Wanted: Sheepdogs - because the Sheep don't even know what a wolf looks like

Vox [1]says it makes sense but Fox[2] is not convinced. WaPo[3] says it would result in increased revenue for the US of more than $720 billion in a decade (for the math challenged, that’s $72 billion [with a “B”] each year – 14 times what Trump is asking for the Wall – or 42 times what Obama paid to Iran[4] for being good neighbors). Still, Democracy Dies in the Dark if we think Jeff Bezos, whose net worth exceeds $160 billion, yet he earns a measly $81,840[5] annually (on which he pays taxes) with a total compensation number exceeding $1.6 million a year.[6]

Yep – you guessed it. I am talking about AOC’s seventy percent tax plan. (Yes, in case you missed it, America’s new Socialist darling has a new nickname that’s family friendly, “AOC.” Apparently Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is too taxing to say in its entirety, so the media shortened it – like J-Lo or WaPo.)

Why don’t I put that into perspective?

As a Marine with nine years in service and two years in grade, I earned $28,000 a year. As a truck driver, I earned $33,000 a year. My $40,000 house cost me $254 per month in mortgage and I had an $11,000 car that I paid $165 a month to the bank, $54 a month to State Farm, and put $300 a month in gas between going to work, the store, and various kids events and family functions. I had basic cable, the slowest Internet access available, a land line and one cell phone. I paid $135 a month for clean water, another $150 per month for electricity and gas, and I paid Federal and State Income Tax on all of it. I was happy to have $12 in my checking account at the end of the month. That meant I had double digits! I didn’t have enough left over to save for my kids’ college, put money away for retirement or participate in a 401k, or pay for my own higher education. Half the time my wife shifted money around so we could afford everything the kids needed – and she did it every time. My tax burden was 15% and about half the time I received a refund in February.

AOC’s progressive tax plan includes a 70% tax on the income (not wealth – look back at my comments on Bezos) of the 160,000 highest earners in the US making more than $213,000 per year. These are the men and women working 80- and 100-hour weeks, wearing ties and lab coats, or driving specialty Over-The-Road rigs, and are currently paying 37% on all income. Most of them are also paying Affordable Care Act taxes on corporate health benefits to the tune of an additional $20,000 per year. Most of those people making $213,000 a year are paying roughly $55,000 in Federal and State taxes each year. And most of them don’t have accountants and or tax lawyers defending their labor from the likes of AOC.

That’s the difference between AOC’s dream and reality. America’s top earners will never pay 70% income tax because they’ll earn $80,000 and get the rest in corporate perks –loopholes discovered and defended by their very intelligent, very ruthless, and highly-paid accountants and lawyers. And those lawyers will cost considerably less than those top earners would have lost to taxes without them. In the meantime, the rest of us will be wondering why we’re paying 15%, 28%, and 37% on 100% of our actual income when the likes of Jeff Bezos pays an effective tax rate below 1%.

AOC doesn’t actually have an answer for that. Most Socialist-Democrats don’t. Nor do they know where the money to pay for single-payer healthcare, debt-free college education, and progressive green programs is going to come from. Peter? Paul? It doesn’t matter to them. As long as it isn’t from AOC.

Did you ever wonder how someone who can’t afford rent in Washington D.C. can afford to eat, clothe herself, travel and campaign on the national stage? (Hint: Bezos isn’t the only one with lawyers)

So before we go off and strap the top earners in these United States with providing single-payer healthcare for every illegal alien who crosses the border, maybe we should consider God’s guidance.

“’So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,’ says the Lord Almighty.” (Malachi 3:5, NIV)

“Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.” (Rom 4:4, ESV)

So, instead of sitting back and watching those protected by guns and walls argue against guns and walls for the rest of us…instead of just reading news stories from the life-long Government pensioners chastising us to share our income with the less fortunate…and instead of ignoring the wise words of Rockefeller[7], Rogers[8], and Reagan[9], why don’t we commit to educating ourselves on the actual impact of these Green Great Ideas so we can stop being sheep and start being shepherds.

Or better yet – join the Sheepdogs.

(Photo: elparralac.gq)

[1] https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/1/4/18168431/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-70-percent

[2] https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/grover-norquist-ocasio-cortezs-70-income-tax-rate-is-the-opening-shot-in-a-renewed-war-against-taxpayers

[3] https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/01/05/ocasio-cortez-wants-higher-taxes-very-rich-americans-heres-how-much-money-could-that-raise/?utm_term=.31695ff03126

[4] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2018/03/01/was-obamas-1-7-billion-cash-deal-with-iran-prohibited-by-u-s-law/?utm_term=.92af93cf7d90

[5] https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-typical-amazon-worker-made-less-than-30000-in-2017-2018-04-18

[6] Ibid - Amazon spends $1.6 million per year on security and other perks for Bezos

[7] “When asked once, ‘How much money is enough money?’ He replied, ‘Just a little bit more.’” http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/John_D._Rockefeller

[8] “You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom.” https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/167272-you-cannot-legislate-the-poor-into-freedom-by-legislating-the

[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaganomics