Things to Keep in Mind When Digesting the "Mainstream" Media News

When the media controls the information you see,

they control what you believe.

When they control what you believe, they control

your mind.

When they control your mind, they control your 

emotions. 

When they control your emotions, they control

your actions.

When they control your actions, you are no longer 

in control.

When you are not in control, you are not yourself.

When you are not yourself, they have won.

Unknown Author.

MEM  

P.S.: Be judicious about where you turn to for news.

The Truth About the Wealthy Paying Their Fair Share of Taxes

Every year, especially at national election time 

and at tax time (April 15) there are arguments

as to who pays their fair share of U.S. income

taxes, who should pay more, and who should 

pay less. Politicians run on the topic, some 

in the first camp, others in the second. 

And there are others in the battle as well: 

advocates for this program or that cause,

this ideology or that, this presidential candidate

or that, all of them claiming that they require 

more and more money from Washington 

and/or the state legislatures and/or the  

municipal governments, not to mention

those of the counties.

A popular cry from those with left-wing tendencies 

is "Tax the rich! They don't pay their fair share!"

They don't think that the wealthier among us pay 

enough in income taxes, that they get off easy with 

their taxes somehow. Well, your diligent Peasant did 

some research on the matter and here are my findings:

Data from the IRS (no less!):

*In 2021, the most recent year for these records, taxpayers

filed 153.6 million tax returns, reporting over $14.7 trillion

in individual income taxes. The average income tax rate for 

2021 was 14.9%. The top 1% of taxpayers paid a 25.9 %

rate, nearly eight times higher than the 3.3% average rate

paid by the bottom half of all taxpayers.

*The top 1 per cents'  income share rose from 22.2 % in 2020

to 26.3% with its share of federal income taxes paid rose from

42.3% to 45.8%. 

*The top 50% of all taxpayers paid 97.7% (!) of all federal 

income taxes, while the bottom 50% paid all of just 2.3%.

*The 2021 figures include COVID-19 pandemic-related items 

from the ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act), i.e. the 

non-refundable part of the third round of the Recovery Rebates,

the expanded child tax credit, and the Earned Income Tax Credit.

*Also noted is the fact that Capital gains realizations topped 

$2 trillion to achieve a 40-year high, driving income growth 

and taxes paid for high income groups, i.e. the top 1%.

Share of total 2021 income tax paid, from the top earners (1%)

to the bottom earners (50%).

Top 1%: 45.8%. That's nearly half of all income taxes paid, and by

just one per cent of the income earners in the United States.

Top 5%: 65.6%.

Top 10%: 75.8%.

Top 25%: 89.2%.

Top 50%: 97.7%.

Bottom 50%: 2.3%.

All Taxpayers: 100%.

But there's more: Some people want to see the higher earners not only

pay still more in income taxes; what do they, pray tell, consider their 

"fair share" of income taxes to pay? But U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren

(D-MA) wants to tax the unrealized profits of their investment 

portfolios (!!). This means that if you have, say, stocks and you 

have not sold any of  your shares for a gain, you must STILL pay a 

percentage of your portfolio's worth in taxes! And there a few more

politicians like Sen. Warren in Washington with this same socialistic 

idea in mind! Then these same people call these high earners "greedy"!

Meanwhile, Uncle Sam keeps spending more and more on programs 

that either should not require, and certainly not receive so much money

in order to operate or on programs which should not even exist, as they

are wasteful boondoggles to begin with. So who, then, are the greedy 

ones? 

Keep these facts and figures in mind on this, here at the annual tax

deadline, as well as when you get into an argument with an advocate

for ever more confiscatory taxes including to the point of taking away

investment gains unrealized EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVEN'T BEEN

SOLD YET (emphasis your exasperated Peasant's)! 

Have a Happy Tax Day!

MEM 

The Inflation Dog Bites Biden's Backside

While the Federal Reserve continues to hold interest rates

and the inflation rate stays above 2%, President Biden's 

popularity sinks like a stone in a body of water. The White 

House posted a video showing Biden raging about shrink-

flation, offering as an example food companies shrinking 

their package size in order to cut costs. You would think

that the number of chips in a bag of, say, Lays potato chips

or Fritos corn chips would be too ticky-tacky for the 

POTUS, but never underestimate the ability of Biden to

use anything he can get his mitts on to castigate businesses,

completely unaware of how it shows his boundless ignorance

of how businesses function in providing goods and services

and how they drive the economy. Here, Biden blames not

government --- certainly nor his wild spending programs! ---

but the private sector, especially businesses, for which 

far left-wingers like himself harbor an ideological hatred

for our country's business community, for the worst inflation

which our country has had in over forty years.

And they want us to believe that our economy is in the

best shape that it has ever been in because of their interaction 

with it?? 

But Biden and his cohorts got one thing right: Inflation,

as an economic phenomenon and as an issue, will not go

away anytime soon. 

Nor will his growing unpopularity.

MEM 

So Sorry, I Must Beg Off This Week & Happy Easter!

Oh, heck! Your faithful but burdened Peasant has to

be away this week to take care of a barrage of duties

and commitments. Not to worry, my wonderful and 

understanding readers, I shall return in a week or two

to be with you and the political and economic news

of the day to pick over. Thank you all for being

so patient and indulging! 

And have a very Happy Easter!

MEM 

Universal School Choice Gains Ground

The North Carolina Legislature recently passed a new budget

granting universal school choice. It will eliminate the income 

gap presently required for being eligible in the Tar Heel State's

education-voucher program. The legislation also has a Medicaid 

expansion which the state's Democrat Governor Roy Cooper

wanted and was passed by a veto-proof majority. Despite the 

vote count being mostly along party lines, four Democrat 

state representatives voted for the bill. All this made North Carolina

the tenth state to grant universal vouchers, and may this be 

a continuing trend. By the by, this story is a sterling example 

of how well bipartisanship can work when it is performed 

truly for the good of the people.

MEM  

Tax Cutting Gives the Irish a Pot o' Gold

Ireland, the land of what economists and investors have 

in recent years called The Celtic Tiger for Ireland's 

financial rebound to enjoy the strongest economy that

this nation ever had, is on the financial rebound yet 

again; the Tiger is having a second wind. 

And what has been the factor in the Irish comeback? 

Tax cutting, and not just a wee trim either. Ireland,  

whose economy grew by an astounding 12.5% last

year, faster than any other nation in Europe (!), 

whacked its levy on corporations and became a magnet

for business and jobs. The Wall Street Journal remarked

recently that the Emerald Isle is "swimming in money"

and it's no wonder. All being more proof that U.S. economist 

Arthur Laffer was right; the Laffer Curve showed that lower

tax rates can result in faster growth and higher revenue,

and President Ronald Reagan implemented Laffer's curve

in his economic plan for the U.S. with positive results.

In Ireland, the results were even more dramatic.  

Ireland had a dysfunctional welfare-state economy in the 1990s.

Just before that decade, Irish unemployment was just a whisker 

under 18% in 1987.But eight years after that, Dublin implemented

a most daring economic plan. Ireland slashed its 40% corporate 

tax rate down to 12.5%, phasing it in over approximately ten 

years. Ireland soon began attracting new businesses and capital 

investment. The plan was a success, producing results that even 

its creators did not anticipate. U.S. multinationals soon came

over, and now number 950, with a sum total of 209,000 employees.

Ireland's population? Just five million. This is the equivalent

of a policy in the U.S. creating ten million jobs. Think about that.

Ireland, no longer a strictly agricultural country but now 

an industrialized nation, has one of the world's largest budget

surpluses with the new revenue pouring in from big tech and 

pharmaceutical companies making Dublin their home. One may 

ask, why haven't other nations taken a page from Ireland's book 

and done what the Irish did? Nations with left-leaning to outright

leftist governments have scoffed at the idea of tax competition 

among the world's nations all the while hamstringing the businesses 

inside of their borders, calling tax competition a "race to the bottom",

ignoring the fact that Ireland has raced all the way to the top.

Mr. Maduro over in Venezuela, are you listening? 

Mr. Obrador in Mexico, are you paying attention?

Mr. Lula in Brazil, what say you?

Our own left-wing head of government President Joe Biden wants 

to raise the U.S. corporate tax rate from 21% to at least 25%, but

would love to hike it to 30%. To be sure, Biden also wants to jack 

up tax rates on dividends and capital gains. And he wants to continue  

to spend, spend, spend like there's no tomorrow. If we don't hand this 

fiscal wild man his walking papers and replace him with a fiscally

conservative president next year our country won't have a tomorrow 

worth looking forward to. 

We can profit from Ireland's experience. This is the way President

Reagan recommended to us forty years ago. Let's have our own 

pot o' gold now!

Meanwhile, let's all have a Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

MEM

Outlays vs. Deficit: a Battle in Which the People Always Lose

According to the Congressional Budget Office, in 2002, the federal 

outlays were approximately equal to the 2023 federal deficit: about

$2 trillion. This includes an adjustment of around $300 billion to 

account for the resultant savings made possible by the Supreme

Court declaring as unconstitutional President Biden's student-loan-

forgiveness program which would have put U.S. taxpayers on the 

hook for the money owed by the college students who borrowed 

the money in order to enroll at college but failed to pay off the 

entirety of their loans. This is like stabbing someone with a long

knife, sticking it in halfway rather than the whole blade length;

does this make the situation only half as bad? But read on ... 

The deficit was around $1.7 trillion because the program was at 

first included in expected spending, so the SCOTUS' decision

was then counted as a spending cut. However, the spending cut

was merely a non-event, meaning that the deficit was actually

$2 trillion. Congressional "smoke and mirrors" at play.

This all ads up to (no pun intended) the $2 trillion deficit for 2002,

and Uncle Sam having added as much to the debt as were its

total expenditures in 2002. And April 15 is looming large once more.

Sickening.

MEM