How much do you pay in taxes? And what's the payback? I recently spoke with someone at the gym. In my neighborhood leftists reign supreme, and this guy was no exception. He told me that the school in Phoenicia, New York is terrible, so he sends his two kids to a private school in Stone Ridge, New York for $8,000 apiece. When I said to him, "It's terrible that we pay all these school taxes and you can't send your kids to public school," he replied, "I believe in taxes."
This individual was somewhat status conscious and self-conscious of his own status-consciousness. It is not a bad thing to "keep up with the Joneses" but enforced "liberalism" is different. He told me that he was brought up in a large house in Scarsdale and that he could afford an apartment in Manhattan as well as private school and a house here. It did not occur to him that while paying several thousand dollars in school taxes did not prevent him from sending his own children to private school, taxes likely prevent many local residents from being able to afford private schools. So, unlike my rich "liberal" friend who loves taxes and sends his children to private school, others whose children's education the taxes harm are not so rich or so lucky.
The question is: what does someone in New York pay in taxes? First off, there's Social Security. The rate in 2008 was 6.2% for employees and 6.2% for employers. Most economists agree that the employer's portion is largely a deduction from wages, so let's say the total is 10%. Medicare is another 1.45% for employee and employer, so let's call that 2.0%. In 2005, the mean household earnings for a 45-54 year old was $74,446, according to a Boston College study, so let's say the individual earns $80,000. The New York State income tax would be $4,686, or 5.8%. The federal income taxes are about $12,000, or 15%, including deductions. As well, the sales tax around here is about 8%. Also, there are premium and similar kinds of consumption taxes. Let's say 2% of income goes into sales tax. As well, property taxes are easily $4,000 for local property tax (5%) and $2,000 for school tax (2.5%) I'm not counting higher prices due to corporate taxes (corporate taxes are passed on to consumers), capital gains, license and DMV fees, tolls. So if we add up the tax bill for the average household: 10% (Social Security) + 2% (Medicare) + 5.8% (State income) + 15% (Federal income) + 2% (sales) + 5% (property) + 2.5% (sales) = 42.3%.
New Yorkers are INSANE! For 42.3% of their income they get:
Terrible schools + badly paved roads + ?
The only good thing is the snow plowing, I'll give them that. But if I spent 42.3% of my income on something and got back snow plowing, I would sue for fraud. But New Yorkers keep electing the same politicians, over and over, who keep trying to raise taxes even more.
They are INSANE!
Showing posts with label federal income tax. Show all posts
Showing posts with label federal income tax. Show all posts
Friday, January 23, 2009
Friday, December 12, 2008
From Freedom to Fascism
Contrairimairi has forwarded the following 11-part Youtube video sequence by Aaron Russo. The one point I disagree with is that toward the end Russo seems to advocate governmental money creation. I don't think that would work. There needs to be a metallic standard. The Federal Reserve Bank is a barbaric relic, and the incompetence of economists to run the monetary system has firmly demonstrated a commodity based standard, gold or silver, is necessary.
The video argues that the 16th amendment was never approved by the necessary number of states. It has some excellent quotes of Woodrow Wilson. There is no law requiring the filing of income tax returns.
During his presidency, opponents of President Bill Clinton were singled out for tax audits. The federal government uses illegal force to require payment of income tax. Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled that the IRS does not need to obey the law. The court system has gotten out of hand, and perhaps it is time to begin to resist the courts directly. Education is paid through property tax. Highways are paid for through gasoline tax. The corporate income tax pays for defense. The income tax is an instrument of totalitarianism and a method of control by which slow witted Congressmen manipulated by economic special interests reallocate wealth to those same economic special interests.
Interest payments on federal debt and government waste account for 100% of the federal income tax. The IRS refuses to respond to requests for documentation as to where it gets the authority to tax. "What if it's our own government we need to be afraid of?"
The Constitution says that direct taxes must be apportioned. All indirect taxes must be uniform throughout the states. The income tax is neither direct nor indirect. The Supreme Court held that the 16th Amendment conferred no new powers of taxation. In 1894 the Supreme Court held the income tax was unconstitutional. In 1913 the Supreme Court said that the 16th amendment conferred no new power of taxation. Therefore, the federal income tax is unconstitutional. There is no legal requirement for the average American to pay the income tax.
The government is involved in judicial blackmail. The IRS is a racketeering organization that imposes an illegal tax. The Internal Revenue Code enslaves the nation that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution freed.
