"the laws of math"... 10/19/2017 0 Comments   In the beginning, there was this lie, “My tax plan is going to cost me a fortune,” Donald Trump said. But the truth is, It won’t... Trump’s tax plan would bestow a $7.1 billion tax cut on the Trump family dynasty. That’s just through elimination of the federal estate tax—not counting other changes, such as the elimination of the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), which would also disproportionately favor the wealthy...  by E.L. Christianson Jr. That sounds good... "the laws of math".  It sounds so good that it is actually impossible to argue against - "the laws of math".  Whew!  That's a lock.  Virtually our entire modern world is built on "the laws of math".  Almost everything we know in the field of science is known because we humans have fairly well mastered"the laws of math". Space travel, for example is possible for us only because of our application of "the laws of math".  One of the key equations needed to understand spacecraft navigation is Newton's inverse square law of gravity:  We learned this in Physics 101 in the university as engineers. And, here's the incredible part, because of the "laws of math" the very wealthy must receive a huge tax cut.  Based upon everything else we know, we cannot violate the "laws of math" and therefore, since the "laws of math" require a large cut in taxes for the very wealthy, we are without a choice - there are no alternatives, the wealthy must receive a tremendous cut in their taxes.  We are supposed believe in tax cuts for the wealthy as if it were ordained in heaven. But, that is a enormous lie and one that is quite transparent.  It causes one to wonder just how dumb do they think we are?  Actually, given the stupid schemes we fall for on a regular basis, we have proven ourselves to be as dumb as they imagine us to be.  That is why they feel comfortable attempting to convince us of something only a blithering idiot could believe.  It is smart of 'them' to wrap their deception in such compelling terms - "the laws of math" - it's a done deal. The math involved is extremely simple.  The government spends a certain amount of money annually.  To stay solvent, the government must take in a certain amount of money annually.  That's pretty straight forward, so far.  According to the math, the truth is that The Trump Tax Plan, generates deficits as far forward as the eye can see. The money the government must take in annually can only come from those of us under the jurisdiction of the government's tax system... so far, so good. Some of us under that jurisdiction are wealthy and some of us are poor.  The government can tax according to ability to pay, Or, the government can tax the poor at disproportionately higher rates than it taxes the rich.   The poor are too poor to be taxes enough to support the governments operations.   And, if the rich keep getting more and more tax breaks... well, the real math speaks for itself. It is largely addition and subtraction.  A high school student could handle the math involved. Since the rich are in control of both the government's tax system and the nation's economic system, everything in this country is done for the advantage of the rich whether it is good for the country or not.   It is a lesson in dishonesty to listen to those pushing this tax plan and to examine the true facts of the plan.   Josh Barro has written about the various deceptions involved: deceptions of language and deceptions of math.  See his details of the specific lies at the end of this blog. Looking at this entire situation from a slightly different angle allows one to reach an entirely different conclusion from the conclusion of Trump and the congress.  Those people pushing the Trump tax plan to give-away fantastic sums of the government's money to the wealthy elite at the expense of the poor have actually done the math.  It is not as complicated as they try to make it appear.  But,  having systematically cut education from our society, they know we are easily confused.  Also they are aware that we aren't very good at math and that's the truth !!! Americans must learn to disbelieve and to ask questions - 'does one plus one equal three ???' Mnuchin Gives Away the Game: "It's Very Hard Not to Give Tax Cuts to the Wealthy" "Guy who wrote Trump's tax plan says that the laws of math basically forced him to give rich people a huge cut." from Common Dreams by Jake Johnson For weeks President Donald Trump and the Republican Party have been peddling the demonstrable lie that their tax proposals are primarily geared toward helping the middle class, not the wealthiest Americans. But in an interview with Politico's Ben White published Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin gave away the game, admitting: "It's very hard not to give tax cuts to the wealthy." "The math, given how much you are collecting, is just hard to do," the treasury secretary added. But as The Huffington Post's Arthur Delaney notes, the