The U.S.’s own Internal Revenue Service and 41 of the 50 state governments already tax their citizens to death.
Up to 37% of your income could be confiscated every year by the IRS alone. Not only that, up to 13.3% more of your income could go to state taxes if you live in California, for example.
When you stop and think about it, beyond what the mainstream reports, there are two tax systems in the U.S. But they aren’t what you might be thinking.
The MSM wants you to think that taxation is class warfare, “rich vs. poor.” But the two primary ways of thinking about taxation often breakdown like this …
- “Pay your fair share” — A common refrain among Democrats and voters who are bad at math.
- “Pay as little as possible” — A strategy employed by the rich as well as all voters who value their own hard work.
It’s clear that taxation is theft, especially when you consider how Government stooges spend the money. The U.S. tax system allows taxpayers to recover as much of their hard-earned income as possible-if they take the proper steps and follow procedures.
That’s what intelligent people do in a free society. In order to reclaim money that would otherwise have been wasted by politicians, they actively search for and exploit loopholes in the tax system.
Biden’s Proposed Tax on Unrealized Gains
Biden Administration officials recently proposed a tax on unrealized capital gains, which is just as bad as it sounds. The OC Register laid out a clear example of how Biden’s tax could work:
Let’s say you bought stocks in 2010 for $50,000 and they now are worth $100,000, even though you have no interest in selling them. The IRS would calculate the current value of the investment and tax you for the theoretical $50,000 paper gain. You’d probably have to sell them off to pay the tax assessment.
Likewise, imagine if the federal government could tax the unrealized gains of your home. Investments go up (and sometimes down) in value over the course of the years, and investors often make decisions based on long-term calculations. This frustrates progressive politicians, who view it as a tax dodge whenever people keep their earnings — real or on paper — out of the hands of government.
Radical tax ideas like this one have to be sold to the general public to gain acceptance-at least in theory. So in much the same way the traditional U.S. income tax was “sold” to the general public to finance World War I, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen took to the airwaves to “sell” the public on the idea of Biden’s new “wealth tax.”
“It’s not a wealth tax, but a tax on unrealized capital gains of exceptionally wealthy individuals,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told CNN on Sunday.
Leaving aside the obvious political “doublespeak” (it’s not this, it’s really that), the idea that this tax would not be assessed on every U.S. taxpayer in some form is absurd.
To be clear, Biden’s “Unrealized Income Tax” would tax revenue before any profits were realized. Yellen says the tax would target only “exceptionally wealthy individuals.” But consider that people who successfully amass wealth take whatever steps they can to avoid paying taxes on revenue earned for as long as they possibly can.
Wouldn’t it be safe to think the smartest and wealthiest members of society will develop new strategies to dodge this new tax?
And don’t you think the new tax will ultimately hit the middle class much harder than advertised?
For example: how many of us want to start to pay unrealized gains on our 401(k) plans?
Or have the Gum’ment come and “re-evaluate” the worth of my online Etsy store for taxation purposes-what do you think would happen?
Hint: The valuation that Uncle Sugar gives you on your “online hand-dyed yarn store” is NOT the same as the one the bank will give you when you try to take out a business loan.
After all, this is exactly how the U.S. income tax was applied to every working American. It started by targeting the rich, then it slowly began to apply to the middle class and eventually even the poor.
The bottom line: Even if it irritates “progressive” politicians, it’s your moral obligation to find every possible way to keep as much of your income as possible. It’s what wealthy people do-if they plan on remaining wealthy.
Oh, by the way … the infrastructure bill has authorized reporting to the IRS for EVERY account that has a value in excess of $600. THAT’S going to be the definition of “wealthy” that the government is going to put under scrutiny.