Another example of taxing the poor more than the rich, and why the cities struggle

The rich have tax shelters, tax deductions, tax loss carryforwards, tax avoidance schemes, secret off-shore bank accounts, tax-deferred trusts, and high-powered accountants to see that they pay only a tiny portion of their earnings in taxes.

(The governor of Illinois, who lives in Chicago, took the toilets out of an empty mansion he owns, to take advantage of a law that lowers taxes for buildings without toilets.)

The rich have businesses to provide “platinum” health care policies along with “diamond” retirement programs.

President Trump is an example of that “most-favored-person” scam.

As I recall, this self-proclaimed billionaire hasn’t paid taxes in a decade.

Have you thought about the fact that you paid more taxes last year alone than Donald Trump paid in the past ten years, total?

The poor, on the other hand, are saddled with regressive, unnecessary FICA, exorbitant sales taxes, and other government fees and taxes that are difficult if not impossible to avoid.

On average, the lower-income groups pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes and government fees than do the rich.

And even those “friends of the poor” Democrats continue to pile it on, as this article in today’s Chicago Tribune can attest:

City’s 6 mph speeding ticket rules start Monday, and they’re looking lucrative
By John Byrne Chicago Tribune

(Democrat) Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s new stricter speed camera rules start Monday and, if the early warnings are any indication, they’re looking expensive for Chicago drivers.

As the city prepares to start ticketing drivers in Chicago going as little as 6 miles per hour over the posted speed limit, warnings mailed to people caught exceeding the new threshold show the change promises to be hugely lucrative for the city and a significant burden for residents already struggling to pay fines.

In the first week of the grace period that started in January, 52,498 warning notices were sent out, according to the Finance Department. The notices were intended to get people used to the fact they’re going to receive $35 tickets for being caught by any of more than 100 speed cameras around the city going from 6 to 9 mph too fast, according to the Finance Department.

Over a full year, such numbers would work out to over 2.7 million $35 tickets, with total revenue to the city of $95.5 million.

Under existing rules, cars caught by a camera going 10 mph over the limit get a $35 ticket, while those traveling 11 miles per hour and up above the posted speed get tagged for a $100 fine.

Now guess who will pay those fines. Will it be the wealthy suburbanites who ride to work downtown on comfortable, air-conditioned trains, or the poor slob who drives to work in the city, while hoping not to get carjacked on Chicago’s mean streets?

And with the available warning data pointing to more than 2.7 million tickets being issued annually under the new rules, the goal supposedly is not to cite drivers, but to promote safer driving.”

In order to avoid a speeding violation, drivers simply have to observe the speed limit.

Yes, it’s so simple to avoid going 6 miles per hour above the speed limit, that is, unless you drive in the real world, or on the Kennedy Expressway or Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive during the day or night, when the average speed is about 20 miles above the limit. Would you like to be a taxi driver who’s trying to get his impatient passenger to the airport on time?

Yes, you can drive the speed limit and get honked, fingered, rear-ended, or shot.

An now here’s the real knee-slapper:

With the new speed rules set to kick off Monday, the Lightfoot administration this week characterized the move as part of its larger “Vision Zero” plan to reduce car crashes.

“With the impacts of COVID-19, Chicago and many other cities experienced reduced traffic volumes that were accompanied by a surge in speeding and traffic deaths.

According to provisional data, 139 people died in traffic crashes in Chicago in 2020,” a news release read in part.

For perspective, compare that 139 figure to Chicago’s population of 2,700,000 and to the 725 people who died, and the nearly 4,000 who were injured, by gun violence in Chicago in the same year.

And sure, the purpose of those fines is to “promote traffic safety.” Believe that, and I’ll sell you one of the bridges over the Chicago River.

The real problem is, the monetarily non-sovereign cities, counties, and states don’t have enough money.

They can try to soak the rich with property taxes and wealth taxes, but the rich simply will move out and build their property where the taxes are lower.

That begins a cycle of exit, then urban decay, then more exit, especially in the cold-weather cities that don’t have as many tourists bringing in money, as do the southern areas. And ultimately, the poor get hammered.

So what is a mayor to do?

The answer, the only answer, is for the Monetarily Sovereign federal government to subsidize the big cities.

Too many politicians wrongly claim those big-city financial problems are due solely to mismanagement. Yes, there is plenty of waste in big-city government, as there is in all large enterprises.

But waste is not the real culprit. The real problem is the inevitable result of monetary non-sovereignty, which means that:

1. The main source of money is taxes, fees, and fines
2. The need for which goes up every year
3. And mostly are paid by the lower-income groups

It’s a built-in, structural problem, that only can be solved via money coming from the Monetarily Sovereign federal government.

Unfortunately, Illinois, Chicago’s state, runs a $15 billion negative balance of payments with the federal government, so even the monetarily non-sovereign state can’t do much to help Chicago. Money is flowing out instead of in.

And while our cities and their lower-income residents struggle, we have economic know-nothings whining about the meaningless federal debt, a number that has increased nearly every year for 80 years, with no adverse effect.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

Monetary Sovereignty Twitter: @rodgermitchell Search #monetarysovereignty Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

THE SOLE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT IS TO IMPROVE AND PROTECT THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE.

The most important problems in economics involve:

1. Monetary Sovereignty describes money creation and destruction.
2. Gap Psychology describes the common desire to distance oneself from those “below” in any socio-economic ranking, and to come nearer those “above.” The socio-economic distance is referred to as “The Gap.”

Wide Gaps negatively affect poverty, health and longevity, education, housing, law and crime, war, leadership, ownership, bigotry, supply and demand, taxation, GDP, international relations, scientific advancement, the environment, human motivation and well-being, and virtually every other issue in economics. Implementation of Monetary Sovereignty and The Ten Steps To Prosperity can grow the economy and narrow the Gaps:

Ten Steps To Prosperity:

1. Eliminate FICA
2. Federally funded Medicare — parts A, B & D, plus long-term care — for everyone
3. Social Security for all or a reverse income tax
4. Free education (including post-grad) for everyone
5. Salary for attending school
6. Eliminate federal taxes on business
7. Increase the standard income tax deduction, annually. 
8. Tax the very rich (the “.1%”) more, with higher progressive tax rates on all forms of income.
9. Federal ownership of all banks
10. Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99.9% 

The Ten Steps will grow the economy and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest.

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY