Meanwhile, Back in Tax-A-Lot

Written By D.

Once upon a time in the land of Tax-A-Lot most of the serfs were working very hard to improve their lives by growing small gardens in the back of their huts. They were also able to raise more livestock by feeding them from their gardens. Eventually, they had enough crops and livestock so they could sell or trade in the marketplace for goods and services. Life was as good as it gets for the serfs.

But the lords, seeing this success, wanted a share of this largesse so they decided that new taxes were in order. First the Lords ruled that a tax of 50% of all the garden crops and livestock be imposed. They knew this would not be popular so they gathered together the non-productive serfs who were too lazy to grow gardens and were very jealous of the success of the hard working productive serfs. They told these non-productive serfs that they were “less fortunate” and that it was “unfair” for those “rich” serfs to have more. The non-productive serfs readily agreed with this analysis.

The lords made these “less fortunate” serfs the tax collectors and gave them the power to confiscate the crops and livestock owed to the lords. Of course, the lords knew that these non-productive serfs were not to be trusted and expected that a portion of the crops and livestock collected would be stolen by the tax collectors but this was a small matter in their minds.

The goal of the lords was to enrich themselves while setting serf against serf. They posted a declaration in the village that since some of the serfs had more than others, it was only fair that they collect 50% to even the playing field. They had no intention of giving the 50% they collected to the “less fortunate” serfs but knew these serfs would be satisfied skimming off the tax collections and beating up on the “rich” serfs. The lords knew the value of “empowering” the non-productive serfs and allowing them to act out on their feelings of jealousy and hatred.

In the meantime, the productive serfs gathered together and discussed the new tax burden and the way in which it was to be collected. They decided that enough was enough and that they would resist. So they appointed a spokesman to express their grievances and they all headed to the castle to discuss the matter with the lords. But the lords ignored them and mocked their protest. This angered the serfs.

Next the serfs decided to form a group to defend their gardens and livestock from the tax collectors. But the lords sent their loyal castle guards to protect the tax collectors.

What’s a serf to do? Finally, one of the productive serfs realized that it was their productivity that drove Tax-a-Lot, he told the other serfs that without their labor, there was no Tax-a-Lot.

The serfs were willing to make sacrifices to drive home this point because they knew that if they didn’t, they would continue to be oppressed and there would be no end to the greed of the lords.

The serfs destroyed their gardens and all the crops, setting even the Tax-A-Lot fields on fire and they slaughtered all their livestock. They stopped working and Tax-A-Lot quickly ground to a halt. The marketplace closed down as there was nothing to trade. The serfs lived off of roots and rats and anything that was available. But serf’s were used to a life of just getting by and believed this hardship was worth it.

The tax collectors had nothing to collect and as they were held in distain equally by the lords and the productive serfs, they were the first to starve. They realized too late that the productivity of the majority had also kept them fed.

The lords soon realized that their plan had backfired and they had become considerably less wealthy as a result of it. They had gone too far and pushed the serfs too hard, but they still felt the need to abuse their authority because that is what lords do.

So they sent all their troops to intimidate the serfs, but the troops refused to harm the serfs because they knew that without their productivity they too would soon starve. The troops, after all, were just serfs with swords and rightly identified with the serf’s plight.

The serfs convinced the troops that the lords needed to be sent a message. They joined together and headed for the castle. They stood before the Lords and read a declaration of their own.

“Let it be known that from this day forward in the kingdom of Tax-A-Lot that the serfs, will provide the lords a reasonable portion of their labor to cover the costs of governing and defending Tax-A-Lot. The portion will be determined by a vote of all the productive serfs and the lords will have to learn to live within their means. Further, all personal gardens, possessions and accumulated wealth of the serfs will not be subject to taxation.”

The lords had no choice but to accept these terms, because as it turns out, much to everyone’s surprise, the serfs were the real power behind the success of Tax-a-Lot.

And, because this story has no stimulus package or bailouts, Tax-A-Lot became the most productive place in all of the land.

It's Terminator Time

Written By D.

