My Crack At A Tax Plan

I'm not an economist. I'm not even a college graduate, but after hearing weeks and months of blather from Republican Presidential candidates about our country's tax situation, I figured I'd take a crack at it. Here are the things I know about taxes:

A) Taxes, for the individual, aren't about dollars, they're about pain. Each dollar that somebody working a full-time, minimum wage job hurts immensely. For me, the dollars I pay don't hurt, but my annual return is absolutely needed. For somebody back-stroking in their Scrooge McDuck vault it takes zeroes and commas to really suck.

B) Taxes can be used to incent desired behaviors.

That's about it. Sure, I know other details about taxes, but these are the two concepts that I think should drive the tax code. So here goes:

1) A graduated income tax. My numbers won't be exact here, but you'll get the idea. Below $15,000, no taxes. Up to $30,000, 15%. Up to $120,000, 25%. Above $120,000, 35%. I'm substituting numbers for a concept here. A very real evaluation of the poverty line needs to be taken and at that level (for a single person), no taxes. The next three tiers will be set and 25%, 50%, and 75% of incomes.

2) No real deductions. Mortgage interest. Home efficiency upgrades. Marriage deduction (civil unions will be recognized). Up to two dependents. Child care for those two dependents. Charitable donations (unlimited). I think that's it. This would be a section that may expand as I've put all of 2 hours of serious thought into this, but a serious focus would be put into limiting the number of deductions. Deductions would have to serve grand, long term purposes.

3) Eliminate capital gains taxes. Not so fast with your boners, rich people. Investment income will be treated as regular, every day income.

4) Inheritances will be treated as normal income.

5) Corporate taxes will be effectively the same thing, with the appropriate adjustments. The deductions would require more thought than I've given this. I do know that there would be a deduction for employing a certain percentage of total workforce within the United States. There would also be tax breaks for companies developing new technologies to allow them to compete with the existing economies of scale. They would be appropriately limited in duration.

I think that's the core of it. I know that there are things I'm probably missing, but the endless minute things that people tout as being of the utmost importance will likely fit into these categories. We, as people, and politicians, as self-serving fear-mongers, tend to overblow a lot of things. People try to entangle completely irrelevant things. Acknowledging civil unions under the tax code doesn't endorse anything other than two people committing to share resources. I'd have no problem granting the same tax break to two roommates who simply committed to living together indefinitely (read also permanently). Further, deductions would be based on long-term goals such as resource reduction. The ultimate goal being the advancement and longevity of the country. Shoot holes in it and I'll shoot back as best as I can. After all, any good solution will come about through collaboration and cooperation.

Brass Ring

The kind of discontent that you feel when something is just beyond your fingertips. A mixture of discontent, anxiety, frustration, and the feeling that if you could just reach another inch or if somebody would just hang on to you while you leaned or if this goddamn railing were just a bit shorter, you'd have it. That's where I sit firmly right now. For the first time ever I have clarity and purpose to guide me but it's like I can't find the keys to the car. There's more depth to this but for some reason I can sense that if I put it on paper right now it will come across as prattle. I will not have prattle.

Within the next couple days I'll be posting some more things. I've had some interesting cab rides in the past couple of weeks that deserve sharing as well as some other things that have been pinging around inside my skull like a superball, so welcome back to my life, internets!

Bigger Man

I argue with people about politics because I think that I am right. I can honestly say that my political opinions are shaped around what I think would be of the greatest benefit to the greatest number of people, even if it would adversely affect me. I also tend to argue with ignorant, backward people as they are usually squawking the loudest. In my recent journey of self-improvement/self-rediscovery, I've regained my ability to argue with these people and convey points to them despite their total unwillingness to open their mind. I've also rediscovered how to do this tactfully. Below is my response to a Facebook argument that I involved myself in because I was drunk and bored. It started out centered on health care and quickly devolved into a "liberals are baby-killers and commie/fascists" argument. I wish I was kidding. This was my reply:

I respectfully bow out of this conversation. It has blossomed a bit outside of a strict health care debate and it's really not worth trying to untangle the cat's cradle at this point.

