Tag: Tax Policies

How Did The Rich Get Richer?

Closing Thought–20Mar19

If you are social media or watch any main stream media then you have heard all about how the rich got richer…..especially after Trump’s tax cuts…..

May I see a show of hands…..do you know just how did the rich get richer?

Okay would you like to know? Of course you would…it may be one of those issues that helps you who to vote for in 2020….

I could bore the crap out of you with all this monetary policy claptrap or I could turn you on to the cartoons below that make this all so much simpler…….

Something massive and important has happened in the United States over the past 50 years: Economic wealth has become increasingly concentrated among a small group of ultra-wealthy Americans.

You can read lengthy books on this subject, like economist Thomas Piketty’s recent best-seller, Capital in the Twenty-First Century (the book runs 696 pages and weighs in at 2.5 pounds). You can see references to this in the campaigns of major political candidates this cycle, who talk repeatedly about how something has gone very wrong in America.

Donald Trump’s motto is to make America great again, while Bernie Sanders’s campaign focused on reducing income inequality. And there’s a reason this message is resonating with voters:

It’s grounded in 50 years of reality.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/this-cartoon-explains-how-the-rich-got-rich-and-the-poor-got-poor

Don’t just bitch about stuff……

Learn Stuff!

Closing Thought–21Feb19

More Economic Bad news.

Remember that tax cut thing a year or so ago?

You should! Thanx to that piece of political theater will see most of us with smaller tax refunds.

Remember refunds?

That cash that you get back from the IRS because unlike the rich you paid your taxes…..well yours may well be lower than you anticipated…..

The IRS is out with early numbers on tax refunds in 2019, and people hoping for a bump under the new tax changes are being unpleasantly surprised. In the first week of the filing season, the average refund was $1,865, down about 8% from last year’s average of $2,035, reports Politico. That has left many wondering what happened to the “$4,000 raise” the White House promised families would receive under the tax overhaul. Short answer: People are confusing their refunds with their tax burden. Details:

  • An example: The Washington Post highlights the example of a middle-class New Jersey couple whose income didn’t change but who received $3,000 less this year. “It totally feels like a scam,” says John Prugh. “I did still get a small refund, but compared to what I was expecting from previous years, it was shock.”
  • Feeling the same: NBC News notes that the hashtag #GOPTaxScam has surfaced, with people who have gotten decent refunds for years unhappy to discover that they’re getting far less or are even required to pay.

  • The Issue: Financial experts explain that what these people are overlooking is that their overall tax burden went down; they likely got bigger paychecks during the year, even if they didn’t notice. “There’s a difference between taxes and your refund,” a senior research associate at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center at the Urban Institute tells the Post. “People generally got a piece of their tax cut last year gradually in the form of lower withholding on their paychecks.”
    Lost deductions: The tax law may have lowered tax rates and increased the standard deduction, but it also limited deductions for state and local taxes, per Yahoo Finance. In fact, the new tax code eliminates or modifies many long-used deductions, including those related to mortgage interest, student-loan interest, and moving expenses.
    It’s early: Tax-filing season runs through April 15, and it’s possible trends could change. In fact, people seem to be delaying filing, perhaps because of all the changes: The IRS received 16 million returns in the first week, which is down 12.4% from last year.
    They’re doing it wrong: Those who have traditionally gotten fat refund checks from the IRS may think it’s great, but it’s more likely a sign that they need to examine their withholdings. “A large refund from the IRS may seem like an advantage, but it isn’t the best or most effective use of your cash flow,” a rep from Robert W. Baird & Co. tells CNBC. “You’re basically giving the IRS an interest-free loan.”

Not to worry this is just another way of Making America Great Again.

Some things seldom change…..especially the lies about tax cuts……

Peace Out!

 

It’s Tax Time!

Closing thought–11Feb19

Remember those “great” tax cuts that the Idiots in Congress and the president championed before the 2018 midterms…..they made sure that they always included the Middle Class when they were selling then bragging about their accomplishment?

Remember?

Well now that it is tax time how did we poor SOBs in the Middle Class fair?

T o answer that question….YOU WERE SCREWED!

You Feel For A CON JOB!  (as usual)……

That’s right you slow individuals that believed the GOP about the tax cuts are screwed!