The Governor of California says he will lay off 10,000 state employees in response to the failure of the legislature to pass tax increases. The total could be 20,000 employees. That is 20,000 out of a total of 2.5 million state employees. The msm usually forgets to mention the fact that California has that many government employees.

My first question is: If you can respond to not getting your way with increased taxes and layoff 10,000 people, did you really need those employees in the first place?

My second question is: Will the taxpayers of California miss them, or even realize that they are gone?

My third question: What is more important; 10,000 government jobs or the ruin more taxes will cause to California’s economy?

People and businesses have been voting with their feet in large numbers as they flee California for friendlier economic ground. Earth to California; you have a problem and tax increases will only make it worse.

When economic times are hard, government cutbacks are in order. It seems the only people expected to make sacrifices are the taxpayers. The solution to economic problems is not more taxes, it is cutbacks, and that means shrinking the size of government.

California has more idiotic rules and regulations than any other state, you could say they are the model for Socialism in this country and that is no complement. That’s why the world’s eighth largest economy is going under fast.

Now a reasonably intelligent person would say: We have gone too far and we need to revisit our idiotic policies and make changes. We need to stop listening to and appeasing every special interest “I’ve got a gripe” group of leftwing nutcases and do only what is best for the majority of California taxpayers.

It is time for states as well as the federal government to look at ways to shrink government and reduce regulations. Reality is people in the private sector face the possibility of losing their jobs in tough economic times. While no one wants to see others lose their job, do state employees deserve to be treated differently? Are they so important and special that they should be guaranteed employment for life no matter what the cost to the taxpayers?

Rather than using layoffs as a threat, use it as a part of a plan to help relieve a government that is suffering out of control bloat. Ask yourself: Exactly why is it that California taxpayers should be upset by a reduction in government employees beyond a bit of sympathy?

Prove to us that you are serious about solving the economic problems you have helped to create and you will be taken seriously. It is time to Cowboy Up and make the hard choices.

Score One for the Lobbyists

Written By D.

Looks like eliminating earmarks in Tax-A-Lot lasted about 30 seconds. Now there will be earmarks but we just won’t know about it? So, that’s how the new transparency works. The lobbyists will still get earmarks and life goes on in D.C.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090125/ap_on_go_co/the_influence_game_stimulus_lobbying

I keep forgetting that when Democrats put a name to something it means the opposite of what they call it. Example; Transparency means Non-Transparent; The Employee Free Choice Act means No Choice for Employees, etc.

So in Tax-A-Lot, "Read my lips" has a whole new meaning.

Key Point

Written By D.

I was reading a brochure from TD Wealth Management this morning. There was a section called “Six key points to remember about the Credit Crisis.”

Key point number three was interesting (my emphasis added);

“Credit crises generally run their course over a period of two years or when governments do not let their economies purge themselves of their excesses, in which case the crisis can drag on for years. Japan was the best example of this and their credit crisis lasted the full decade of the 1990’s.”

Is the financial world trying to tell us all something?

Seems to me they are and the message is real clear, it is time for government to spend less, not more.

Right now we are being told that a few Democrats are opposed to some of the items in the Pres-Elect’s “economic recovery plan.”

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hEx3tiPJhZQLVqjNmHR_oP6FZMuwD95JI2G81

They are mostly just splitting spending hairs arguing about amounts and how to spend it. If you argue over whether to put the billions here or there, I’d say you are missing the point.

Although, to their credit, Senators Conrad and Gregg both say they are “against using the economic recovery plan for permanent spending increases.” But that probably won’t stop the permanent spending increases, unless they are the toss away part of the "show" to make it appear they are fiscally responsible.

These disagreements are always more about show than go. It may even be aimed at baiting the Republicans into arguing about the merits of parts of the plan, rather than the merits of having a plan at all ... once Republicans take the bait, Democrats give in on something they didn’t care about anyway, claim they compromised and then Republicans and Democrats congratulate themselves for reaching the compromise … and the Democrats get the cover they want in the form of bipartisan support. Hey, Republicans fall for that Liberal trick all the time, that’s part of the reason we are in this mess and in the minority.

