattan, home base for more than 2,000 city workers, the Little Apple will offer free care to the kids of full-time staff. All workers in the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS), a city government support agency, can also take advantage of it regardless of their work location.

The center will be small — just 40 seats for children ages six weeks to 3 years old. To pay for it, the city budgeted about $1.5 million, or $35,000 per child.

“This is what Wall Street could call a good investment,” Mamdani said in a press conference announcing the new center. “We know that after housing, the cost of childcare is what is pushing working families out of this city.”

DCAS Commissioner Yume Kitasei told The 19th said the solution came about as a retention strategy, responding to the needs workers shared. In surveys, workers enthusiastically embraced the idea. One worker described access to free childcare as “life-changing.”

https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/under-mamdani-new-york-will-be-first-to-open-free-childcare-center-for-city-workers/

So far this man has done just about everything he said he wanted to do….he has my vote of mayor of the year.

Right after the first of the year the mayor first major proposal was a tax plan….

A number of new taxes have been proposed this winter and spring to address the City’s structural budget gap. They range from a surcharge on high-income Personal Income Tax filers, to a partial recapture of the federal tax benefits accruing to Pass-Through Entity Tax filers, to higher rates for the City’s business income taxes, to higher real property transaction taxes on luxury properties at time of sale. One of the most likely, and possibly only, new tax revenue to be included in the FY 2027 State budget is a tax on pied-à-terre properties in New York City.

To date, details on the proposed tax have been hard to find, but Governor Hochul announced a revenue estimate of $500 million from 13,000 “second homes” with market value of at least $5 million.  The lack of further information has spurred wide-ranging conjectures regarding which properties might be subject to the tax and how much they might pay.

In this Fiscal Note we use previous pied-à-terre tax proposals to estimate potential revenues and highlight areas of uncertainty. Based on the parameters chosen for the analysis, tax revenues are critically dependent on the share of targeted properties that are rented and on the behavioral responses to the tax. We find that, before adjusting for these factors, our choice of tax rates and brackets could raise almost exactly $500 million from a little over 11,200 properties. However, revenues could be reduced to between roughly $340 million and $380 million based on assumptions on exclusions for rented units and behavioral changes following the imposition of the tax.

The Pied-à-Terre Tax and Its Potential Revenues

Another policy that meets with my acceptance….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

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”

 

Peanuts For The Peasants

A pathetic tax deal.

Last week the miracle of miracles took place….in the House there was an amazing come together moment on a tax deal….bipartisanship at long last.

The House accomplished something unusual Wednesday in passing with broad, bipartisan support a roughly $79 billion tax cut package that would enhance the child tax credit for millions of lower-income families and boost three tax breaks for businesses, a combination that gives lawmakers on both stripes coveted policy wins, the AP reports. Prospects for the measure becoming law are uncertain with the Senate still having to take it up, but for a House that has struggled to get bills of consequence over the finish line, the tax legislation could represent a rare breakthrough. The bill passed by a vote of 357-70.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., threw his support behind the bill on Wednesday morning. He spent part of the previous day meeting with GOP lawmakers who were concerned about particular features of the bill, namely the expanded child tax credit. Some were also unhappy that it failed to address the $10,000 cap on the total amount of property taxes or state or local taxes that consumers can deduct on their federal returns. Raising the cap is a top priority of lawmakers from the Republican members of the New York congressional delegation, whose victories in 2022 helped the GOP take the majority. Johnson committed to moving a bill that addresses the cap, but there is no bill text yet and legislation would have to move through the House Rules Committee, which leaves the timing very much in flux.

Democrats focused on boosting the child tax credit. The tax credit is $2,000 per child, but not all of that is refundable. The bill would incrementally raise the amount of the credit available as a refund, increasing it to $1,800 for 2023 tax returns, $1,900 for the following year and $2,000 for 2025 tax returns. The bill also adjusts the topline credit amount to temporarily grow at the rate of inflation. Households benefitting as a result of the changes in the child tax credit would see an average tax cut of $680 in the first year, according to estimates from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. “What’s in front of us tonight is pretty simple,” said Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass. “Sixteen million children will benefit from the improvement to the child tax credit. That’s a fact.”

As usual the Dems caved to the GOP.

This bill saves the people peanuts while giving business all the benefits…..this is the pathetic Dems looking for some small win they can take on the campaign trail.

