Tag Archives: Taxes

Job Market Remains Strong; Unemployment Rate at 50-year Low

Monday, 30 April 2018 05:28

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Thursday, April 26, 2018:

Unemployment claims for the week ending April 21 fell to new lows, according to the Department of Labor. On Thursday it reported that new claims fell to 209,000, far below forecasters’ expectations of 230,000. It also was the 24th week of jobless claims fewer than 250,000 and the 164th straight week of claims below 300,000.

Even more remarkable is that the last time jobless claims were this low was during the first term of President Richard Nixon, nearly 50 years ago, when the country’s labor force was just 153 million, compared to today’s work force of 162 million. Translation:

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Tax Foundation: Average American Works 109 Days to Pay All of His Taxes

Tuesday, 17 April 2018 05:47

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Monday, April 16, 2018:

Tax Freedom Day, which “represents how long Americans as a whole have to work in order to pay the nation’s tax burden,” falls this year on April 19 according to the Tax Foundation.

With Americans focused on paying their income taxes by April 17, this year’s deadline, the release from the Tax Foundation last week likely gives them little comfort. The average American worker will have to work until April 19 — 109 days — to pay all of his taxes: federal, state, local and municipal. That’s just three days fewer than last year, thanks to Trump’s tax reform law. Put another way, the total tax bill of $5.2 trillion soaks up more than a quarter of the economy’s total gross annual output.

According to the foundation,

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Remembering Vivien Kellems as April 16 Approaches

Monday, 02 April 2018 04:40

This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Friday, March 30, 2018:

Vivien Kellems, American industrialist and tax...

Vivien Kellems, American industrialist and tax protester

Vivien Kellems, along with her brother Edgar, invented a specialized cable grip for electrical cables and founded Kellems Cable Grips in 1927. The company prospered.

But in 1943, during the Second World War, Congress passed the Tax Payment Act, which required the payers of wages, not the receiver of wages, to withhold estimated taxes and remit them quarterly to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (later called the IRS).

The injustice was apparent to Vivien and in 1948 she refused, declaring that “If they wanted me to be their agent, they’d have to pay me, and I want a badge.”

They didn’t, and instead simply seized the amount the agency thought she owed from her company bank account. She sued in federal court and finally got her money back.

Withholding has allowed the government to collect far more money far more efficiently with far less bleating from the sheep as explained by the U. S. Department of the Treasury:

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“What Hath God Wrought?” Tax Reform and Deregulation Unleashing an Economic Tsunami

Thursday, 01 February 2018 06:34

This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Wednesday, January 31, 2018:

When Samuel Morse asked for suggestions on what his first message over his telegraph should be on May 24, 1844, Annie Ellworth suggested a verse from Numbers 23:23: “There is no magic charm, no witchcraft, that can be used against the nation of Israel. Now people will say about Israel: Look what God has done!” [Good News Bible translation.]

The same might be said about the effect that the magic elixir of deregulation and cuts in tax rates is having not only in the United States, but globally as well. Economists at the International Monetary Fund just announced that, thanks to the combination of those two potent medicines, it has revised its global economic growth estimates for each of the next two years to 3.9 percent.

This is a staggering 70 percent improvement over the average global GDP growth experienced during the unlamented Obama years.

And it’s just getting started. Walmart, Boeing, Apple, Comcast, and more than 200 other companies have announced what they’re doing with their tax savings, impacting directly the paychecks of an estimated three million workers. Now comes ExxonMobil with its announcement: $35 billion of new money is going to be pumped into its operations in the United States. The company’s CEO, Darren Woods, gave credit where credit is due:

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Why Would Anyone Move from California to Sheridan, Wyoming?

Saturday, 27 January 2018 06:36

This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Friday, January 26, 2018:

Specifically, from Paso Robles, California? It’s a pretty town of 30,000 people located in San Luis County a few miles north of San Luis Obispo, whose full name is El Paso de Robles(“The pass of the oaks”). It’s known for its hot springs, its abundance of wineries, its production of olive oil, its almond orchards, and is the home of Weatherby, Inc., the maker of high-end rifles, shotguns, and ammunition.

Its climate varies little, allowing its residents to enjoy long, hot, dry summers, long-lasting autumns, and early springs, which also makes it perfect for growing grapes, olives, and almonds.

It’s expensive to live there, but, hey, it costs to live like this!

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High-end Gun Maker Quits California, Announces Move to Wyoming

Friday, 26 January 2018 06:34

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Thursday, January 25, 2018:

Adam Weatherby, grandson of the founder of Weatherby, Inc. and president of the high-end custom rifle and shotgun maker currently located in Paso Robles, California, made a big announcement on Tuesday in Las Vegas — the company is moving its operations to Wyoming:

We wanted a place where we could retain a great workforce, and where our employees could live an outdoor lifestyle.

We wanted to move to a state where we can grow into our brand. Wyoming means new opportunities.

Wyoming also means that it isn’t in California,

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Apple’s Repatriation of Its Profits: Talk About Stimulating the Economy!

Saturday, 20 January 2018 06:37

This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Friday, January 19, 2018:

After paying the world’s largest tax bill – $38 billion – Apple, Inc., the world’s largest company by market capitalization and now the government’s largest taxpayer, will have $214 billion left over.

It is making plans for that $214 billion. In its announcement on Wednesday, the company said it would be making “a new set of investments to build on its commitment to support the American economy and its workforce, concentrated in three areas where Apple has had the greatest impact on job creation: direct employment by Apple, spending and investment with Apple’s domestic suppliers and manufacturers, and fueling the fast-growing app economy that Apple created with iPhone® and the App Store®.”

It added:

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Walmart Voluntarily Raises Its Minimum Wage

Monday, 15 January 2018 07:07

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Friday, January 12, 2018:

The world’s largest retailer, Walmart, announced on Thursday that it was voluntarily raising its minimum wage for new workers to $11 an hour starting next month. Included in the announcement were staged bonuses that will be paid to present workers based on their time with the company. Also included was a vast improvement in maternity benefits, with full-time hourly workers receiving 10 weeks of paid maternity leave and six weeks of paternal leave. Parents who adopt will get the same benefits plus a check from Walmart for $5,000 to help cover their adoption costs.

This is on top of the wage increases announced by the retailer in 2015 to be staged in over the next three years.

What’s notable is that this is taking place ahead of

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Trump Economy Making Democrats Look Increasingly Foolish

Saturday, 06 January 2018 06:12

This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Friday, January 5, 2018:

The kept media dutifully reported California Democrat Nancy Pelosi’s disgust over President Trump’s tax reform program, even though it made her look foolish. Said Pelosi, “If this goes through, kiss life on earth goodbye. The debate on health care is life/death. This is Armageddon.” This was followed by the media quoting Democrat Chuck Schumer: “Tax breaks don’t lead to job creation … [this bill is a] punch in the gut for the middle class.”

It may be a little early to tell, but at the moment the middle class is doing just fine. Life goes on; if Armageddon occurred, the media missed it. That “punch in the gut for the middle class” is about to be caused by heavier wallets, thanks to tax cuts showing up in their February paychecks.

For hundreds of thousands, that punch in the gut was immediate:

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Dow Smashes Through 25,000; to Smash Dems in November?

Friday, 05 January 2018 06:44

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Thursday, January 4, 2018:

The surprising thing about the Dow’s volcanic eruption through the 25,000 level on Thursday is that it was matched by all-time highs in other key stock market indexes such as the S&P 500 Index, the NASDAQ, and the Russell 2000. Even more surprising is that this isn’t happening in an American vacuum: Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average hit a new 26-year high, rising above 23,000 for the first time since January 1992. The Hang Seng (Hong Kong) Index just touched a new 10-year high, while major stock market indexes in New Zealand, the Philippines, and Thailand also set new records on Thursday.

The reasons why aren’t surprising:

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Bah Humbug: The Left Is Unhappy with Year-end Bonuses Paid Following Tax Reform

Thursday, 28 December 2017 06:13

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Wednesday, December 27, 2017:

Within hours of passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) on December 20, major American companies began announcing year-end bonuses, salary increases, and plans to expand capital investment. This was an unexpected but pleasant surprise to many, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, who tweeted: “It’s only been a few hours … and companies are already announcing new investments into the US economy & raises for their employees.”

Senator Tim Scott, Republican conservative from South Carolina, called its passage “a tremendous victory,” adding that it’s an “early Christmas present for the American people.”

Details of raises, bonuses, and capex expansion plans poured out of Comcast

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The GOP Tax Reform Bill Now Ready for Trump’s Signature

Friday, 22 December 2017 06:04

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Thursday, December 21, 2017:

Without a single Democrat vote in either the House or the Senate, the tax reform bill headed for President Donald Trump’s desk on Wednesday is likely to cost them dearly in the midterm elections. That is, if the bill works as intended: giving Americans “more take home pay” as the president expressed it, adding. “It will be an incredible Christmas gift for hardworking Americans.”

Most of those hardworking Americans won’t see a thing until

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November’s Federal Deficit 11 Percent Ahead of Last Year’s

Thursday, 14 December 2017 06:29

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Wednesday, December 13, 2017:

Buried in the latest report from the Department of the Treasury is this nugget: Through the first two months of the fiscal year, which began on October 1, the deficit (the difference between revenues and spending) was 11 percent higher than the same two months last year. And this despite revenues (taxes from individuals and corporations) setting records. The $433 billion the government collected in October and November was $13 billion more than it collected in the same period last year, and $11.3 billion more than it collected the year before.

In those two months,

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What’s in the GOP Tax Bill?