I will offer one point of clarification: the bill is structured so that people within a certain income range receive subsidies to purchase health care. The subsidy varies with income so that those making more receive less. Within the income levels health care should be affordable for everybody. The fine exists because if you do not have health care, you are most likely choosing to not have it. There will always be exceptions because nothing works for everybody, but if you examine this aspect of the bill hopefully you will agree.

The only other thing that I have to say is that I hope you all take the time to understand the bill on your own. There are a TON of flat-out lies floating around (on both sides, put your pitchforks down) regarding this bill, and I myself do not know everything that is in it. However, I do know that there are numerous tenets of the bill that force insurance companies to actually take care of us and treat us as people should be treated. I would hope no matter what side of the political fence that you sit on we could at least agree that insurance companies are kind of assholes and need to adhere to the basic ethical standards that all other businesses operate under. Maybe none of you agree, which is okay, because we need opposing ideas to create balance, but remember that Conservatives and Liberals are not supposed to be enemies. We are supposed to work together and compromise to create the best possible country that we can. The enemy thing was created by politicians to keep themselves employed. Let's show them that we're not as dumb as they expect us to be.

God bless.

Honesty

I've wanted to write for awhile now. I'm still busting at the seams with things that I want to say but the words escape me. I find myself simply blathering about the things in my life I want back so frequently that even I'm sick of it but I can't help it. Part of who I am is uncompromising. It's the only thing that I can focus on right now; my persistent characteristics. Uncompromising, stubborn, logical, passionate, smart, sarcastic, open, kind, caring, and most of all I love to laugh. There are many more but these are the ones that pop out right now. All of who I am combines to form somebody with an inability to let go. Nobody really understands this part of me. I don't let go of things because I don't let things that are unimportant or meaningless into my life in the first place. An example: Several weeks ago I was out with some people from work (read people I don't know that well in the grand scheme of things). We went to a bar after work on a Friday and had some drinks. I ended up staying out with a guy that I work with. We were at the bar talking to a couple that he knew. He wandered off somewhere and I kept talking, which is never a good thing for me, especially at the level of intoxication that I had acquired. What I meant to convey was that I was really glad that they were so happy together because they were an unlikely couple that met in an unlikely manner. What I apparently did was insult both of them. I don't really remember what I said but they both snapped from friendly to angry instantaneously. In trying to explain myself I was only making things worse until the girl finally commanded me away. I complied but couldn't think of anything else as I wandered around the bar. I returned to the couple and she picked up berating where she had left off. For a small girl she had lots of fury on a rolling boil inside of herself. By the end of this round two the boyfriend had stood up and made it clear that I was not to return this time. I went away again but couldn't get it out of my head. The idea that they thought I was a bad person was worse to me than getting hit in the face, so I went back. Everything was eventually smoothed over and we parted ways amicably. It is important to me that I remain who I am, no matter what the cost. Most people agree with that statement but when they are truly challenged by life make compromises. That is not who I am nor who I want to be.

Shifting gears entirely, I feel like a fraud when I'm out and about. I don't want to be the cartoon rain cloud on people when I go out but putting on a happy face feels dishonest. I need to be social and interact with my friends more than ever right now and my phone won't be ringing off of the hook if I keep doing my Droopy Dog impression, but I feel as if everybody can see right through my facade. In being honest to myself it's hard to justify faking normalcy in an attempt to restore it. I haven't yet figured out how to reconcile this for myself.

I Have Not Finished

It looks like somebody put a hand grenade in a cloud. Piles of white fluff all over the living room floor. See, my dog isn't a dog but another avatar of Shiva. She destroys. Her non-toy tastes tend toward the pricey with fifty dollars being the common minimum value of things that she'll test the durability of, however, she isn't immune from slumming it up on occasion. For things that she is supposed to chew on she prefers soft and fluffy because hard plastic toys simply don't offer the same aftermath portrait.