I stopped believing that Liberals were capable of any fiscal responsibility long ago. I am also beginning to doubt the will of Republicans to fight the good fight against government excesses.
What would get my attention is if they opposed the plan altogether. In that same AP article, Rep. John Boehner, the House GOP Leader said,” We can’t buy prosperity with more and more government spending.” And my reply is; don’t just talk the Republican talk, walk the Republican walk.

My father once told me, “Be careful of any plan that has the broad support of both parties, it usually means you are about to be “expletive deleted.”” (I won’t use his colorful terminology here)

Folks, right now it doesn’t look like the excesses are going to be purged, so I guess we can expect the crisis to drag on for years.

“Anyone? Anyone?”

Written By D.

A big number doesn’t seem so large without all those zeroes. So saying 1 trillion as opposed to 1,000,000,000,000 is a useful way to make the number seem smaller and to save time typing all those zeroes. But the zeroes are very important and deserve inclusion.

The government of Tax-A-Lot’s deficit numbers are so large most people can’t relate to their actual size, more so without the zeroes, they just know the word “trillion” means a big number. Tax-A-Lot is counting on that as they pile on the debt, deeper and higher.

But here is a way to visualize it;
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/09-08/0920NATtrillions.pdf

Yesterday it was reported that the federal deficit for fiscal year 2009 will be $1.2 trillion. That’s $1,200,000,000,000.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090107/ap_on_bi_ge/budget_deficit_22

That’s a lot of debt, but if you think that is big, check out the total Federal Debt;

The Federal Debt is approximately; $10,600,000,000,000 (10.6 Trillion)

“As of November 19, 2008, the total U.S. federal debt was $10.6 trillion,
with about $37,316 per capita (that is, per U.S. resident). The October 3rd,
2008 bailout bill (H.R.1424), section 122, raised the U.S. debt ceiling from $10
trillion to $11.3 trillion. Of this amount, debt held by the public was roughly
$6.3 trillion. In 2007, the public debt was 36.8 percent of GDP, with a total
debt of 65.5 percent of GDP.”
Source Quoted; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt

The government has succeeded in making debt a large percentage of GDP.

How much does the government take in from taxes? Well, in 2004, Federal, State and Local government took in over $3,000,000,000,000 ($3 trillion.)

But they just can’t seem to manage on that paltry sum.

Where did that $3,000,000,000,000 come from? The short answer is it came from us taxpayers. But with higher and higher unemployment and more and more people entering retirement, there are fewer and fewer of us.

In case you are curious about the $3,000,000,000,000 broken out by specific taxes, here is a list of taxes for 2004 with all the zeroes;

Table 13. Federal, State and Local Taxes Allocated in the Current
Study, Calendar Year 2004

Federal Taxes
Calendar Year
2004
Amount

Payroll Taxes (Contributions for
Government Social Insurance) $802,200,000,000

Individual Income
Taxes $801,400,000,000

Corporate Income Taxes
$244,500,000,000

Estate and Gift Taxes
$24,600,000,000

Gasoline Excise Taxes
$24,200,000,000

Customs Duties, Etc.
$23,300,000,000

Air Transport Excise Taxes
$12,100,000,000

Other Excise Taxes
$10,400,000,000

Diesel Fuel Excise Taxes
$9,200,000,000

Alcoholic Beverages Excise Taxes
$8,400,000,000

Tobacco Excise Taxes
$7,100,000,000

Total Federal Taxes
$1,967,400,000,000


State and Local Taxes

Property Taxes
$329,800,000,000

General Sales and Gross Receipts Taxes
$254,200,000,000

Individual Income Taxes
$225,100,000,000

Other Taxes on Production and Imports
$48,200,000,000

Corporate Income Taxes
$43,100,000,000

Gasoline Excise Taxes
$33,800,000,000

Other Excise Taxes
$29,300,000,000

Public Utilities Taxes
$21,600,000,000

Insurance Receipts Taxes
$14,600,000,000

Personal Motor Vehicle License Taxes
$13,600,000,000

Tobacco Excise Taxes
$12,300,000,000

Motor Vehicle Licenses on Production & Imports
$7,600,000,000

Severance Taxes $6,900,000,000

Special
Assessments Taxes $6,500,000,000

Personal Property Taxes
$5,700,000,000

Estate and Gift Taxes
$5,700,000,000

Alcoholic Beverages Excise Taxes
$4,600,000,000

Other Personal Taxes
$4,100,000,000

Total State and Local Taxes
$1,066,700,000,000

Source: U.S. Commerce Department’s
Bureau of Economic Analysis; Tax Foundation
http://www.taxfoundation.org/files/wp1.pdf

