Now who do you suppose wrote that into the tax code? Right, a politician with a bunch of rental houses, that’s who! And I suspect that the bulk of the entire tax code is based on some bigshot’s or buddy’s needs. That’s just a feeling that I have, but I’m sure I’m right. Everybody who had some special need for a tax break, for decades on end, has influenced the tax codes until they’re a complicated nightmare. So what do they give the working man in the tax codes?
Well, they give you a deduction for every child that you have, and they give you a mortgage deduction if you itemize. Healthcare costs after they exceed ten percent of your income. What else? I can assure you that a big-money bigshot has more deductions than you have. In fact, the big guys do what’s called Tax Planning, and that’s where you decide what to do with your money before you ever even get it. Johnny American can do the same thing by thumbing through a tax preparation book and calculating several what-if scenarios... what if I pay my medical bills this year or wait until next year, what if I decide on renting a car vs. buying a car for my business? Things like that will usually find you some tax breaks, but unless you can hire the best (read: most expensive) tax accountants, you’re generally stuck with what Uncle Sam puts out in his 1040 Instruction Booklet. Once again, the big guy wins, because he can afford to pay a tax guy $10,000 to find him $50,000 worth of tax breaks.
Oh, and the little guy wins, too. If you earn within a certain bracket and you fit a certain situation, you can actually get back more income tax than you paid in. This is called the Earned Income Tax Credit. The What? The EIC, the Earned Income Credit! I really don’t understand the logical thinking that went into this, but obviously, some political group decided to help lift lower-income mothers out of poverty by giving them more money back than they paid in! That’s a caring notion, but guess what? That’s My Money! You (the government) are giving them money that I paid in, and without my permission! Stop! If you’re gonna give it back, give it back to me...after all, I’m the one you took it from. And I could sure use it!
Now before you think that I don’t care, I really do care about those less fortunate than I am. But enough’s enough. Don’t you think that helping folks out for a year or two is enough? Three years, tops! Let’s talk about a lady named Sally. Sally is real. Sally can’t succeed in life, according to her, because 1) she has kids 2) she’s not educated enough to find a better job. But let me tell you just how smart Sally really is: She works throughout the year until she makes enough money to top out in the Earned Income Credit bracket. Then she quits or finds a way to be without a job until the end of the year, so that she can Max Out her Free Money Earned Income Tax refund! This is true, I know this lady. She plans her entire work year around her quit date so she can get the most Free Money. How sad is that? But Sally’s a tax planner. She’ll give up $8,000 in extra income in order to get back $4,800 that she never even paid in. And her lack of education? It shouldn’t matter. She’s smart enough to work the system, so she’d probably be a valuable employee for some company...that is until she quit, to maximize her free money.
But I do care, and I’ll help any of my friends, relatives, or neighbors who are in need. I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again. I’ve donated money to causes, I’ve donated food, I’ve delivered food, I’ve supplied free labor, I’ve given cash to individuals, I’ve made loans that never were repaid, I’ve bailed people out of jail, I’ve helped with special causes, I’ve walked relays and raised money, and done lots of things to help folks in and around my town. I probably should do more. Probably, we all should do more to help, but I could do more if you’d quit taking money from me and giving it to Sally.
Back to the tax problem. We ought to be able to get rid of our debt and cure our defecit if only we’d spend less than we take in. That’s a simple rule, and shouldn’t be too tough for a politician to grasp. Pretty much, if we cut frivolous spending by 10% and increase our income by 10%, well that’s a 20% difference that we’ve made in knocking out our financial problems. And I firmly believe that tax revenue would increase if we had a simple tax rate of, say 5% for low-income families, 10% for high income families, and 12 1/2 % for corporations...and then make sure everybody pays it... Adjust up or down as needed after the first year, but at least everybody would be paying their share. And no more getting back more than you paid in!
The tax form with instructions: maybe a few pages for an employee, maybe a dozen pages for a small business, maybe two dozen for a large corporation. Done.