The new tax law does result in some people paying higher taxes (especially over the long term), but the specific issue here is tax refunds rather than total taxes paid. Whether you get a refund or owe extra to the IRS at filing time is a function not just of your total taxes owed, but also of how much tax is withheld from your paycheck by your employer on paydays. And the big story here is that as a result of the new tax law, the Treasury Department tweaked things so that on average taxpayers’ withholdings fell by more than their actual taxes owed.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/6/18214039/irs-tax-refund-withholding-trump

No surprise to me…..tax cuts seldom help the Middle Class and yet the Middle Class buys the bullsh*t EVERY TIME!

The 2017 law was supposed to boost workers’ wages, create jobs, and drive more investment — and as we’ve known for awhile, it’s done none of that. But now we can add two more failures to the creatively-named Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA): It hasn’t encouraged corporations to return their profits from overseas, and it’s probably hiding a nasty surprise for many Americans come tax season.

Let’s start with the second idea. Lots of Americans work for an employer who sends them regular paychecks. Those employers rely on tables published by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to guesstimate how much their employees owe in taxes each year. Then they withhold the necessary increments from each paycheck. Come tax season, every worker settles up with the government. If their employer withheld too little, they pay the remainder. If the employer withheld too much, they get a refund from the IRS. As Matt Yglesias pointed out, the system has traditionally overdone withholding on purpose — roughly three-fourths of tax filers usually get a refund.

https://theweek.com/articles/822464/gops-tax-cut-just-keeps-getting-worse

Tax Cuts help NO ONE but the rich…..do not buy the lies and the manure about the Middle Class…..

Those Dem Economic Plans

*********Posted from a secret location known only to myself and everyone on the 4th floor of Memorial Hospital.********

The 2018 elections has brought us a few young freshmen Congresspeople and with the 2020 election looming large a candidate has issued a plan to solve our revenue people….

Let’s look at the economic proposal of announced presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren……

Two economists who are advising Warren, Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman of University of California at Berkeley, announced to the Washington Post that the senator is proposing an annual tax of two percent for assets over $50 million, as well as a three percent tax for assets above $1 billion. The proposal, the economists estimate, would raise $2.75 trillion over 10 years and would affect just .1 percent of American households—raising the percentage at which their wealth is taxed to just 4.3 percent from 3.2 percent. 

The “Ultra-Millionaire Tax” would apply to “all household assets…including residences, closely held businesses, assets held in trust, retirement assets, assets held by minor children, and personal property with a value of $50,000 or more,” according to a paper by the economists.

Warren’s proposal, which economist Thomas Piketty recommended in his book “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” comes weeks after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) first told the press about her plan to tax income over $10 million at 70 percent—a proposal supported by a majority of Americans, including 45 percent of Republicans, according to a poll by The Hill.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/01/24/warren-forces-issue-massive-economic-inequality-2020-debate-ultra-millionaire-tax

The freshman women we are calling AOC has a different take on taxing billionaires…..her thought is a 70% tax on them and her thoughts are rooted deep in American’s beliefs….

In 1835, Alexis de Tocqueville produced one of the earliest accounts of the American dream. In his famous study of the Jacksonian U.S., the Frenchman wrote that Americans possessed “the charm of anticipated success” — a ubiquitous optimism that he attributed to our country’s democratic character, and to the “general equality of condition” that prevailed among its “people.”

On Wednesday night, Sean Hannity took de Tocqueville to task. In the Fox News’ host’s telling, general economic equality is not a precondition for the American dream, but rather, an insurmountable obstacle to it — because the American dream is (apparently) to earn more than $10 million year without having to pay a top marginal tax rate higher than 37 percent.

Of course, Hannity did not actually frame his argument as a rebuke of de Tocqueville. His true target was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/01/ocasio-cortez-aocs-billionaires-taxes-hannity-american-democracy.html

Because her calls are so American that the GOP is running sacred from her proposals….yes running sacred!

What AOC is proposing

The short version is that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is proposing a new 70% tax bracket on income above $10 million. The increased tax on the wealthy would fund what Ocasio-Cortez calls a “Green New Deal,” which would combat both climate change and economic inequality.

Unsurprisingly, this has attracted lots of attention from both ends of the political spectrum. Some agree with the proposal. Some think it’s ludicrous and fear it would derail economic growth. Others think the rich should certainly pay more, but that the addition of a single super-high tax bracket isn’t the best solution.

And, like most tax proposals put forth by politicians, this one is misunderstood by much of the American public.

https://www.fool.com/taxes/2019/01/24/alexandria-ocasio-cortezs-70-tax-plan-what-all-ame.aspx

Let’s watch to see who wins this thing…..but first why would this have the GOP looking over their shoulders…..

Remember that massive tax cuts awhile back?  Appears it did NOTHING it was said it would do…….

The National Association of Business Economics’ (NABE) quarterly business conditions poll published on Monday found that while some companies reported accelerating investments because of lower corporate taxes, 84 percent of respondents said they had not changed plans. That compares to 81 percent in the previous survey published in October.

The White House had predicted that the massive fiscal stimulus package, marked by the reduction in the corporate tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent, would boost business spending and job growth. The tax cuts came into effect in January 2018.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-investment-idUSKCN1PM0B0

Turn The Page!

Screw Those Veterans Again!

Closing Thought–23Jan19

Everybody knows that the federal deficit is outrageous…..and everybody has a party that has a plan to control the deficit…..the only problem it is seldom that important until election time and then it is paramount and will destroy the nation if not brought under control.

All that is pure rancid manure spread by small minded idiots in the Right.

As usual the way to control the deficit is by screw someone in society…..the poor, the aging and the veterans…..well the CBO has a good plan to screw the veterans again……

Some vets use the VA but more have access to Tricare…….and this is where the CBO said changes needed to be made……

With the federal deficit expected to top $1 trillion this year, the Congressional Budget Office in December published a list of options for reducing the imbalance over the next 10 years, including three suggestions on Tricare and six that address veterans benefits.

In its Options for Reducing the Deficit: 2019 to 2028, the CBO laid out 121 opportunities for curtailing spending and raising revenue. These include raising Tricare enrollment fees for military retirees, instituting enrollment fees for Tricare for Life and reducing veterans benefits.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/01/14/cbo-suggests-raising-tricare-fees-cutting-veteran-benefits-slash-deficit.html

Here’s a better idea….since the problem is a lack of income thanks to all the mindless tax cuts for decades….approve the higher tax on the uber-rich and increase the income….will not solve all the problems but will help the loss of income.

History proves that taxing the rich is beneficial…..

Do high taxes really hurt the economy as much as they believe, and will lowering them have much of an impact on stimulating it? The economic literature is clear — tax breaks to encourage economic relocation or investment decisions are inefficient and wasteful. Hundreds of studies reach this conclusion. When businesses are surveyed regarding factors important to their investment decisions, taxes often come in behind proximity to markets, suppliers, and the quality of the labor force. These other factors occupy a larger percentage of a business’s budget than do taxes, and all of them are far more critical to long-term success than are taxes. Businesses occasionally admit this. Nearly 62 percent of those interviewed in a California study on hiring tax credits indicated that they had never or rarely affected their decision to employ individuals.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/01/09/tax-the-rich-history-proves-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-may-be-correct/

Please stop believing the LIE that tax cuts are beneficial!  They help very few and raise the deficit….time to consider the alternatives to GOP bullsh*t.

Tax The Rich

The chant goes up…Tax the rich….Tax the rich…..somewhere there will be villagers with pitchforks waiting on the arrival of the “tax man”…..

Enough fanciful stuff……there is a movement taking to the airwaves a proposal for a 70% tax on the ultra-rich…..and by damn the idea has got a majority approval in the polls…..

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) sparked a flood of hysterical and error-filled responses from the right when she suggested in a recent “60 Minutes” interview that America’s top marginal tax rate should be hiked to 70 percent to help pay for bold progressive programs, but a survey published on Tuesday found that the majority of Americans are on the freshman congresswoman’s side.

Conducted by The Hill in partnership with the market research firm HarrisX, the poll found that 59 percent of the U.S. public supports raising the marginal tax rate on the richest Americans to 70 percent. The poll also found a “surprising amount of support” for the proposal among Republicans, with 45 percent backing the idea along with 71 percent of Democrats.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/01/15/poll-shows-majority-

back-70-tax-rate-ultra-rich-ocasio-cortezs-radical-proposal

The media is not down with this proposal……however the economics of this are sound…looking at it without the bias of a political party……

Taxes impede economic growth and high taxes kill the economy, right?. This is the belief among many who criticize Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s proposal to raise taxes on the wealthy to 70% or more. But what does the evidence really tell us?

