Beware the Payroll Tax Break!

In a recent interview, President Donald Trump said he won’t approve another COVID-19 stimulus package if it doesn’t include a payroll tax cut for workers…but what does this mean? Simply put, a suspension of payroll taxes would halt money being taken out of worker’s paychecks to pay for government programs like Social Security and Medicare.

However, the payroll “tax cut” would also put more money in the pockets of wealthier people, do absolutely nothing for the 37 million people who have lost their jobs in the last few weeks, and cut Social Security’s dedicated revenue.

Generally speaking, payroll taxes are split by the employer and the employee, with each paying 7.65 percent of the worker’s compensation for a total of 15.3 percent. In theory, this means that employers and employees would benefit from a payroll tax cut since both would enjoy similar savings.

But Self-employed people would benefit the most because they pay 12.4 percent of their pay toward Social Security and 2.9% for Medicare…and while many small businesses and self-employed workers are struggling right now, a payroll tax cut for all self-employed workers could largely benefit people who may not even need any financial help because Payroll taxes phase out for people after only $137,700 in personal income in 2020, so the potential savings for self-employed workers who may not even need it could be enormous.

And Businesses would also save money on payroll taxes whether they need the savings or not and a payroll tax cut for businesses across a company’s total workforce could lead to huge savings that would grow the bigger they are…for example Amazon pays over 2.4 billion dollars in payroll taxes. A payroll tax cut would result in tremendous savings for employers like Amazon.

It’s also likely that successful businesses would just pocket the savings and use the money to boost profits versus using the funds to hire more workers or grow their operations – especially if there is no demand for their products or they simply don’t need more workers. Why would a company hire someone if they don’t need the work due to no demand?

Unemployed workers (23% of the workforce since Covid-19 hit) don’t stand to gain anything from a payroll tax cut. Without employment, they aren’t currently paying payroll taxes anyway. Plus, those who’ve retired, stay at home, or are disabled, won’t get any benefits from this proposal either.

And while those “essential workers” who are still working do stand to benefit from a payroll tax cut, it won’t amount to very much money. If you are a worker earning $15 per hour and working 40 hours per week right now, a payroll tax cut would give you back 7.65 percent of your income. This only works out to around $46 per week or a little over $180 per month.

But most importantly Social Security and Medicare are the biggest losers in this scheme and stopping payments into each program only stands to exacerbate their ability to survive. Social Security is already expected to have to decrease payments to beneficiaries by 2035…when,  According to a  the most recent report on the status of Social Security and Medicare, only around 76 percent of promised benefits will be able to be paid out.

And If payroll taxes come to a halt this year and most likely beyond should the President get re-elected, (which he has promised BTW) it’s not hard to imagine how quickly the Social Security system and Medicare will… collapse completely

And just so you know: Today (August 13th) the unemployment rate in the U.S. is about 10.2% with over 16 million Americans filing for benefits…meanwhile the Dow Jones Industrial Average is again approaching 28,000 and has almost fully recovered from the Corona-virus downturn that began in March. Have you?

Our economic health basically has nothing to do with workers or people who are not wealthy. A new study released in late November by The Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program found that 44% of U.S. workers between the ages of 18 and 64 are in jobs that pay only median annual wages of $18,000… and The study noted that 53 million of these low-wage jobs were people in prime working-age of 25 to 54, not just recent high school or college graduates.

So cutting the Payroll tax means cutting Social Security and Medicare for all of these workers…forever! Make no mistake about it. You can’t save money for your retirement if you don’t save money for your retirement… and especially so if your employers are no longer matching  the amount that you are/were saving.

But that is not all of it!…Basically, the Social Security Administration is loaning money to the federal government, (currently 2.9 trillion dollars) which, in turn, pays interest to the Social Security program each year. (2.2%interest) For the federal government, this arrangement is incredibly beneficial because it means not having to rely on foreign countries to buy even more debt….and did I mention at ONLY 2.2% INTEREST!!!

