Benjamin Franklin to Robert Morris
On Taxes
25 Dec. 1783
"The Remissness of our People in Paying Taxes is highly blameable; the Unwillingness to pay them is still more so. I see, in some Resolutions of Town Meetings, a Remonstrance against giving Congress a Power to take, as they call it, the People's Money out of their Pockets, tho' only to pay the Interest and Principal of Debts duly contracted. They seem to mistake the Point. Money, justly due from the People, is their Creditors' Money, and no longer the Money of the People, who, if they withold it, should be compell'd to pay by some Law.
Alan: Taxes are the price we pay for civilization.
In effect, Americans are no longer willing to pay for civilization.
Non-taxpayer Donald Trump is part of a rigged system whose ungodly rich citizens pay nothing (or next to nothing) to keep civilization in good health.
Instead, The Freeloading Rich rely on YOU to pay for the infrastructure that makes their wealth possible.
If you feel ripped off, it is not the Democrats with their hands in your wallet - at least not primarily.
It's the Republicans.
And it's your own self-cultivated ignorance that makes you unable to identify your oppressors.
"Politics and Economics: The 101 Courses You Wish You Had"
Non-taxpayer Donald Trump is part of a rigged system whose ungodly rich citizens pay nothing (or next to nothing) to keep civilization in good health.
Instead, The Freeloading Rich rely on YOU to pay for the infrastructure that makes their wealth possible.
Hey! Little Person Trump Voter
Helmsley is telling you straight up how "the game" works.
And - at least until now - you've chosen to remain ignorant.
Learn more about The Queen of Mean and the rest of The Ruling Class which plays you like a violin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leona_Helmsley
If you feel ripped off, it is not the Democrats with their hands in your wallet - at least not primarily.
It's the Republicans.
And it's your own self-cultivated ignorance that makes you unable to identify your oppressors.
The following Social Security summary, released by "The Senate Committee on Aging," was seldom mentioned by the mainstream press, which - to "sell papers" - must make it seem that any contested political issue is a neck-and-neck "horse race."
In fact, it is politically certain (and has always been certain) that "modest changes... to keep Social Security in surplus... can be done and will be done."
In the current political milieu however, dimwit conservatives shriek against tax hikes so clamorously that the resulting zeitgeist prevents any mention of tax hikes even though they will take place as surely as night follows day.
It is not only politically degenerate, but pathogenic as well, to pretend that tax hikes will "never, ever" occur when in fact they will.
To believe that taxes will never go up again is to take leave of one's senses.
Like the sun, taxes go up and taxes go down.
Anyone interested in betting otherwise -- and willing to match my $1000.00 escrow deposit - is encouraged to call.
In fact, it is politically certain (and has always been certain) that "modest changes... to keep Social Security in surplus... can be done and will be done."
In the current political milieu however, dimwit conservatives shriek against tax hikes so clamorously that the resulting zeitgeist prevents any mention of tax hikes even though they will take place as surely as night follows day.
It is not only politically degenerate, but pathogenic as well, to pretend that tax hikes will "never, ever" occur when in fact they will.
To believe that taxes will never go up again is to take leave of one's senses.
Like the sun, taxes go up and taxes go down.
Anyone interested in betting otherwise -- and willing to match my $1000.00 escrow deposit - is encouraged to call.
"Conservatives Scare More Easily Than Liberals"
Excerpt: "“Modest changes can be made over time that will keep the program in surplus,” said Kohl, D-Wis. “They are not draconian, as the report points out, and they can be done and will be done.”"
May 18, 2010
May 18, 2010
Social Security gap can be fixed, new report says
A Senate committee report due out today lays out options for fixing a $5.3 trillion shortfall.
http://www.pressherald.com/2010/05/18/social-security-gap-can-be-fixed-new-report-says_2010-05-18/
WASHINGTON – Social Security faces a $5.3 trillion shortfall over the next 75 years, but a new congressional report says the massive gap could be erased with only modest changes to payroll taxes and benefits.
Some of the options are politically dangerous, such as increasing payroll taxes or reducing annual cost-of-living increases for Social Security recipients. Others, such as gradually raising the age when retirees qualify for full benefits, wouldn’t be felt for years but would affect millions.