And now we are being warned of the “dire consequences” of not spending more. I seem to recall being warned of the “dire consequences” of not passing the big bailout a few months ago. Yet as the deficit spending increases, the economy continues to tank.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090108/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_economy

OUESTION: How long do you think we can sustain this ever increasing debt?

ANSWER: Who knows? … I feel like the Economics Professor (played by Ben Stein) in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” when, after asking a question and receiving no reply, he said, “Anyone? Anyone?”

Pres-Elect Appoints Spending “Watchdog”

Written By D.

News flash from Tax-A-Lot … reform of government spending coming to an entitlement program near you. Social Security and Medicare are on the table for spending “reform.” Remember when Republicans tried to reform those programs and Democrats told Senior Citizens that the “Mean-Spirited GOP” wanted to take away their Social Security? My, how times have changed.

Not surprising that “few details” of the reforms were provided, don’t want to anger the Senior Citizens and Baby Boomers who are about to retire before you find a way to blame the GOP for the “reform.”

According to AP; http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090107/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_15

“President-elect Barack Obama said Wednesday that reforming massive
government entitlement programs — such as Social Security and Medicare — would
be "a central part" of his effort to control federal spending.

Obama made the pledge but provided few details as he named Nancy
Killefer as his administration's chief performance officer, creating a new White
House position aimed at eliminating government waste and improving
efficiency.”

With all the bailouts and wild deficit spending that is going on, plus the new spending that is being proposed, excuse me if I doubt the sincerity of this new found fiscal responsibility.

At least the “news light’ folks of the msm can spend endless hours speculating on what breed of dog this watchdog should be … my guess is it will turn out to be a toothless Chihuahua.

Who is going to break the bad news to all those House and Senate Democrats who have built their long careers on entitlement programs and pork spending? Of course they may not notice since, at the moment, they are in a spending feeding frenzy.

In case you didn’t know how broke these programs are;

“projected expenditures for Medicare and Social Security programs exceed tax
revenues by over $40 trillion over the next 75 years. “

Source; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt

News From Orwellian Oregon

Written By D.

The traffic on the Irony Super Highway doth get better and better in the land of Tax-a-Lot. MORE PUNISHMENT COMING YOUR WAY FOR CONSERVING GASOLINE. Oregon,as well as other states and the feds, are looking into ways to tax the miles you drive by installing GPS devices to track it. I bet the good people of Oregon will get to pay for the devices too, why not add insult to injury?

WHY? Because fuel efficient cars use less gas and the state will lose revenue on the current gasoline tax. Hey, I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090103/ap_on_re_us/mileage_tax_10

Forget the tax for a minute, what about the invasion of privacy? Don’t let the article fool you about them not being able to track your travels because that is what GPS locators do. If the tax was their only motive, then why not just have drivers list their mileage at the beginning and end of the year and submit it on their state tax form? They will probably argue that GPS will prevent cheating, but there really is no good answer to that question is there? That’s because every electronic device ever created can be beat with a cheat and GPS is very easy to jam.

So, our reward for conserving gasoline is to be taxed AND spied on. Beam me up Scotty!

Just Say No

Written By D.

Okay, this is rich. The federal government wants to raise gas taxes BECAUSE WE ARE USING LESS GAS AND THEY WILL NOT RAISE ENOUGH REVENUE.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090102/ap_on_bi_ge/gas_tax_10

Doesn’t anyone in government see the IRONY IN TELLING US TO CONSERVE AND WHEN WE DO, THEY PUNISH US WITH ADDITIONAL TAXES?