Wait stop! We (working for wages people) get 2.2% interest on a 2.9 trillion dollar loan to the U.S. government?!!!! What if this were a college loan? We’d get 8%!!!! and the government could never legally renege on the loan. What if we were your average billionaire (Let’s say president Trump?) We’d get over 8% interest on an investment like that!!! Why? Because we’d be in control of our own investments and not being taken advantage of by a government of millionaires and billionaires who…wait for it…WORK FOR US!!!!

So Social Security is headed for insolvency because it is mis-managed… not because it doesn’t work. What about the Social Security Board of Trustees who oversee our program? Why don’t they put a stop to this government borrowing at ridiculous interest rates?

Well…There are six Trustees, four of whom serve by virtue of their positions in the Federal Government: the Secretary of the Treasury, (Steve Mnuchin: net worth 400 million) the Secretary of Labor, (Patrick Pizzella: net worth 5 million) the Secretary of Health and Human Services, (Alex Azar: net worth 15 million) and the Commissioner of Social Security (Andrew Saul: net worth 2 million)

The other two Trustees are public representatives (that’s good isn’t it?) appointed by the President, subject to confirmation by the Senate. And…wait for it… The two Public Trustee positions have been vacant since July 2015. (net worth?: 0)

Our country’s debt currently stands at 26.6 trillion dollars! (with a bullet upwards) It was 19.9 trillion dollars when President Obama left office less than 4 years ago. What will happen to our debt when the SS piggy bank is gone? And the Federal Government continues to borrow at a rate of at least 1.7+ trillion dollars more than it has per year?

Without the 2.9 trillion dollars that it practically steals from SS now and the 1.7 trillion that it doesn’t have to pay its bills to begin with, that would make for a 4.6 trillion dollar short fall every year!… Glorioski! Mr Money Bags!… I mean Daddy Public Bucks!

So let’s cut the payroll tax! Great idea huh? Sounds like the kind of idea a financial wizard would come up with to pay one’s debts, doesn’t it? Or rather maybe someone who has declared 6 business bankruptcies during the course of his life time?

So Beware the Payroll Tax Cut! It’s a con job! A payday loan! A scam!

And If you work for a living…rest assured…in the end, You’re really gonna get it!

Have I Seen Everything Now?

The other day I was driving along and passed the Exxon Deli and Grill!…As in the Exxon gas station has a deli and grill attached to it now. Whatever happened to repair shops being attached to gas stations? Now they’re making me a sandwich while pumping my gas?

So if I go in there and ask for a sandwich made just the way I like it, and they ask me what kind of oil I’d like on it, do I ask for 30 weight or 40? And does it matter if I’m buying my sandwich in the Winter or Spring?

What’s on the grill? Alaskan Duck marinated in Exxon Valdez oil spill?

Oh well, at least now I know what the oil companies are doing with my Trump Tax Break. Now that they’ve raised their gas prices all of my tax savings are going straight into their wallets!

So “Fillerup!” And make my grilled salmon to go… with an extra helping of fumes!”

Of course it’s to go. I’m at a freakin’ gas station for cryin’ out loud!!!

 

It’s Official!

Now if only the wind would blow the President’s tax returns to a place where we could see them! I for one would like to know what kind of a tax break he is getting in his weekly earnings and if/or he pays any taxes at all. The answer my friends is still blowing in the wind.

At least we know why our president can’t start his day until 11AM. He’s doing his hair and makeup…and we were worried about electing a woman to the presidency!

Anyway, I know it’s not that important but in today’s world of politics…er…entertainment this is a big story… but I guess that’s life…hair today…

gone tomorrow.

 

It’s Good To Be the King!

Remember when President Trump talked about his tax-reform plan, which he said would benefit the middle class at the expense of wealthy Americans like himself? And when he said: “They can call me all they want. It’s not going to help,” (he said of his rich friends). “And it’s not good for me, believe me.” (Did you believe him?)

Well President Trump is spending the Christmas holiday with his family in Florida this year (each trip there costs “we the people” 21 million tax dollars) and according to CBS News (all fake because they work for the Democrats and Hillary who actually rules the world) he told friends at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, just hours after he got there that: “You all just got a lot richer.”