The Internal Revenue Code says "compliance" is "voluntary". The government requires the form 1040, yet the Fifth Amendment says that the government cannot mandate self-incrimination. Yet, the government uses the form 1040 against the filer. The definition of income is gain. Labor is private property. The 16th Amendment did not extend Congress's taxing power. Former IRS commissioners do not show the law that requires payment of the income tax. Congress has failed to obey the law. Sheldon Cohen does not seem responsive. Sheldon Cohen says that Supreme Court decisions and the Constitution do not apply to the IRS. The IRS is a criminal protection racket.
The Constitution prohibits a direct, unapportioned tax on wages. Income taxes are taxes on profits and gains, not labor and wages.
The IRS and its supporters resort to defamation and insults in arguing with tax protestors. Law suits against the thuggish IRS and the criminal government it funds have been successful. Irwin Schiff's trial was a mockery, little more than a kangaroo court. No one should ever convict anyone of non-paymentof taxes. The IRS taxed Joe Louis on the money he donated to the US government.
IRS agents behave like storm troopers, attacking a restaurateur. The restaurateur was never charged, but the IRS wrecked his business based on false allegations. The IRS forced the restaurateur's family into bankruptcy. How did America stop being a free country?
The same people who backed the Federal Reserve system also backed the income tax. Why would the government borrow money when it can print money? The Democrats and Republicans are organized crime.
The Federal Reserve has converted America from a nation of freeholders to a nation of employees who are almost serfs. Americans have become serfs to the debt machine.
The Federal Reserve is illegal. Creating money out of thin air will destroy the money supply. The Federal Reserve is not audited and Congress fails to exercise intelligent oversight. The Federal Reserve is a swindle. The Fed has taken possession of Fort Knox gold (I'm not sure of that). America is becoming a police state. Today, you can't open a business, develop land, go to the doctor or whatever without interference from government thugs. Under President Bush's executive orders, you can be jailed without any court protection.
The government is using the right of eminent domain to steal property. Increasingly, the government ignores property rights in favor of fascistic government confiscation and violence. RFID chips transmit information and can be implanted in people as well as ID cards. There will be a massive data base identifying who buys what.
Software facilitates election fraud. America's domestic policy is run by the Fed and the international policy is run by the IMF. "A world system of financial control in private hands." The war on terrorism is a pretext for international finance's interest in international control.
David Rockefeller thanks the mass media for lying on behalf of the Council on Foreign Relations. Rockefeller advocates rule by an intellectual elite and international bankers. Fascism is the merger of corporate power and the state. The media supports this process.
"Will you choose freedom or slavery?" "Stop living in your fear of government." Call for civil disobedience. Revolutionary, anti-statist actions need to commence. Only vote for candidates who have signed an affidavit to shut down the Federal Reserve system and stop world government."
The video argues that the 16th amendment was never approved by the necessary number of states. It has some excellent quotes of Woodrow Wilson. There is no law requiring the filing of income tax returns.
During his presidency, opponents of President Bill Clinton were singled out for tax audits. The federal government uses illegal force to require payment of income tax. Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled that the IRS does not need to obey the law. The court system has gotten out of hand, and perhaps it is time to begin to resist the courts directly. Education is paid through property tax. Highways are paid for through gasoline tax. The corporate income tax pays for defense. The income tax is an instrument of totalitarianism and a method of control by which slow witted Congressmen manipulated by economic special interests reallocate wealth to those same economic special interests.
Interest payments on federal debt and government waste account for 100% of the federal income tax. The IRS refuses to respond to requests for documentation as to where it gets the authority to tax. "What if it's our own government we need to be afraid of?"
The Constitution says that direct taxes must be apportioned. All indirect taxes must be uniform throughout the states. The income tax is neither direct nor indirect. The Supreme Court held that the 16th Amendment conferred no new powers of taxation. In 1894 the Supreme Court held the income tax was unconstitutional. In 1913 the Supreme Court said that the 16th amendment conferred no new power of taxation. Therefore, the federal income tax is unconstitutional. There is no legal requirement for the average American to pay the income tax.
The government is involved in judicial blackmail. The IRS is a racketeering organization that imposes an illegal tax. The Internal Revenue Code enslaves the nation that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution freed.
The Internal Revenue Code says "compliance" is "voluntary". The government requires the form 1040, yet the Fifth Amendment says that the government cannot mandate self-incrimination. Yet, the government uses the form 1040 against the filer. The definition of income is gain. Labor is private property. The 16th Amendment did not extend Congress's taxing power. Former IRS commissioners do not show the law that requires payment of the income tax. Congress has failed to obey the law. Sheldon Cohen does not seem responsive. Sheldon Cohen says that Supreme Court decisions and the Constitution do not apply to the IRS. The IRS is a criminal protection racket.