Do high taxes really hurt the economy as much as they believe, and will lowering them have much of an impact on stimulating it? The economic literature is clear — tax breaks to encourage economic relocation or investment decisions are inefficient and wasteful. Hundreds of studies reach this conclusion. When businesses are surveyed regarding factors important to their investment decisions, taxes often come in behind proximity to markets, suppliers, and the quality of the labor force. These other factors occupy a larger percentage of a business’s budget than do taxes, and all of them are far more critical to long-term success than are taxes. Businesses occasionally admit this. Nearly 62 percent of those interviewed in a California study on hiring tax credits indicated that they had never or rarely affected their decision to employ individuals.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/01/09/tax-the-rich-history-proves-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-may-be-correct/

I know this will not fly with the GOP for they think that tax cuts for the rich will solve all our economic problems…..wishful thinking….it has not done so in many decades and will not work now.

Time for the uber rich to start pulling their weight to society….they profit most from society then why can they not pay for their privilege?

Why Not?

As a matter of fact……the entire “progressive agenda” is fiscally  responsible….the agenda…..

  • We are currently planning to spend $45.2 trillion over the next decade on healthcare as a country.
  • A single payer Medicare for All system would cost $32.6 trillion over the next decade, saving us $13.2 trillion.
  • Freezing defense spending at 2017 levels would save us $780 billion over the next decade.
  • Reversing the Trump tax cuts would bring in an additional $1.9 trillion of revenue.
  • Reversing the Bush tax cuts would bring in an additional $3.3 trillion of revenue.
  • Closing three corporate tax loopholes (exclusion of rental income, capital gains, and deferral of controlled foreign corporations’ income) would bring in another $2.72 trillion of revenue.
  • If the entire “progressive agenda” is implemented, we would save $18.74 trillion over the next decade.

I approve of the agenda and will support it as long as too many changes are not included.

That is where it will not fly in DC….it is fiscally responsible…..the GOP has NO idea how to be fiscally responsible…..sounds good in sound bytes but the GOP just cannot find the on switch to fiscal responsibility.

Repatriation Of The Dollar

When Trump was running as a GOP candidate he made a few promises that I thought I could get behind (that does not mean that I would have voted for him just that I thought they were good policies)……most of these policies were in the field of diplomacy and international relations….but there was one that I thought was excellent but did not think he could accomplish…..the promise of the return of funds held by American corporations in offshore accounts…..

But I was mistaken….there seems to be a bunch of cash returning to our shores……

U.S. companies have sent home over half a trillion dollars of cash they held overseas in 2018 to take advantage of tax changes, but data suggest the pace is slowing, potentially removing a key source of support for Wall Street.

Dollar repatriation in the July-September period fell to $93 billion, around half of second-quarter volumes and less than a third of the $300 billion or so sent home from January to March, U.S. current account data shows.

The repatriation bonanza followed new regulations that allowed the U.S. government to tax profits accumulated overseas, regardless of where the money was held. Prior rules allowed companies to “defer” U.S. tax on worldwide profits unless they repatriated the money.

The change offered a powerful incentive to bring home some of the $3 trillion U.S. firms were believed to hold in jurisdictions ranging from Ireland to Switzerland, either in cash or in securities such as U.S. Treasuries.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-us-repatriation-companies-idUSKCN1OU0ME

A good start but I still do not see all that offshore cash coming home……do you?  Plus I have not heard a plan to stop this practice, have you?

Just In Time For A Revolt

IST and the old Professor tries to find the history that historians try to ignore….history the Americans are seldom taught…..

There is one thing that all governments fear above all else…..the people.

We all know about the revolt because of high taxes….and then of course there was the famous “No Taxation Without Representation”….we know how all the events that took place and landed American in conflict with  her king…..the problem is my “revolt” is about 100 years prior to the now famous conflict……before the Tea Party and Shay’s Rebellion was the first test…….

It was called Bacon’s Rebellion…….

Bacon’s Rebellion of 1676 holds its place in the history books as the first rebellion (but obviously not the last) in the English colonies of the New World. Yet as historic as it was, Bacon’s Rebellion was also a petty, bigoted insurrection led by a lazy incompetent against a corrupt governor — and it nearly destroyed the colony of Virginia.

Bacon’s Rebellion and was a war between two actual cousins. One was the heavy-handed English governor, Sir William Berkeley, a veteran of the English civil wars. The other was Nathaniel Bacon, an immature, lazy schemer. His father had sent him to Virginia hoping he would grow up. When Bacon arrived, Berkeley gave him land and a seat on the council.

Bacon’s privilege aside, life in Virginia was harsh, filled with drought, starvation, and fighting with Native Americans. Meanwhile, white indentured servants, little more than slaves, did most of the work.