Proponents of the bill celebrate it as relief for the middle class that also provides a tax cut based spending stimulus for large corporations… to the tune of 1.4 trillion dollars, which for all intents and purposes will be going to key donors and lobbyists, the richest members of Congress, President Trump, his family and other families like his. (but of course we don’t know for sure how much President Trump will get because our president won’t show us his taxes)

But we can all rejoice in the fact that our share should result in somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 dollars next year of tax relief, depending on the size of our paycheck today of course. That should amount to anywhere between 19 and 38 dollars a paycheck (or 38 and 76 dollars if you are paid bi-monthly) That’s 30 gallons of gas each month! (nothing to sneeze at, right?)

At that rate your tax breaks could save you enough money to take you by car from Maine to Mar-a-Lago in 2.12 months (of saving your tax breaks)…but if you wanted to go there in style like the POTUS does (at least bi-monthly, and for 21 mill a vacay) then you’ll have to save your tax breaks for 127,000 months or about 10,500 years! (That’s if your getting the BIG middle class tax break)

In conclusion?: It’s good to be the King isn’t it? (and I suspect it always has been)

What Do We Know?

Tax cuts are coming! Huzzah! But so far no one knows how much or when and recent surveys of taxpayers have shown that most American tax payers have no idea how much money they actually pay in federal taxes each year nor what percentage of their earnings their taxes equal. Do you? Does President Trump? We suspect he does but he is not telling us anyway.

However the President’s advisers have been arguing that he does not need to reduce federal spending while he cuts taxes in order to make ends meet. Just like you wouldn’t have to cut your home expenses if you lost your job or were forced to take a pay cut because, you know reduced income will stimulate your home economy just like reduced tax revenue will stimulate the US economy.

But according to a new survey conducted at the University of Chicago, Eighty-four percent of all economic experts polled disagreed that Trump’s tax cuts would pay for themselves through increased economic growth. Mostly because it’s never worked before…ever.

Still that is the plan, although it has yet to be finalized by the president and Congress… and most Americans polled believe that they will get screwed and end up paying more in taxes unless they are rich and/or a corporation. I wonder why that is? Could it be that when Asked whether tax cuts since 1980 have ever paid for themselves, no economists argued that they had?

So will it work this time? We will just have to wait and see. The average American’s wages and income have not increased in real dollars (as in kept up with inflation) in over 40 years but maybe, just maybe, this will be the year. They say that the president himself will be looking at a 31 million dollar tax savings just for himself but then again no one really knows how much if any taxes the President now pays (but that’s only because he won’t tell us).

But we do know that the average corporation in the new tax plan will receive a massive cut in their tax rate from 35% to 20%! Will you and I see a 15% reduction in our tax rate? Probably not, but don’t despair because after all, here in America, corporations are people too! and they also have to make ends meet… just like you… Huzzah!

 

 

 

 

 

It’s Party Time!

Congress has repealed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and replaced it with the American Health Care Act (AHCA). All they had to do was take the word affordable out! It was just that easy and also very American. Now let’s all party at the President’s Palace! (formerly known as the White House) There are free buses to and from and beer and selfies!…But sadly you and I were not invited.

Anyway, experts agree that the changes in America’s Healthcare will mean cheaper prices and more healthcare for the young and the wealthy and more expensive prices for the poor and elderly. Huzzah! This is just as it should be!

If you want something you have to pay for it. This is called Capitalism… and if you want something and don’t have the money to pay for it then you don’t get it. It is a very simple and straight forward system. Tried and true.

So naturally our new Healthcare system favors those who can pay over those who can’t because if you want something that you can’t pay for and then cry about it, you are a Socialist and Socialists can go screw and have babies! And a lot of good that will do them because their babies won’t get healthcare either. So rest easy… In case you were worried.

But look at the bright side. If you are elderly then you are close to dying anyway so isn’t spending money on healthcare a waste of money? And if you are poor then what do you have to live for? (especially in one of the most expensive countries on Earth) so wouldn’t spending money on your health be counter productive? And if you are poor and elderly well then… do the words “cost effective” mean nothing to you?