The Constitution prohibits a direct, unapportioned tax on wages. Income taxes are taxes on profits and gains, not labor and wages.
The IRS and its supporters resort to defamation and insults in arguing with tax protestors. Law suits against the thuggish IRS and the criminal government it funds have been successful. Irwin Schiff's trial was a mockery, little more than a kangaroo court. No one should ever convict anyone of non-paymentof taxes. The IRS taxed Joe Louis on the money he donated to the US government.
IRS agents behave like storm troopers, attacking a restaurateur. The restaurateur was never charged, but the IRS wrecked his business based on false allegations. The IRS forced the restaurateur's family into bankruptcy. How did America stop being a free country?
The same people who backed the Federal Reserve system also backed the income tax. Why would the government borrow money when it can print money? The Democrats and Republicans are organized crime.
The Federal Reserve has converted America from a nation of freeholders to a nation of employees who are almost serfs. Americans have become serfs to the debt machine.
The Federal Reserve is illegal. Creating money out of thin air will destroy the money supply. The Federal Reserve is not audited and Congress fails to exercise intelligent oversight. The Federal Reserve is a swindle. The Fed has taken possession of Fort Knox gold (I'm not sure of that). America is becoming a police state. Today, you can't open a business, develop land, go to the doctor or whatever without interference from government thugs. Under President Bush's executive orders, you can be jailed without any court protection.
The government is using the right of eminent domain to steal property. Increasingly, the government ignores property rights in favor of fascistic government confiscation and violence. RFID chips transmit information and can be implanted in people as well as ID cards. There will be a massive data base identifying who buys what.
Software facilitates election fraud. America's domestic policy is run by the Fed and the international policy is run by the IMF. "A world system of financial control in private hands." The war on terrorism is a pretext for international finance's interest in international control.
David Rockefeller thanks the mass media for lying on behalf of the Council on Foreign Relations. Rockefeller advocates rule by an intellectual elite and international bankers. Fascism is the merger of corporate power and the state. The media supports this process.
"Will you choose freedom or slavery?" "Stop living in your fear of government." Call for civil disobedience. Revolutionary, anti-statist actions need to commence. Only vote for candidates who have signed an affidavit to shut down the Federal Reserve system and stop world government."
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Comment on the Claim that Increasing Income Tax Will Improve Average Earnings and Reduce Income Inequality
Those who claim that increasing income taxes will improve real hourly earnings have to explain the fact that prior to 1913 there was no income tax but real hourly earnings were increasing as much as 20 times faster than they have increased since 1971, when a significant income tax was in place. I tabulate some rough estimates of average real wage growth pre 1913 and post 1971. Between 1860 and 1890 real wages were growing at a 1-2% clip or so. Post 1971 they have been growing at about 0.1% per year. But there was no income tax for most of the 1860 to 1913 period. In contrast, under the income tax, real wages have been stagnant.
See comparison here.
Differences this big have been ignored in the popular debate about wage inequality. Something is seriously amiss here. Comments, anyone?
See comparison here.
Differences this big have been ignored in the popular debate about wage inequality. Something is seriously amiss here. Comments, anyone?
Monday, April 14, 2008
Repeal the Federal Income Tax
April 15 is nearly upon us. Those who pay taxes might consider the low quality of government services and the high amount of federal tax that they pay. On balance, the income tax destroys savings and personal independence, while the uses to which Congress has put the money are of scant value. The income tax should be repealed. I have written the follwing letter to my Congressman, Maurice Hinchey:
April 14, 2008
Dear Congressman Hinchey:
I urge Congress to repeal the federal income tax. Congress has not proven itself intellectually or morally fit to take possession of so large a share of the American purse. I urge you to return the money to the American people, except for a small amount that Congress might devote to its own education by taking basic economics and ethics courses.
Sincerely,
Mitchell Langbert, Ph.D.
April 14, 2008
Dear Congressman Hinchey:
I urge Congress to repeal the federal income tax. Congress has not proven itself intellectually or morally fit to take possession of so large a share of the American purse. I urge you to return the money to the American people, except for a small amount that Congress might devote to its own education by taking basic economics and ethics courses.
Sincerely,
Mitchell Langbert, Ph.D.
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