TAX POLITIX
The Politics of Taxes
Record Tax Collection in Fiscal Year 2022
From October 2021 - September 2022 (FY2022), the federal government collected more than $4 trillion this year. The $4,896,119,000,000 of revenue was a record, as shown by the Monthly Treasury Statement. The prior record was FY2021, in which the government collected $4,377,816,830,000. This constitutes a nearly 12% year-over-year increase. These are both in "constant September 2022 dollars." The only other time the government collected more than $4 trillion was during the Obama administration...
Dimon Warns of Recession
Though the head of JP Morgan Chase feels that the economy is still doing okay, he foresees a recession in 6-9 months. This is due in part to "the impact of runaway inflation, interest rates going up more than expected, the unknown effects of quantitative tightening and Russia’s war in Ukraine." He further implored that the Fed “waited too long and did too little” as inflation increased to its highest rate in 40 years. Though they are aggressively raising rates now to curb inflation, raising...
It’s Time to Repeal the Jones Act
The Jones Act, as you know, requires that all cargo shipped between U.S. ports be carried by U.S.-built, U.S.-crewed, U.S.-owned ships. It makes any business involving shipping between Puerto Rico and the mainland impossible, thereby currently impeding the recovery effort from Hurricane Ian. Ships with supplies and fuel are ready to aid the people of Puerto Rico -- if only they could dock there. The Jones Act puts an unnecessary burden on our U.S territories; exempting Puerto Rico...
Biden and the COVID Emergency
How can Biden get away with saying the pandemic is over, at the very same time his attorney wrote the legal opinion that debt forgiveness was constitutional because of the COVID State of Emergency? He is trying to play both sides. On 60 Minutes this past Sunday, President Biden declared that “The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with Covid.” He furthered this assertion by reiterating “the pandemic is over. If you notice, no one’s wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good...
The Economic Tragedy of COVID Relief
What is happening, as demonstrated by the Census, is that the government largess is taking some people out of poverty, but it is having an even greater and more dangerously perverse effect. It's making people overall worse economically and preventing them from moving up to the middle class while expanding the lower levels and destroying a generation of minorities. Biden is the poster child for the very people he's supposed to be helping and he's made it worse for them. This article in the WSJ,...
WSJ: Income Equality, Not Inequality, Is the Problem
Phill Gramm and John Early do a nice job laying out the misnomer that income inequality is the problem. This concept of inequality really became a selling point during the Obama administration when the Democrats consistently implored that "millionaires and billionaires" should "pay their fair share." But the simple fact remains that income inequality isn't the actual problem with the economy. The problem lies in the fact that, due to the massive amount of government transfer payments, the...
The Average Joe and the IRS
The Internal Revenue Service is inept to such a degree that it could rightly be called criminal. The problems go beyond the numerous cited issues, such as only answering 10% of taxpayer calls or a backlog of 21 million unprocessed tax returns. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (Tigta) 2017 report stated that the IRS took to seizing property from its targets before even conducting interviews. Tigta also reports that even when interviews were conducted, the IRS failed to...
WSJ: Fauci and Walensky Double Down on Failed Covid Response
When the CDC admitted failure this week for its COVID response, one might have felt a bit vindicated regarding the lockdowns and disruptions -- but only for a moment. Because it turns out that the CDC actually means is that they didn't go far enough in their response measures and that next time it should be even more restrictive. This flies in the face of copious amounts of data that show the deleterious effects COVID response had on basically every facet of society -- economic, mental,...
WSJ: This is Your IRS at Work
You have the Editorial Board at the WSJ taking the IRS to task. The following article outlines numerous problems listed in multiple agency audits, and yet Congress is still eager to give the IRS an extra $80 billion. I've reprinted it below. The new Inflation Reduction Act has many damaging provisions, but for sheer government gall the $80 billion reward to the Internal Revenue Service stands out. The money will go to hire 87,000 new employees, doubling its current payroll. This is also...
Biden’s Most Recent Scam
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is a scam, and the very name insults the American populace. Our President, Joe Biden, was quoted saying, "Yesterday, I spoke with both Senator Schumer and Manchin and offered my support for a historic agreement to fight inflation and lower costs for American families. It's called the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022." Inflation is quickly approaching 10% the last time we've seen it this high was over 40 years ago, in the 1980s. The bitter irony is that the...
TAX
Tips
Record Tax Revenue, Again
CNSNews remains a go-to source for analyzing information on the U.S. Treasury, tax revenue, and such. Here they are again, scrutinizing tax receipts for FY2016 through the end of February. In a nutshell, the U.S. government continues to run a...
45% of Households Pay No Federal Taxes
Every year, the various tax agencies calculate how many Americans do not pay a federal income tax. The 2015 tax year number estimates that 77.5 million households, which is 45.3%, according to the research Tax Policy Center. This number is only for...
IRS Tax Tip 2016-33: Facts About Capital Gains and Losses
Capital Gains and Losses – 10 Helpful Facts to Know When you sell a capital asset, the sale normally results in a capital gain or loss. A capital asset includes most property you own for personal use or own as an investment. Here are 10 facts that...
IRS Tax Tip 2016-35: Free Help Preparing Tax Returns
Free Help Preparing Tax Returns Available Nationwide IRS YouTube Videos: Free Help Preparing your Tax Return: English | Spanish | ASL WASHINGTON –– The Internal Revenue Service reminded taxpayers today that they may be eligible to receive free tax...