Besides, the United States is number 1 in child poverty (Among industrial nations) and number 1 in the amount of money we spend (Don’t) on helping the poor. (As in LAST)…in case you were worried again. So when it comes to Entitlements this new Healthcare Act is not one of them! Huzzah again!

Because Freedom is Expensive, not Free! It’s expensive when you are born. Expensive when you are alive and expensive when you die. And if we are doing it right it gets more and more expensive as you go along. That’s called business.

And oh yeah, the new bill eliminates The ACA’s employer mandate, which required large employers to offer affordable coverage to their workers. If the bill becomes law, companies that do not wish to cover their workers will face no penalty. It frees all large employers of the complex reporting necessary to enforce the provision and It also pushes back enactment of a tax on high-cost employer health plans.

So take your excess money (if you have any) and put it in your new Healthcare bank account (tax free) and tell the bank to invest it in Healthcare (not yours silly…the business) and Pharmaceuticals and medical devices and even tanning beds! Those businesses are about to go through the roof! If you’re lucky You’ll be able to cash in on the death and dying of others so that you can afford your own future demise.

And if we can get the banks to bundle these healthcare accounts into derivatives and then sell them back and forth to each other until the whole system collapses under its own weight and from sheer greed, then the feds will have to step in and bail out the entire convoluted establishment and we all get rich…if we don’t get dead first!…which of course we most probably will.

Anyway, I digress. Just look at all of those happy, old, rich, white guys laughing and smiling and about to party like it’s 1776! And most of them haven’t even read the bill they’ve just passed (I kid you not) including the big guy in the middle who says that it’s a great, no, very great, piece of legislation.

But don’t despair yet. The American Senate still has to approve this bill and so far they say that they aren’t going to read it either…just disapprove it… and then make their own healthcare legislation. Why? Because the American Health Care Act is…wait for it…too generous!

So party hearty America!…Happier (if maybe not healthier) days may soon be here again…and If you’re an old, rich, white guy… did they ever really end?

 

 

 

 

Around America’s East Coast in 80 Days

In his first 80 days in the White House, President Trump’s six weekend trips to Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Florida, have cost around $21.6 million. That’s according to CNN, that fake news outlet. So can their numbers really be trusted? Probably because these are actual factual numbers that can be checked by anyone with access to a calculator, pencil and paper, abacus and normal working human brain.

Meanwhile our most recent President, Obama, spent close to $97 million on travel during his entire presidency! And that’s according to Judicial Watch, a conservative government watchdog. At President Trump’s current vacationing/golfing/spending pace he’ll spend around 777 million dollars (680 million dollars more than President Obama) if he lasts 8 years in the presidency.

That’s almost 1 billion dollars! Or 8 times the amount that President O. spent… which by the way, caused Republicans to go positively apoplectic. Now however, no one seems to care in the least that our President spends only half of his time at the White House and the other half vacationing in Florida…and at extra taxpayer expense.

Nor does anyone seem to care that our First Lady refuses to live in the White House also, preferring to live in NYC at a cost of millions more in tax payer dollars…not to mention the millions of additional dollars that the states of New York and Florida have to shell out in security costs for our itinerant first family.

Doesn’t anyone remember when Candidate Trump was an outspoken critic of President Obama’s travel and golfing excursions and when he said that he himself would be too busy working hard in the White House for America and Americans to be able to have any time for himself or for his friends and family let alone his favorite hobbies.

And now here he is keeping his promise to make America Great again by having America spend a fortune on infrastructure…his own, that is. Imagine that? Possibly 1 Billion tax payer dollars or more spent on an American President and his wife’s commute to and from home and work!

Thank goodness he’s not also taking a salary, huh? But then he’d have to pay taxes wouldn’t he? Kind of makes you want to hurry up and get your own tax return in by the April 15th deadline doesn’t it?

Dearth and Taxes

Here are the new taxes that President Obama has proposed in his new budget plan. Which one of these new taxes would be a big problem for you to pay or would hurt your children and family after you are dead?

