Today is tax day,   Ours is not yet filed – an extension because one piece of paper remains to be received.  There is no worry.  We file our taxes with no complaint.  We are ordinary people.  We feel taxes are the reasonable dues for a livable society.

I think my attitude is representative of the vast majority of my fellow citizens.  Taxes are shared responsibility for community debts for things we need, individually and collectively.  The closest-to-home taxes we pay are homeowners association dues.  They are not called “taxes” but in a real sense they are – for mowing grass in the summer, and shoveling show in the winter and repairing roofs and common elements after a storm; and taking care of garbage….  There are 24 buildings, 96 dwelling units in our association.  There is an Association Board.  As you know, even in smaller units, disagreements happen, and rules are necessary.  In short, Association, too, are conversations about ‘government’ and ‘taxes’, with neither word really ever uttered.

We want police and fire protection, and good streets, and parks.  And good schools for our children and those of our neighbors and relatives and friends.  And we live in a still United States (the concept is constantly at risk), where most of us have relatives and friends who live in many different states in all parts of the country.

Everyone of us could make a long list of why we choose to share responsibilities for many things.  And which things we pay for that we personally don’t use, but are important to someone else.

We are an immense world, with near 200 countries and billions of people, of which the U.S. is a relatively small part with an immensely disproportionate share of the worlds wealth.  I’ve previously shared a table illustrating this, which is several years old but basically still current I believe: Wealth of UN Countries.  I knew the creator of this table, and he was extraordinarily careful in use of data.  When he did his chart we had less than 5% of the world’s population and controlled near one-fourth of the world’s wealth.  What’s more is the huge disparity between the low and high wealth persons in the United States.

The real visible public debate seems to be about the issue most distant (seemingly) from our day to day life: The Federal Level, as in Income Taxes.  The Internal Revenue Service.  On an on.  Easy to throw stones at.

This issue has come out of the shadows: DOGE, chain saw, eliminating non-productive people, slash and burn….  You’ve heard of all of these.  If you can’t get rid of taxes, make it more difficult to enforce the rules – cut staff, etc.

In my opinion, briefly, the real issue in the U.S. now is whether the already wealthy will continue to have huge tax breaks, and if so, how to pay for them.

In December, 2017, the end of the first year of #45’s administration, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was passed by Republican House and Senate and signed into law by the President.  It is very complex – even the Wikipedia version runs to 45 printed pages.  But probably worth a scroll through.

From Wiki, here are the generalized tax tables carrying pre and post 2018 tables.:

Now, as any tax filer knows, the chart is just the framework.  The crucial parts of the 2017 Act were that corporate tax cuts were ‘permanent’, while the lower rates for the wealthy were set to expire in 2025.  In addition, every taxpayer got a ‘bonus’ check of $1,000 in 2018, the check signed by the President.  Supposedly this was ‘free money’.  Of course, nothing is free.  I remember complaints that the tax breaks for the corporations weren’t used to improve products or working conditions or more employment, rather they tended to be folded into other uses to make money for the corporation such as stock buybacks and the like.  The wealthy liked the lower taxes for the highest income, and don’t want to lose that largesse when the 2018 rates. expire in a few months.  In my opinion, that is the entire battle.

The results of #45’s term was a massive increase in the national debt.  Taking the chainsaw to things like medicaid for the disadvantaged doesn’t yield enough to make a difference, and brings out the protestors. Nobody knows how the sausage making will end up this year.  The Republicans again have the advantage, but it is closer this time.

I decided to look up the National Debt.  Investopedia has an interesting year by year data which seems credible.  Of course, the debt is huge – $36 Trillion which comes out to about $100,000 a person.  But then I looked up personal debt in the United States and that was about $18 Trillion.  My cynical view is that debt is essential to a very large sector of our population – mortgages, new car notes,  access to credit,etc., etc., etc.  Debt has fueled prosperity, in a sense.  But it has to be monitored carefully, both personally and politically.

Here’s a couple of more links I found which you may find of interest: How the $1,000 bonus in 2018 affected American Workers, from Los Angeles Times Feb. 9, 2018 ; and U.S. Personal Debt

COMMENTS:

from Jeff:  I think the Repubs have no choice but to pass the extension….so expect it.  The real battle is in the cuts…personally I suspect that Medicaid will be cut, but at less than the House wants…because there seem to be about 3 to 4 Republicans who are not happy about the steep cuts. (they realize they will hit Republican voters in Red states and rural areas, and they will, probably be the most impacted)  That means that the hole in the deficits and the national debt will continue.