Author Archives: Bok
I’m a Taxpayer – Not
President Trump introduced his tax reform plan last week. Critics in the media labeled it “tax cuts for the rich.”
But there’s a reason for that. The rich pay most of the federal income tax.
Democrats are running against income inequality. And they’ve got a point. According to the Tax Foundation the top one percent earn twenty percent of all the income in America..
But they also pay forty percent of all the federal income taxes in the country.
Taxpayer
Half the working population can’t protest against Washington by demanding “I’m a taxpayer and ..!” That’s because they don’t pay federal income taxes. Though they do pay social security and medicare taxes.
Here’s a link to a Tax Foundation chart breaking down who pays what by percentile:
The data demonstrates that the U.S. individual income tax continues to be very progressive, borne mainly by the highest income earners.
- In 2014, 139.6 million taxpayers reported earning $9.71 trillion in adjusted gross income and paid $1.37 trillion in individual income taxes.
- The share of income earned by the top 1 percent of taxpayers rose to 20.6 percent in 2014. Their share of federal individual income taxes also rose, to 39.5 percent.
- In 2014, the top 50 percent of all taxpayers paid 97.3 percent of all individual income taxes while the bottom 50 percent paid the remaining 2.7 percent.
- The top 1 percent paid a greater share of individual income taxes (39.5 percent) than the bottom 90 percent combined (29.1 percent).
- The top 1 percent of taxpayers paid a 27.1 percent individual income tax rate, which is more than seven times higher than taxpayers in the bottom 50 percent (3.5 percent).
Cartoon Magazine Publisher Hugh Hefner Dies
Hugh Hefner was a frustrated cartoonist, so he pursued other interests and founded Playboy magazine.
You probably only read Playboy for the fiction. But I read it for the cartoons. Hefner chose the cartoons for each issue.
Cartoon Magazine Publisher Hugh Hefner
I think he also chose the other pictures that appeared in his magazine. And he developed the “Playboy Philosophy” to help him with that task.
But the world of internet porn and political correctness made things difficult for Playboy. An obit in The Atlantic argues that what Playboy offered was “sanitized – Hefner wanted the centerfolds to exude clean-cut charm rather than exotic allure.”
What it should have offered was more cartoons.
Hef was 91 when he died on Wednesday.
President Trump’s NFL Rant
Some players are now saying they’re not protesting the flag or the country when they take a knee during the national anthem. But that’s not what Colin Kaepernick had to say when he started the whole thing:
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses Black people and people of color,”
NFL Rant
It wan’t all about taking a knee during President Trump’s Friday night NFL rant. He also complained that the league doesn’t allow hard enough hitting:
“Today, if you hit too hard … 15 yards, throw him out of the game,” Trump said. “They are ruining the game, right?”
Medical researchers might want to take a knee over that.
Taking a Knee for NFL Ratings
According to Sports Illustrated NFL broadcasts on CBS are down 10% over the first two weeks of the season from last year. NBC is down 7% and Fox is off 3%.
Whether that’s due to hurricanes, players taking a knee or Trump’s executive tweet not to watch is unclear.
McCain Health Care Bill Kills
Senator McCain sided with Jimmy Kimmel in shooting down best bud Lindsey Graham on Friday. He announced he would vote “no” on the Graham Cassidy health care reform.
Two McCain Bill Kills
Those in the know think that pretty much kills the bill. And that would make two health bill kills for McCain.
Damn, should have drawn that on the fuselage.