The federal reserve, in my opinion, has held interest rates low for only one reason: Yeah, just think of all the debt our country has. By keeping the rates artifically low, we’re saving a bunch of money each and every day on interest, because we’re so far in debt! But keeping the rates so low, we’ve also put the squash on savings accounts, which is hurting the senior citizens and retired folks who had come to rely on interest on their accumulated savings and retirement accounts to be able to have a little money to get by on during their golden years. Get rid of the debt and you can raise interest rates. Granny has more to spend and pay taxes on. Bring our factories back and you’ve got less unemployment and more individual and corporate tax revenue. There’s lots of things that can be done...if somebody with authority would just Do It!
And, Mister Politician, since our taxes pay your salary, aren’t you our employee? So shouldn’t you do what we want you to do, rather what you want to do? I’m just asking, because sometimes it seems like insubordination on your part. I’m just sayin’. But it’s income tax, state tax, sales tax, property tax, gasoline tax, you name it and somebody will find a way to put a tax on it. Hotel tax, sin tax, value-added tax... here a tax, there a tax, everywhere a tax tax. But our taxes do more than pay your salary, and a gasoline tax, at least in my state, helps pay for roads and other transportation-related infrastructure such as bridges.
So tell me why do I sit in traffic on a stretch of road for a year or more while you widen the road, and then five years later, I have to sit in traffic along the same stretch of road while you widen it again? Lack of foresight on your part? How’s this: you’ve already aquired the right-of-way, so you move the power lines, move the gas lines, move the water lines, haul in rock and dirt, build the roadbed with ditches along the side, install drainage... and then in a few years when you decide you need another lane, you have to move the power lines, move the gas lines, move the water lines, haul in rock and dirt, then build the roadbed wider this time, with ditches along the side and install new drainage. So, why oh why didn’t you move the power lines far enough, the water lines far enough, the gas lines far enough and the ditches with their drainage far enough away, and build the bridges wide enough that if you ever need to add another lane or two, most of the hard work is already done? If you need additional lanes, just call in a gravel truck and a paving crew and you’re done. You don’t need to move the ditches, power poles and utilities every time. Make them wide enough to begin with and save me some money. After all, that’s my money! And I’m not picking on the DOT specifically, I’m just using this as an example. I could cite (or you could cite) dozens of ways to cut costs in the long run, in any government department, but nobody wants to listen and nobody wants to speak. Taxes. What a waste!
Chapter8: ADHD
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Yeah, I don’t remember when I first heard about this, but I think it was in the late 1970s or the early 1980s, and I heard it from some of the best...those who work the system. And it went something like this. “All you got to do is get your kid to act up in school, and the government sends you a check every month for $478 (or a whatever amount it was then).” Really? News like this spreads like wildfire through housing projects, and everyone lines up to get yet another check. I’m sure that there are kids all over this country with a real case of ADHD, but I’d hazard to guess that once word spread, most of those drawing a check are Mommas encouraging their kids to act up so they can get Free Money. And now I hear that schoo
ls are encouraging parents to apply for ADHD, because it lets the schools slide a little when it comes to meeting the standards for No Child or Common Core.
The theory behind the checks, I believe, was to give money so that Momma could afford to get medical or psychological help for her unruly or inattentive child. Whoever thought that throwing money at a problem makes things better? But mostly they just put those unruly kids on drugs and send them on their way. And now look, our schools have no prayer in them, teachers can’t paddle, and the unruly kids distract the normal kids from getting an education. Some of them are acting up because Momma told them to. How can you fix this? It’s gone too far, probably, but if it goes any further, it’ll be impossible to get it back.
It’s bad for the children, it’s bad for America, and it’s bad for America’s bottom line. Probably, all your kid needs is a good spanking.
Chapter9: Lazy-ass Americans
Every hard-working American citizen knows somebody who is just too plain lazy to get up off their ass and go to work. I don’t think that lifestyle is right, but if you look at it from a financial perspective, maybe they’re smarter than the rest of us. Recent surveys show that, if a person were to maximize their benefits, they could draw an equivalent of over $15 an hour just by sitting on their lazy asses and letting the rest of us support them. I believe it was about $60,000 per year in Hawaii. What this is saying to me, and should be saying to all American workers, is: that’s too much! It pays too well to sit at home.
