Ronald Reagan wrote in his autobiography, An American Life, “[M]y major was economics. But I think my own experience with our tax laws in Hollywood probably taught me more about practical economic theory than I ever learned in the classroom or from an economist.”
Whether you've read A Tale of Two Cities or not, you know the French Revolution happened because the people were sick and tired of being sick and tired. Yes, the Revolution was about politics and religion and envy and many other things. But the spark was much more primal: hunger. Hunger based not on famine, but on the financial inability to provide food, because their money went to the building and upkeep of the palaces in whose shadows they lived.
(ANTIMEDIA Op-Ed) The month of April is a nightmare for anyone with a conscience, as we only have until “tax day” — which usually falls on April 15 — to give the taxman what he says he deserves. So if you pay taxes to Uncle Sam and you’re also aware you’re paying for mass murder in the Middle East and in U.S. streets due to the drug war, you should also feel sick to your stomach as you write that check.
Donald Trump’s tax plan seems to mark a new chapter in his presidency, from floundering around with strange and sometimes scary policies (bombings, border closings, saber rattling) to focusing on what actually matters and what can actually make the difference for the American people and the American economy.
Reasonable people can disagree about how our tax dollars are spent, or whether our earnings should be confiscated at all, but Tax Freedom Day helps to put Americans’ tax burden into perspective.
We all did our taxes painfully recently, and we're all still reeling from the numbers, thinking, "There has got to be a way to make this better." If you're single, there is: get married.
We are quickly approaching the deadline for filing (and paying) our federal and state income taxes, and that means it’s time for an annual post to help put things in perspective. Let's start with some historical perspective: when income tax began in 1913, the maximum marginal income was only 7% on incomes above what would be more than $12 million in today's dollars.
The income tax is enshrined into law an idea that stands in total contradiction to the driving force behind the American Revolution and the whole idea of freedom itself. We desperately need a serious national movement to get rid of it – not reform it, not replace it, no flatten it or refocus its sting from this group to that. It just needs to go.
Connecticut was a tax haven in the North East until 1991, when it enacted an income tax that has become more and more progressive over the years. The result? Citizens fleeing the state for more tax-friendly ones and, ironically, less revenue for Connecticut.