-Raising the capital gains tax, paid by investors when they sell at a profit.

-Imposing a new tax on inheritances. So if you are a billionaire or own A family home or a stock portfolio that quadrupled in value to $1 million over the years and want to leave it to a child it could be subject to taxes on that gain, whether or not it’s sold.

-Cutting the corporate tax rate to 28 percent from 35 percent. The proposal would limit corporate tax deductions, and also tax overseas profits held abroad at a special lower rate (14 percent — if companies return them to U.S. shores)

-Levying a tax on large banks, designed to compensate for the advantage they gain in the market from being seen as “too big too fail.”

Naturally the Republican Congress is outraged over these tax proposals and will most definitely oppose them and make sure they never see the light of day because…“these new taxes would really make it hard on American families.”

I don’t know how hard these new taxes would affect your “corporate” family, but my “corporate” family should do just fine…wake me up when they start proposing taxes on debt!

The Taxman Cometh

Here’s an interesting bit of news that contradicts just about everything you think you knew about finance, government and taxes… At least everything that you’ve ever been told by everyone or thought to be true yourself, simply because it would seem to make perfect sense. That is if we all lived in a fair and just society.

But according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy ( a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that works on federal, state, and local tax policy issues) their newest study on taxation in the United States reveals that, in 2015 the poorest fifth of Americans will pay on average 10.9 percent of their income in state and local taxes, the middle fifth will pay 9.4 percent and the top 1 percent will average 5.4 percent.

The tax study’s major conclusion is that  “Virtually every state’s tax system is fundamentally unfair. Unfair tax systems not only exacerbate widening income inequality in the short term, but they also leave states struggling to raise enough revenue to meet their basic needs in the long term.”…  And to make matters worse, several states have adopted or are considering changes that will further lighten the tax load on their wealthiest residents.

And you thought that rich folks pay more in taxes because they make more money didn’t you?

It seems that States and localities have regressive tax systems because they tend to rely more on sales and excise taxes (fees tacked onto items like gas, liquor and cigarettes), which are the same rate for rich and poor alike. Even property taxes, which account for much of local tax revenue, hit working- and middle-class families harder than the wealthy because their homes often represent their largest asset.

Of course we know that The federal income tax system, primarily taxes individuals at a graduated rate, and those who earn more pay a larger share… But don’t forget that the federal system also uses payroll taxes to raise large sums for Social Security and Medicare, which also comes out of the pockets of many low- and moderate-income Americans who pay little, if any, income tax. So when you here stories about how 47% of Americans don’t pay any taxes at all, and in fact make money from the government…well, plain and simple, that’s a lie. When you put all of the federal, state and local taxes together and subtract those from earnings, the United States is #1 in income inequality…in the world!

Wherever there are rich folks passing by you can always find poor folks left in their exhaust. And I believe that it is safe to say that poverty is a waste product of wealth. Seriously, when the richest 1% hold about 38% of all privately held wealth in the United States, and that is more than the bottom 90% who also hold 73% of all debt, and 15% of all Americans live below the poverty line…then how can you possibly imagine that what I just said about the wealthy and their exhaust being poverty, isn’t true?

There should be an AA for the wealthy, as in Avaricious Anonymous: A place for the money abundant human to go and stand in front of his or her fellow citizens, be welcomed, and then declare. “I’m really rich…but all I really want is more!” and get some help.

But I doubt that we could help them, or even help ourselves, if we found we were in the same condition, for no matter how hard we seem to try, and no matter what facts are presented before us, we still seem to believe that wealth equals hard work and goodness… while poverty equals sloth and iniquity…and who doesn’t want to be good…really, really good?

So it’s time to embrace the obvious, if you dare. The poor are poor because they have no money, not because they get free stuff from rich taxpayers. So enjoy your money while you still have it, because the inequality is getting worse not better, and rest easy in the knowledge that the poor are getting the shaft… just like the rest of us. And if you are rich than you can just rest easy, because giving folks that shaft isn’t really hard work at all.