Tuesday, 07 November 2017 07:06

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Monday, November 6, 2017:

The GOP tax reform bill presented last Thursday attempts to be “revenue neutral” within 10 years. By giving most of the cuts to corporate taxpayers, there’s precious little left for the middle class to enjoy. The problem is not only the mathematics — trying to match the “give” with the “take” — but the politics: Democrats will work to scuttle any attempt to relieve fiscal pressure on entrepreneurs (i.e., capitalists) who are largely carrying the burden of supporting the government. Absent any attempt to cut spending — the tax bill’s 429 pages offer little help with that — what’s left, as has been said, is simply moving the chairs around on the deck of the Titanic.

First,

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The GOP Tax Reform Bill: Sausage-making on the Titanic

Tuesday, 07 November 2017 06:51

This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Monday, November 6, 2017:

John Godfrey Saxe. Library of Congress descrip...

John Godfrey Saxe

The oldest attribution isn’t to Otto von Bismarck, the Iron Chancellor of Germany, but to an American poet, John Godfrey Saxe. Back in 1869, he said it best: “Laws, like sausages, cease to inspire in proportion as we know how they are made.”

Imagine, then, making sausages on the deck of the Titanic just after it hit an iceberg on the glassy sea of the North Atlantic in the early morning hours of April 15, 1912. The wonderful smells might have distracted the passengers from the reality that within two hours and forty minutes the unsinkable ship would disappear beneath the surface of the icy waters, taking 1,550 passengers with her.

That picture may be too dramatic for our purposes. But

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Combined Social Security Spending for 2017 Tops $1 Trillion for First time

Friday, 27 October 2017 07:25

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Friday, October 27, 2017:

The Monthly Treasury Statement issued on Wednesday from the Social Security Administration showed that total spending for the three social welfare programs administered by the agency — the Old Age and Survivors Insurance program, the Disability Insurance program and the Supplemental Security Income program — topped $1 trillion for the first time in history in 2017.

The program first hit $600 billion in spending in 1997, and it took nine years to hit the next benchmark, $700 billion. From there it took between three and four years to hit subsequent $100 billion spending benchmarks. Accordingly, the agency estimates that it will spend $1.6 trillion in 2026. From there it will be just a few short years before all funds are exhausted.

Most sensible observers have been warning for years that the program is in dire jeopardy, with all manner of schemes being proposed to rescue it from oblivion:

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This Thoroughbred is Just Beginning to Feel His Oats

Saturday, 21 October 2017 05:40

This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Friday, October 20, 2017:

English: Thoroughbred racing at Churchill Down...

Thoroughbred racing at Churchill Downs.

It’s tempting to push the analogy comparing the U.S. economy to a Thoroughbred horse too far. But it is tempting. The Thoroughbred breed began around the time of the Industrial Revolution, when an English mare was crossbred with an imported Oriental stallion with Arabian, Barb, and Turkoman breeding. All Thoroughbreds can trace their pedigrees to three stallions imported into England in the 17^th century. They were exported to Australia, Europe, Japan, and South America during the 19^th century, and today an estimated 100,000 Thoroughbred foals are registered worldwide every year.

A Thoroughbred is tall, slender, athletic, and built for competition, usually on racetracks. Among the most famous are Citation, Phar Lap, Old Rosebud, Whirlaway, Roamer, Seabiscuit, and Man o’ War.

And, of course, the United States economy.

Starting at around 1800, the U.S. economy grew at such a rate that

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Many Surprises in Latest Jobless Claims Report

Friday, 20 October 2017 05:51

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Thursday, October 19, 2017:

The first surprise from the latest jobless claims statistics is that new claims for unemployment insurance benefits last week fell to the lowest level in 44 years, according to the Department of Labor (DOL): “The advance figure … was 222,000 … the lowest level for initial claims since March 31, 1973.”

The second surprise is that the number of continuing claims (those lasting more than a week) also fell to levels not seen since 1974.

The third surprise is

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Tax Reform: The Sausage-Making Begins

Saturday, 30 September 2017 06:49

This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Friday, September 29, 2017:

Embed from Getty Images

Otto von Bismarck is credited, rightly or wrongly, with two famous quotes about laws and sausages: “Laws are like sausages. It’s better not to see them being made.” And “To retain respect for sausages and laws, one must not watch them in the making.”

One of the more insightful comments on the whole business in today’s Washington comes from the President’s son, Donald J. Trump, Jr., (shown above) who said:

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Tax-reform Plan Called “Tremendous” by Trump, “Fake Math” by Schumer

Friday, 29 September 2017 05:34

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Thursday, September 28, 2017:

Embed from Getty Images

In unveiling the tax reform “framework” cobbled together by the Trump administration, the House Ways and Means Committee, and the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday, President Trump called it “tremendous”: “This is a tremendous change, and the biggest winners will be the everyday American workers as jobs start pouring into our country, as companies start competing for American labor and as wages start going up [to] levels you haven’t seen in many years.”

On cue, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) expressed her concerns about deficits, perhaps for the first time in her political career:

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