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib is calling on her fellow Democrats to “stay at the table and demand a better deal for our children” instead of supporting the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act, a bill that pairs a partial expansion of the child tax credit with major tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy, which was expected to reach the House floor for a vote Wednesday evening.

Tlaib (D-Mich.) echoed the concerns of Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), a longtime champion of an expanded child tax credit (CTC), saying Democrats and Republicans have negotiated a bill that “gives billions of dollars in tax breaks to the rich, while leaving behind millions of children living in poverty.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/tlaib-ctc

The only thing that can squash this piece of manure is the Senate….are they going to be as pathetic as the House Dems?

Special interests should be working overtime and spending like a drunken sailor to get this passed in the Senate.

The typical bi-partisan deal……peons get little…..corporations get it all.

We will see.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Second Amendment Week

Here in Mississippi we have a special tax free week for the buying of guns and ammo…..and we are in the middle of that tax free week.

A sales tax holiday is an annual event during which the Mississippi Department of Revenue allows certain items to be purchased sales-tax-free at any participating retailer within the state.

Mississippi allows you to purchase the following items tax-free during their annual sales tax holidays: $100 worth of clothing and footwear in July; all firearms, ammunition, archery, and certain hunting supplies in September.  (we got started early this year)

The September firearms and hunting supplies sales tax holiday is officially called the Mississippi Second Amendment Weekend (MSAW).

This is not something new….Mississippi has had an annual “Second Amendment” sales tax holiday since 2014. This tax holiday is meant to encourage participation in the upcoming hunting season, and enables sportsmen to purchase guns, ammunition, and other hunting supplies tax-free. 

There you go an incentive for people to buy more guns and ammo….just what this state needs….more idiots packing heat in a time when we have a major problem with gun violence….it all seems so logical (sarcasm)….

I do not know if other states have this benefit for gun lovers….I just know that my state does not need an incentive to sell more guns.

But what can I expect from a deep Red State where logic is a dirty word.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Fighting Inflation….A Typical Solution

We all are suffering the ravages of inflation….well most of us mere peasants that is….Most of us need some help….with that said the IRS has stepped up to help out….

The Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday announced the adjustments that will be in effect for 2023 tax rates in response to soaring inflation, meaning some taxpayers could see a lower tax bill. As the New York Times reports, typically when tax rates are adjusted for inflation, the adjustments are “incremental.” Not so this year. All seven income brackets will be adjusted, with the largest shift seen at the highest level of earnings. The top income tax rate, 37%, will apply to those who earn $578,125 ($693,750 for married couples filing jointly), a big increase from this year’s threshold of $539,900 for individuals. Those who no longer meet the cutoff for the highest rate will be taxed at the next level down, 35%, and so it goes down the line to the lowest tax rate, 10%. (For details on each level see Kiplinger.)

Axios explains why this happens: “The IRS adjusts tax brackets every year to ward off ‘bracket creep’—when your salary rises to keep up with inflation, propelling you into a higher tax bracket.” For example, someone earning $34,000 per year, if being taxed at the 1980 level, would be taxed at a 49% rate. But, per the Times, those whose salaries have been adjusted to match rising inflation (which is not the case for many in the US) won’t benefit from the adjusted tax rates. The inflation adjustments were not carried out prior to 1985. In addition, in 2023 the standard deduction will increase $900 from this year to $13,850 for individuals; for couples, it will go up $1,800, to $27,700. Other adjustments include benefits for tax-free public transit and parking costs, the worth of the earned-income tax credit, and estate tax changes.

Please stop helping us out.

Just once I would like to see a corporation pay some taxes….I know I know they are the highest taxed in the world (well that is the lie we are fed to make giving them hand-outs look magnanimous)….

If I pay 35% on my income so should the corporations….it is that simple.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–08Apr21

As the day approaches for your taxes to be paid…..I thought you might like to know how much the big corporations pay…..

Did you buy some Nike shoes?

You paid around $12 for a popular model….but that is more than Nike paid in taxes…..

For millions of ordinary people in the U.S., 2020 was a painful year in which loved ones and jobs were lost as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and its devastating economic repercussions. But for many of the country’s major corporations, last year was a lucrative one—particularly if they were among the 55 companies that paid $0 in federal income taxes on a combined $40.5 billion in profits, as a new study shows.

Released Friday, the report is based on the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s (ITEP) analysis of 2020 financial reports filed by the country’s largest publicly traded corporations. 

Instead of paying a collective $8.5 billion in federal income taxes on last year’s profits of $40.5 billion, as mandated by the statutory 21% rate, the 55 companies exploited preexisting loopholes and pandemic-related tax breaks to reduce their tax bills to zero.

Not only did these corporations secure a zero-tax liability, they received a collective $3.5 billion in rebates, bringing the total amount of lost federal revenue to $12 billion. And 26 of them haven’t paid a dime for the past three years, a time period in which the GOP’s “morally and economically obscene” tax cuts for corporations and wealthy Americans have been in effect.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/04/02/55-us-corporate-giants-paid-0-federal-taxes-2020-thanks-gaping-loopholes

How does that make you feel?

It is time for tax reform as long as we attempt to reform other sectors in the government….taxes on us mere mortals are paying all the bills and the corporations reap benefits from not having to pay what they owe this country.

STOP believing the lies about tax cuts!

Demand that everyone pay their taxes not exceptions!

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

2020–Are You Sick Of These F*ckers Yet?

Warren and Sanders have started the billionaires to shake in their tidy whities……it is the tax thing.

Warren has said she would pay for Medicare For All with a tax on billionaires…..by “taxes on big corporations, Wall Street, and the top 1%…… Her plan, posted online

The plan sent a quiver through the wealthy old boys club……Gates, Cooperman and Bloomberg are thinking they know best simply because they have money to burn……I for one am not buying their crap….

Gates started whining….

Bill Gates to her list of critics. At a forum Wednesday, Gates didn’t sound thrilled about Warren’s idea to increase taxes on billionaires, and his criticism caught her attention. The details:

What he said: “I’ve paid over $10 billion in taxes,” Gates said at the New York Times DealBook conference, per the Guardian. “If I had to pay $20 billion, it’s fine. But when you say I should pay $100 billion, then I’m starting to do a little math over what I have left over.” He eventually added, “Sorry, I’m just kidding.”

Gates did more than criticize Warren’s tax policy. “I’m not sure how open minded she is—or that she’d even be willing to sit down with somebody who has large amounts of money,” he said, per Mediaite. And when asked who he would support in a hypothetical matchup of Warren vs. President Trump, he declined to say. “Whoever I decide will have the more professional approach in the current situation, probably is the thing I will weigh the most,” he said. “And I hope that the more professional candidate is an electable candidate.”

More professional?  What the Hell does that meas?  Is it code?

Next up is a billionaire named Cooperman….

Warren is clashing with billionaire investor Leon Cooperman, who sent her a critical letter and called out her “vilification of the rich.” In harsh terms, he said to Politico, “This is the f—ing American dream she is s—-ing on.”

He sounds like a parasite that is afraid of losing his host.

Now the perennial candidate Mike Bloomberg is joining the whining by billionaires that would have to pay more taxes…..but as usual he is thinking about running for president…..

Bloomberg flirted with a presidential run earlier this year, visiting early voting states and conducting extensive polling. He ultimately decided against a run, citing in part the apparent strength of former Vice President Joe Biden, a fellow moderate. But Bloomberg is said to have become increasingly worried about the direction of the Democratic primary as more liberal candidates like Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren have gained in popularity. In a statement on Thursday, Bloomberg adviser Howard Wolfson said the former mayor is worried that the current crop of Democratic presidential candidates is “not well positioned” to defeat Trump.

Bloomberg has become a “media whore” he will do anything to try and get his mug on the tellie…..

When will the American people tire of the constant whinbing by the greedy class trying to fuck the country and horde their cash?

I think it is interesting that these billionaires think they have a better plan for governing this country….and if I am not mistaken there was a billionaire that felt the same way in 2016….and look how that has worked out.

These people said the same things about the taxes of the Obama years….

How sad that these people are so insecure that they feel that the government owes them something above the benefits they all get while raping the economy.

The MSM is helping the whiners above all else because the corporate owned news loves the center….