They just see this as a window of opportunity to tac on more taxes because of the dropping gas prices, but the prices will rise again and the tax will just add more to our burden.

Time to call your legislators and tell them to JUST SAY NO to additional gas taxes.

Final Score; Serfs: 2 Taxpayers: 1

Written By D.

The portion of Americans who actually pay taxes are the new serfs of the Kingdom of Government Greed and Waste. I believe the Liberals call it Camelot and I guess if you are the one in charge of the largesse, it is Camelot, but for the rest of us it is just called Tax-A-Lot.

I thought a review might be in order since tax filing time will soon be upon us. A time when we get to gather our receipts and spend hours filling out software created tax forms or talking to expensive accountants. Not only does the government take your money, they make you go through grief in the process of giving it to them.

According to The Tax Foundation, in 2008 the average tax freedom day in the U.S. was April 23rd. If you live in Democrat Blue States, your freedom day is a lot longer, in New York it is May 5th, In New Jersey it is May 7th in Connecticut it is May 8th … you get the picture. Of course this only covers Federal, State and Local taxes. The hidden taxes like tolls, gasoline, heating oil, sales tax are variable for individuals, but I’m sure if they were added into the mix, the government would get at least a few more weeks of our pay out of us. So if you live in New York, chances are pretty good you work until late May for Tax-A-Lot. In Medieval times Serfs worked for their Lords approximately two to three days per week. In 2008 you worked for Tax-A-Lot over two days days per week.

What distinguishes you from a serf? Not much. We take baths, eat healthier, dress better, and receive better health care, well better health care for now that is, until they socialize medicine. So for quality of life, we have one up on the Serfs.

Let’s take a closer look. You are told how much money the government wants and they take it from you. Serfs were told how much work they owed their Lord and he took it from them. Serfs didn’t get to vote on the amount of work they would do for their Lord, neither do you.
If the Serf did not fulfill his obligation, he could be punished and have his possessions taken from him, so can you.

Their Lord made the rules and enforced them. The Serf had to follow any rule their Lord made in regards to land use, legal rights, commerce, etc. So do you.

A key difference between you and a Serf is that their Lord knew better than to overtax (overwork) his Serfs, lest they go elsewhere and attach themselves to a more benevolent Lord. We can’t do that. In Tax-A-Lot there is no end to the amount we can be taxed. So that’s one for the Serfs.

Serfs had direct redress with their Lord, which is something we lost long ago with our government lords who routinely ignores the wishes of the taxpayers in out of touch Tax-A-Lot. That’s two for the Serfs.

AND, looks like the Serfs win it by one.

In the movie “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” Dennis the Peasant said to Arthur;

DENNIS: “What I object to is you automatically treat me like an inferior!”
ARTHUR: “Well, I AM king...”
DENNIS: “Oh king, eh, very nice. An' how'd you get that, eh? By
exploitin' the workers -- by 'angin' on to outdated imperialist dogma
which perpetuates the economic an' social differences in our society!”

Interesting that very few people know income taxes were Unconstitutional until they amended the Constitution in 1913 in questionable procedure some might call fraud: http://www.givemeliberty.org/features/taxes/notratified.htm Why? Because they knew they could get away with it … and they have been piling on those taxes ever since, adding newer ones along the way.

DENNIS: "You're fooling yourself. We're living in a dictatorship.
A self-perpetuating autocracy in which the working classes—"

I’ve always thought some of the best humor has an element of truth to it. Welcome to the New Serfdom of Tax-A-Lot and have a nice day!

The “It’s Good For You” Tax

Written By D.

New York Governor Paterson wants to add an 18% tax on non-diet soft drinks. Would you believe he wants to encourage drinking diet soft drinks to help fight obesity? I guess we could call it the obesity prevention tax. I am truly amused that he wants to fight obesity with a tax. But apparently we are now being told by researchers that both non-diet and diet soft drinks are unhealthy and drinking more than one per day can have negative health consequences including obesity. Oops!

So now that all soft drinks are bad for us, I guess Governor Paterson has two choices, tax all soft drinks at 18% or skip the tax altogether. Which do you think he would choose? I think he will ignore the information and just stay on the obesity prevention tax superhighway, just like global warming advocates ignore the fact that the planet is getting cooler.

It is bad enough that forty new taxes are being added to the already overburdened taxpayers of New York without insulting taxpayer intelligence by telling them that a tax is going to help them make a healthy choice which, turns out, isn’t even true. Why not just tell it like it is? Something like, “We are broke, but unwilling to make any cuts in our bloated (as in obese) budget, therefore you suckers (as in taxpayers) will just have to pay more. We don’t intend to sacrifice our pork, so you’ll just have to suffer.”

When politicians tell us they are helping us by hurting us, I’d say be sure to remember them when they run for election or re-election. Bailing out on these “tax and spend liberals gone crazy” at the polls will be the best way to help yourself. People who advocate “behavior modification taxes” need to be sent a message.

By the way, I love Coca-Cola, I drink at least one per day, I’m drinking one right now. I am not obese and I don’t really believe soft drinks cause obesity or other major health problems that a person wouldn’t already be predisposed to genetically. Hmmm … now I’ve gone and done it … I can just hear them tax and spenders thinking now … how about a tax on defective genes? After all, everyone has a few defective genes, what a great source of new revenue.

THE SOCIETY TO ASSIST IRRESPONSIBLE GRASSHOPPERS

Written By D.

So many people are outraged about the corporate bailouts. I’m wondering why they aren’t outraged about individual bailouts.

If you turn on the TV these days, you can’t watch for more than 15 minutes, without a viewing a commercial explaining how, if you contact their toll free number, they can help you cheat the government out of the taxes you owe, paying only pennies on the dollar. It goes something like; “Wow, I owed the government $50,000 in back taxes, but I went to SO & SO Company and they settled my debt for only $1,000!”

And how about those credit card debts? No problem, you can call a toll free number and they will show you how to unload your debt WITHOUT hurting your credit rating. “Wow, I owed $10,000 in credit card debt, but thanks to SO & SO Company, I don’t have to pay it!”

Who are these commercials aiming at? My guess is they’re aimed at individuals looking to bailout of personal debt.

Now, if someone doesn’t pay the income taxes they owe, who do you think picks up the slack? If someone doesn’t pay their credit card debt, who pays? Yep, it’s the rest of us. And now we will be bailing out homeowners with big mortgages they can’t afford and giving tax relief to people who don’t pay taxes.

People are doing a lot of complaining about companies and government acting irresponsibly, but in many ways they just mirror what our society is becoming. Personal responsibility used to be something people took pride in, now acting responsibly is just for us suckers. Trouble is, there are fewer and fewer of us suckers left to pick up the tab.

I hear complaints all the time about kids going off to college and being “sucked in” by credit card companies. They ring up thousands of dollars in charges and surprise, they can’t pay the debt. But no one told them to accept the credit card and charge up all that debt, they did that all on their own. Yet, who is at fault? Yep, blame the credit card company.

But the kids are just mirroring their parents self gratifying behavior … no one told them to buy the big house they can’t afford. No one told them to buy the car they can’t afford. No one told them to buy all those big screen TVs and gadgets they can’t afford. I don’t own a big screen TV and my home is not huge, but I don’t have a mortgage and I paid for my kid’s very expensive college education. I achieved both by working hard and saving money. Oh yea, and I also took the time to teach my kid personal responsibility.

So, when I hear people complaining about the bailouts, saying things like, “Where’s my bailout?” I realize that the grasshoppers are taking over the anthill and I really don’t have much sympathy because I’m one of the ants. I am a charitable person but I would never choose “The Society to Assist Irresponsible Grasshoppers” as my favorite charity. I prefer donating to real victims of disasters that are not of their own making.

When a society rewards irresponsible personal behavior and votes for the politician offering the most government goodies they are in no position to complain about corporate bailouts. If those whining grasshoppers want to know what’s wrong with our government and the economy, I suggest they start by looking in the mirror.