I’m not talking about unemployment, which a lot of folks unfortunately find them selves drawing, because the term “unemployment” at least implies that you have been employed at some time...but I’m talking about Gimmee programs. Once again, I don’t mind helping somebody who’s had a run of bad luck, especially through no fault of their own, but I’m talking about the generational abusers who believe that America owes them something. From free or low-cost housing, to free food, to free rides to the doctor for free medical care, to paid utility bills, to free telephones...and now the president of the United states wants to give them free or low-cost high-speed internet. What gives? Hell, prez, I can hardly afford my own internet, and now I’ve got to pay for theirs, too? Look, I’ve paid my own way my entire adult life...except for six weeks when I drew unemployment and also got two weeks worth of food stamps. I was grateful for the assistance, thank you America and Tennessee, but believe me, while I was drawing, I was also out beating the bushes trying to scrounge up another job. And I succeeded, because that’s just what my generation did. Find some way to get it done. Nowdays, too many folks are just lazy. Understandably, some areas are worse off than others, but just because the news tells you that the unemployment rate is up in your town, doesn’t mean that you can’t go find something to do. Oh, yeah, silly me, I almost forgot. It probably pays more to sit at home than it does to work. You can draw taxpayer’s money and do nothing. But Wait! That’s my money! This giveaway crap has got to stop! Or at least drop to a reasonable level, and for a restricted amount of time. Sooner or later you need to make something of yourself.
Two days ago, we were in line at our local WalMart, waiting to check out. In front of us, a well-dressed lady wearing a NorthFace Jacket, diamond earrings, and carrying a Gucci bag checked out her cart-full of fine groceries, then swiped her SNAP card. That’s food stamps. Then, after paying for her food, she checked out the rest of her merchandise...which was a bag of dog food and the rest was beer. She paid for that with a debit or credit card. It was $88. That’s right, eighty-eight dollars for a bag of dog food and a lot of beer. She could afford all that beer, I guess, because you and I were paying for her groceries. Better groceries that we could afford. So my wife insisted on hurrying up with our checkout so we could see what Ms. SNAP CARD was driving. Well, she was parked right across the lane from us, and she was loading all her stuff into a Big White Shiny SUV. Looked brand new to us. To be honest, we don’t know her story and we shouldn’t judge. Perhaps her Gucci bag was a knockoff, perhaps her diamonds were CZ, and perhaps she bought that NorthFace jacket at a yard sale. Maybe the SUV belonged to someone else, and no, we didn’t follow her home to see how big her house was. But I’m just sayin’, if she could afford all that beer, she should have to pay for her own groceries. Too much giveaway in the USA, and it’s not the government’s money...that’s My Money!.
And since I mentioned Internet a short while back, let’s talk about Cable TV/Internet. We have ours through Charter. With taxes, it’s over $180 dollars a month. That gets us 300 channels plus high-speed internet. Now our 300 channels were about 100 regular channels, plus those same 100 channels in HD, plus those same 100 channels in Latino, which we don’t speak. That’s 300 channels. Do you see anything wrong with this 300 channels picture? I do. But fortunately, they’ve dropped those Latino channels and given us another hundred something-or-others of something else, but it’s mostly duplicates of some of those first 100 channels. And Charter claims high-speed internet, which crawls to a snail’s pace at times. I can download faster over my cell-phone which is 3G, but of course my data is limited over my phone. But anyhow, I think our cable/internet package just costs way too much. If you think about it, if I was smart enough to put up an antenna and drop my cable/internet, I’d save $180 a month, which, over the course of 10 years is enough to pay cash for a brand new car (if I don’t get too fancy with that new car). $21,600 I’m paying over 10 years for cable TV and internet. And I’ve had Charter for over 20 years! That’s a new Denali or Lexus, or maybe a Mercedes Benz. A used Ferrari. I’m really stupid I guess, and that antenna is sounding better all the time. But if it’s a struggle for me to afford my TV/Internet service, why should I be expected to pay for someone else’s package?