Many wouldn’t affect current recipients, according to the report by the Senate Special Committee on Aging. Sen. Herb Kohl, chairman of the committee, said small “tweaks” are all that is needed to bolster Social Security’s finances for future generations of retirees.
Currently, 53 million Americans get Social Security benefits averaging $1,067 a month. In 75 years, 122 million, or one-fourth of the population, will be drawing benefits.
On its current path, Social Security is projected to run out of money by 2037, largely because of aging baby boomers reaching retirement. For the first time since the 1980s, Social Security will pay out more money in benefits this year than it collects in payroll taxes. The longer action is delayed, the harder it will get to address the program’s finances.
‘MODEST CHANGES’
“Modest changes can be made over time that will keep the program in surplus,” said Kohl, D-Wis. “They are not draconian, as the report points out, and they can be done and will be done.”
The committee is scheduled to release its report today. The report lays out options for fixing Social Security, but doesn’t endorse any of them.
Kohl said lawmakers will probably combine several options to ease their impact. No action is expected this year, with midterm congressional elections looming in November. Lawmakers have said they hope to take up the issue next year.
Social Security is financed by a 6.2 percent payroll tax on wages below $106,800. The tax is paid by workers and matched by employers. Older Americans can apply for early retirement benefits, starting at age 62. They qualify for full benefits if they wait until they turn 66, a threshold that is gradually increasing to 67 for people born in 1960 or later.
The entire $5.3 trillion shortfall over the next 75 years would be wiped out if payroll taxes were increased by 1.1 percentage points for both workers and employers. It would also disappear if Congress started taxing all wages, not just those below $106,800, said the Senate report, citing projections by the actuaries at the Social Security Administration.
On the benefits side, more than three-fourths of the shortfall would vanish if Congress reduced annual cost-of-living increases by 1 percentage point each year. Social Security recipients get annual increases based on inflation. This January, for the first time since automatic adjustments were adopted in 1975, there was no increase because prices fell last year.
Alan: Tax "tweaks" will not only remove onerous burdens from our descendants themselves but will liberate our "children and grandchildren" from the crushing burden of having to support their parents and grandparents.
Social Security Keeps Tens Of Millions Of Senior Citizens Out Of Poverty
How Senior Citizen Poverty Is Diminished
State By State
WIDESPREAD IMPACT
About 23 percent of the shortfall would be gone if Congress gradually increased the age when retirees qualify for full benefits from 67 to 68.
Nearly a third of the shortfall would disappear if the full retirement age were gradually increased to 70.
The Social Security trust funds have built up a $2.5 trillion surplus over the past 25 years. But the federal government has borrowed that money over the years to spend on other programs. The government must now start borrowing money from public debt markets — adding to annual budget deficits — to repay Social Security. (Alan: The fact that Social Security trust funds provided a raidable "piggy bank" for the federal government does not mean that tax hikes to re-pay the feds' borrowed money is "borrowing to shore up an insolvent Social Security system." Rather the federal government is paying back the Social Security funds it "raided" - funds the federal government should have been honest enough to raise at "the front end" through tax hikes.)
The Senate panel’s report will be presented to President Obama’s deficit reduction commission, which is expected to review all entitlement programs in the search for savings.
"Tweaks" Can Fix The 5.3 Trillion Social Security Shortfall
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/09/tweaks-can-fix-53t-social-security.html
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/09/tweaks-can-fix-53t-social-security.html
Many of the options sound simple, but most would have widespread ramifications, said Barbara Kennelly, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.
“If you raise the retirement age and you don’t do anything about the pension law or anything about retraining, and there’s been no discussion on that, where are the jobs?” asked Kennelly, a former Democratic congresswoman from Connecticut. “It’s not so simple.”
One expert cautioned that adjustments designed to fully fund Social Security for only 75 years will almost certainly have to be revisited well before then.
Here’s why: In 15 or 20 years, the Social Security trustees will be looking at a new 75-year window, one that includes future shortfalls beyond the current 75-year horizon.
Those shortfalls will have to be addressed years in advance to avoid dramatic tax increases or significant benefit cuts, said Kent Smetters, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton business school.
“If you only fix it for 75 years at a time, the same problem suddenly reappears every 15 to 20 years,” Smetters said.
The Facts Are In: The Republican Party Is Terrible For Prosperity But Unparalleled For Catastrophe
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