This time she got ahold of Santa, the topper for a stocking full of chew toys that Virginia bought her for Christmas. The death depicted on my floor is surely enough to place me on the naughty list for the next several years. It didn't help that Santa had a squeaker in his head which gave her a reason to explore. Marine biologists say that sharks don't mean to bite so many people, they simply investigate new things with their teeth. I believe them. After removing the plastic disc with the precision of Dr. Roger Rabbit she felt the need to ensure that no other noise-making tumors were threatening Saint Nicholas. Now the sad, eyeless, bearded carcass is staring at me from the floor asking me how a benevolent God could allow such atrocities. I have no answer for it for because I haven't finished The Shack yet, but I resolve to at least donate to the relief fund. The money doesn't buy me relief though because I know that I should get on a plane because the airport is still intact. While I have no special skills to offer I have two strong hands and endless resolve. I can move rocks and honor the dead. The twisted threads that held the eyes judge me from the floor and I cannot meet their gaze.

Despite Our Day Jobs

I took a journey from Omaha to Wichita today and discovered humanity on the road. Let me explain. I left during a ridiculous blizzard. The roads weren't slick but there were some incredibly strong sustained winds and it was snowing fairly heavily. Nebraska being the flat tundra that it is meant that visibility was never more than a couple hundred feet at best and at worst I had to drive using my GPS to make sure the road didn't curve. It was the first time that I can honestly say that I couldn't even see the end of my hood. After getting out of the Lincoln and Omaha metro areas traffic significantly thinned and when I turned south nearly disappeared all together. Occasionally an ethereal car would appear some distance in front of me and be gone in a whiff of white smoke in my rearview just as quickly.

The blowing snow was unrelenting and ubiquitous. Even when I drove down in a valley I could still see the maelstrom above, blurring the sun into a hazy orange sphere that Rothko's round cousin would have liked. I felt alien and knew that I don't belong here. None of us do. Glancing up at that sun made me realize how much energy we have to spend and how much manpower it takes to simply live on the planet. Farming, energy generation, all of the physical sciences are simply studies of how to maintain our foothold. And when we're gone the planet will wipe most of what we've done away pretty quickly. Despite our day jobs of account manager and installation technician and marketing intern we're nothing more than Lewis and Clark, plodding over the next hill to see what's there.

I feel a connection that has never been there before. A common purpose that we all share. We all came from the same ancestors, who were nothing short of badasses. They survived the frigid temperatures in nothing more than pelts of ferocious animals that they had taken with fearlessness and handmade weapons. I had packed a blanket, gloves, and water in case I went off of the road. I would have been afraid. But I had started to formulate backup plans. I figured out a way that I could have made a small fire inside my car to keep me warm through the night. Or I could have struck out to make a shelter outside. A snow cave to protect me from the wind and snow. In the morning I could have hunted food, sacrificing my car for parts to aid in my survival. And I would have looked up at the sun, and the moon that still hangs in the winter sky, and I would have known that I am not the last explorer of humankind.

Appetite

Until Monday I had no appetite. I haven't been doing a lot which is likely a contributing factor. Aside from the twentyish pull-ups I'm doing a day I mainly trek back and forth from the couch to the computer with occasional sorties to the kitchen and bathroom. For the first two or three days I had no sense to eat at all, I simply did because I knew that I should. On Monday I called a couple of friends to see if they wanted to go to taco night at the Crescent Moon. Jeff was game so we met at around seven. By the time I got there I was famished. I had my usual ten tacos (they are tiny little things with maybe a tablespoon of meat, a dashing of cheese, and a couple pieces of lettuce) but felt that I hadn't eaten anything. Jeff and I split an order of fried cheese curds. He had to take off but I stayed and kept the bartender company still starving. I ordered a meat and cheese tray, which consists of two pretzels, summer sausage, hard salami, and two cheeses to combine and dip in delicious mustard. It was as if I were eating for the first time. An amnesiac that had forgotten how things tasted. It continued into today. I'm expecting Stephen Hawking to show up at any minute to explore the black hole in my belly.