Insurance: When I retired in 2012, I found myself paying over $20,000 a year in insurance premiums. In premiums! Plus, I still had to pay money when my wife or I went to the doctor’s office or hospital. When Obamacare came out, and we found premiums for a lot less, about $1400 a month with a high deductible, we joined up. I’m all against socialized medicine, but yes, the program was attractive enough that I hooked our wagon to a star and away we went. $1400 a month for my wife and myself. My neighbor, who works mostly for cash under the table but earns more money than my Social Security check pays, gets his Obamacare for, according to him, $90 a month, with a $500 annual deductible and he also has dental care and vision, which I don’t have. I guess he’s a whole lot smarter than I am. He knows how to beat the system. When I pay my taxes, I hate the thought that I’m subsidizing his perks. And you should, too.
Tennessee has it’s own version of Medicaid, and it’s called TennCare. It’s meant to help those who are going through rough times and need medical care. Or lazy-ass Americans who just won’t work. And it’s cheap. A friend of mine was on TennCare for a while, and he paid $29.50 a month. He had better medical benefits than I did, and I had a premium plan through my employer that cost a whole lot more!. And for a while, his TennCare paid for him to get Viagra, and kids got free braces (if deemed medically necessary). My high-dollar plan didn’t pay for Viagra for me or braces for my kids. So while I was paying $3500 each for the kids to get braces, I was also paying for his kids’ braces and his own supply of Viagra! I don’t begrudge anyone getting help when they need it, especially basic medical help, but this was another giveaway program that just got out of hand. I knew others who bragged they were on Tenncare and I knew they were loaded with $$$, so I guess they were beating the system, too. But, at least there’s some justice to the system. If you’re on Tenncare or Medicaid, when you die, the state comes and gets all your stuff, if you have anything to get. So to all the loaded folks who beat the system, when you die, your kids aren’t getting what you thought they were gonna get. Maybe you shouldn’t have beat the system.
But there’s a whole generation coming up where 20% of those people are going to expect the other 80% to provide them with stuff. One in five will be expecting a handout. Why? Because we haven
’t put any deterrents in place, because we’ve made it too easy, and because we’ve just been way too generous giving stuff away. And some of it’s my stuff!
Public Housing: Many people are living in public or government or subsidized housing. I don’t mind helping you for a while, but sooner or later, you’re going to need to get out on your own. Maybe have a little pride, maybe have a sense of accomplishment. A lot of public housing bases the amount that you pay on your income when you sign up to receive this benefit. But when you reach a certain threshold, you should be able to go out into the world and find your own place to live. Or booted out. Recent discoveries show that there are folks who are making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, and they’re still living in subsidized housing, their rent based on the income they had when they first moved in fifteen years ago. A spokesperson claimed that this was okay, because “we try to maintain diversity within our housing projects.” Now you tell me what a family making half-a-million a year has in common with a family making $12,000 a year. They’re living side-by-side in public housing, that I’m helping pay for, and nobody sees a problem? I guess that’s what diversity is all about. But it’s wrong, and it needs to stop. Johnny American says “That’s enough!”
And speaking of public housing, how about our jail system? We take in prisoners and put them in jail, they they complain about the fact that the jails are overcrowded or unfit for human residency. So then we not only have to feed and house them, now we have to build them new quarters. Our county here in Tennessee just finished a new jail at a cost of millions to the taxpayers. After spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to catch and prosecute the criminals, now we have to spend more hundreds of thousands each and every year to keep them from society, we feed them and give them a place to stay, and that’s not good enough? Moreover, we also have to pay their medical bills while they’re in custody! That’s right, and maybe you never thought about how they get medical care, but the taxpayers are on the hook for that, too. Another county here in my home state stated recently that one particular prisoner in their custody would most likely break the county’s medical budget for the entire year. I really don’t know what can be done about it, but sometimes it seems that we taxpayers are always on the hook for everyone else. If it were up to my wife, they’d all be plowing ground and planting crops and raising beef or pigs, then harvesting the crops and storing them for their own use. And when they weren’t working the farm, they’d be on a chain gang making little rocks out of big ones. I think some places still do this. And make the prisoners wear pink jump suits.