From the beginning, when Jamestown’s first settlers resorted to cannibalism to make it through the tough winter of 1609, Virginia was a harsh place to live. Throughout the 17th century, those conditions never really got much better — and eventually led to Bacon’s Rebellion of 1676.

https://allthatsinteresting.com/bacons-rebellion

Further reading for those interested…….

https://www.landofthebrave.info/bacons-rebellion.htm

Closing Thought–14Aug18

Recently the Congress and Our Dear Leader passed and signed into law the large tax cuts for the rich……and now they are talking about another round of tax cuts for those same rich people……

And what if the “Blue Wave” is successful……will the tale told by Dear Leader about the raising of taxes come true?

Whatever happened to the notion that rich people should pay their fair share of the cost for their country’s public programs?

Progressive income taxes―designed to fund government services and facilities—go back centuries, and are based on the idea that taxes should be levied most heavily on people with the ability to pay them.  In the United States, the federal government introduced its first income tax in 1861, to cover the costs of the Civil War. Although new federal income tax legislation in the 1890s was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, the resulting public controversy led, in 1913, to passage of the sixteenth amendment to the Constitution, firmly establishing the legality of an income tax.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/08/01/lets-tax-the-rich/

Personally I have NO problem with everyone paying the same amount of taxes or the elimination of some of the beneficial deductions of the wealthy…..not to worry these people will pay the taxes and still find a way to turn a profit……then let us do the right thing and we all pay the same amount of taxes….so yeah…tax the goddamn rich!

I have given my solutions for true tax reform and not just a few tax cuts….unlike most bloggers I do not just bitch about something I also offer what I think is a better plan…..(please check out my solutions and see if they are not a better way to tax the people)

https://gulfsouthfreepress.wordpress.com/2017/09/01/tax-reform-2017-edition/

After all there is still “Taxation Without Representation”…….and I have written about this situation as well……https://lobotero.com/2011/05/12/no-taxation-without-representation/

So I Have Written!

Turn The Page!

Sex, Lies And Bullsh*t

Sex, sex, sex……Flynn, Flynn, Flynn….taxes, taxes, taxes……say goodbye to Al Franken…….that was last year and in the mean time people are dying of disease in Yemen, nukes may go to the Saudis, Jerusalem has been made the capital of Israel……and the world continues to turn…..and in a slow burn thanx to the American president……

Let’s look at say Franken (my example du jour)……he has resigned because of his events prior to his election to the Senate and yet there is a good chance that a pedophile could be elected to the Senate from Alabama(he was not)…..my my how far we have come…..for in 1987 a candidate was forced to resign because of a photo of a young woman sitting on his lap….Don’t hurt yourself….the candidate was Gary Hart.

And today we can just say that it is “fake news” and all is okay and the candidate could skate to a win.

Lies….lies….lies…..our society is awash in lies…..lies about immigrants….lies about sexual antics of politicians…..lies about international situation…..but the biggest source of lies in our society is from the one person that needs to be truthful…..the president.

So far in August 2017 the lies are running rampant……

As of August 7, 2017, Donald J. Trump will have been in office as president of the United States for 200 days. This period of time will largely be remembered for the rancor and distrust sewn between his administration, the media, and the general public, as well as any numbers of investigations, scandals, and gaffes of various size and degree (occurring both on Twitter and in real life), but what stands out in perhaps the highest relief have been the falsehoods. (And his unconscionable perversion of the exclamation point.) Without further ado, a trio of Vogue contributors list what they believe to be Trump’s greatest hits: his most memorable, notable, or otherwise mind-boggling lies, from crowd size to James Comey. Follow along to see if your favorite made the cut!

https://www.vogue.com/article/donald-trump-lies-200-days

Of course the “fake news” machine will have a field day trying to push back on the lies.

Now for the bullsh*t portion of this post…..

The hatchet job that Trump TV (FOX News) is doing on the FBI……while I personally have no love for the FBI I have no doubt that they are honorable and hardworking….the lies about the FBI has been taken up  by the cowards in the House and Senate…..these toads are regurgitating everything thing that FOX throws at the political wall.

The hard working bloggers that carry the torch for Trump continue to make excuses for Trump’s lack of any governing skills…..stock market is the Deep State that is after Trump….there is NO deep state ……..we do have a president that probably cannot pick his nose without doing harm or checking with FOX first.

Watch any “bad” news for Trump and the chorus like a Greek play, starts trying to make the case that someone somewhere is pulling the strings around Trump.