Politico, John F. Harris makes the case that the mainstream media is biased against Warren because “journalists love the center.” Republicans complain of a liberal bias, but Harris says they have it wrong. “The more pervasive force shaping coverage of Washington and elections is what might be thought of as centrist bias, flowing from reporters and sources alike … a conviction that politics should be a tidier and more rational process than it usually is.” What’s wrong about this view is when real change happens, it rarely comes from the center, he adds.

You want change?

It never comes from the “Center”.

Enough already!  Besides the Dems already have enough billionaires in this race.

Ask yourself one question…can a person living in the lap of luxury have any idea what the Middle class and poor go through daily?

Anything more pathetic than the uber-rich pretending that they want to save our democracy?

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

VOTE!

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Closing Thought–30Oct19

Tax Cuts!

Every time we have a cut in taxes we are told that they will pay for themselves and that all the benefits for the wealthy will trickle down to the rest of us peasants….both are lies that the people believe every time and every time we , the average person, gets the shaft.

That said what about the tax cuts of two years ago the Speaker Ryan helped pass and screw us people….

After two years, President Trump’s tax cuts are not on track to pay for themselves, the latest Treasury data released Friday suggest.

Total federal government revenues ended up lower in 2019 than was projected before the passage of the GOP tax overhaul in 2017.

Then, in 2017, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected that fiscal 2019 revenues, without the tax cuts, would be $3.69 trillion. Instead, revenues with the tax cuts were only $3.46 trillion.

To be certain, the difference, $225 billion, cannot be attributed solely to the tax cuts. Other economic factors have influenced economic growth over the past two years. For example, the tariffs put in place as part of Trump’s trade wars likely counteracted the stimulative effect of the tax cuts.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/two-years-in-trump-tax-cuts-not-on-course-to-pay-for-themselves

THat was a con job…..but what about all the bravado that Trump thumps his chest about….like” this is the best economy in our history”

More con….more lies…..look at the stats for yourself…..

It’s true the economy has been doing well – but there have been periods when it was even stronger.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-45827430

The truth is that the economy is the best in decades but only if you are already wealthy and are getting wealthier…..the rest of us continue to struggle….day to day……

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Closing Thought–10May19

Keeping with the economic trend I started a couple of posts ago……

Have you filed your taxes yet?  Did you get a refund?

I have filed and I had to pay.

What about the rest of America?

I mean us real people not those stiff criminals that we call the top 1%.

Did those lovely tax cuts that Trump gave the country benefit the rest of us or were the benefits for his rich buddies?

A new six-month analysis of President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts details how workers received little benefit from the plan, despite the savings many of their powerful corporate employers received.

The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) interviewed independent tax analysts and officials who were involved in the Republican Party’s effort to sell the so-called American Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to the public—and within their own party ranks. Progressive critics have consistently called the law nothing nothing more than a “tax scam.”

The GOP’s insistence on a tax law which included the largest corporate tax cut in U.S. history—from 35 to 21 percent—resulted in companies saving about $150 billion in the first year after the passage in December 2017.

Trump and then-House Speaker Paul Ryan had spent months telling Americans they stood to save hundreds or even thousands of dollars in taxes, with Trump telling one crowd that the average family would see a pay raise of about $4,000, a benefit that would “trickle down” from employers’ corporate tax cuts.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/04/30/while-corporate-profits-and-tax-dodging-soared-analysis-shows-just-6-gop-tax-scam
 
This tax policy has done nothing to end the inequality that this country has been plaguing the country for decades……in reality everything we were told about the benefits of the Trump tax cuts was a LIE!
 
If the “economy” is doing so well then why are there no movements in the Middle Class?  As a matter of fact the Middle Class is diminishing every year sinc e the 1990s.
 
And this economy is so good it is making most American miserable……
 
After running a campaign on the idea that America was an impoverished wasteland, Donald Trump has spent his presidency bragging about the economic expansion that began under Barack Obama but continued under him. Though he might be a glutton for credit, Trump isn’t wrong, exactly, when he celebrates the “record economy” in his tweets: Unemployment in the United States is at a 50-year low, the stock market is soaring, and GDP is growing at a brisk clip. Polls have found that people are confident in the state of the economy.
 
 
And yet Americans buy the crap and the lies EVERY TIME!
 
WHY?
 
Lear Stuff!
 
Then VOTE!
 
I want to start my weekend….the ‘honey dos’ are considerable….but with luck it will rain and they will have to wait….(he said with crossed fingers)…….