math is not hard at all. In fact, the White House's own tax framework, released last month, had a useful suggestion: add in a higher top marginal rate. "An additional top rate may apply to the highest-income taxpayers to ensure that the reformed tax code is at least as progressive as the existing tax code and does not shift the tax burden from high-income to lower- and middle-income taxpayers," the framework says. When asked about Mnuchin's comments during Wednesday's press briefing, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders didn't deny that the rich would benefit enormously from Trump's tax plan. Instead, she claimed that cutting taxes for the middle class remains "the focus and the priority." Mnuchin's comments came as the Senate debates a GOP-crafted budget proposal that Republicans need to pass in order to pave the way for a tax plan that non-partisan analyses have shown would almost solely benefit the top one percent, while increasing taxes on some low-income and middle class families. On social media, critics mocked Mnuchin's claim, suggesting that it exposes the tax "scam" Trump and the GOP are attempting to ram through Congress—despite the fact that an overwhelming majority of Americans disapprove of the plan. A reprint of Josh Barro's Business Insider's article wherein he exposes lies in language and lies in math used to push the planned tax bonanza for the wealthy: ...a provision to cut and simplify taxes for the middle class: doubling the standard deduction that people who pay income tax may take. "You have to look at the plan in its entirety. It doubles the standard deduction, so in the end, even the lowest rates get a tax cut," Rep. Jim Renacci, a Republican who sits on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, told Reuters. But a document published by Jonathan Swan of the news website Axios shows this is badly misleading — the plan would increase the standardized deductions available to taxpayers by 15% or less. Meanwhile, taxpayers who still wouldn't take the standard deduction under the Republican plan — those who would instead deduct things like mortgage interest — would pay tax on more of their income than they do now. Here's the important fine print: "To simplify the tax rules, the additional standard deduction and the personal exemptions for taxpayer and spouse are consolidated into this larger standard deduction." Here's how that math works. Let's say you are single with no dependents, and you have a moderate income. Currently, you get to take the standard deduction ($6,350) and one personal exemption ($4,050). If you are 65 or older, you also get to take an additional standard deduction ($1,250). That adds up to $10,400, or $11,650 if you're over 65. The Republican plan would replace all these provisions with a single deduction of $12,000 ($24,000 for married couples.) That's a 15% increase — except for seniors, who get a 3% increase. And then your first dollar of taxable income would be subjected to a 12% tax rate, instead of the current 10%. But don't worry — the framework says "additional tax relief," as yet unspecified, will emerge for you during the committee process. For married couples, all the relevant amounts are doubled under the current tax code and under the Republican proposal, so the percent changes would be the same. If you have children, your fate is uncertain. The plan would abolish the $4,050 exemption you get to take for each of your dependent children. But it would also increase the child tax credit — by an unspecified amount. Once that amount is specified, you'll be able to figure out whether you face a tax increase or a tax cut or what. Meanwhile, taxpayers who itemize their tax deductions for things like mortgage interest and state and local taxes would pay tax on more of their income under the Republican plan. The proposal says "most" itemized deductions would be abolished anyway, but those for mortgage interest and charitable giving would be retained. Currently, you get to take the personal exemption even if you also itemize deductions, but you get to take the standard deduction only if you forego itemized deductions. Combining these provisions into a single, standard deduction would mean itemizers lose their personal exemption and get nothing back — meaning they'll typically pay tax on an extra $4,050 of income if they're single, or $8,100 if they're married. As Josh concludes, it's "Sad"! Trump’s Tax Math Doesn’t Add Up ...independent budget wonks, on the left and right, who have concluded that Trump’s plan would create a gusher of red ink. “No individual tax cut pays for itself,” says Alan Cole, an economist at the right-of-center Tax Foundation. “There has to be a strong mix of tax cuts and revenue-raisers—a good mix of both candies and vegetables. Right now I see things as a little short on vegetables.” There’s a reason Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin keeps insisting that his boss’s tax-cut plan will fully pay for itself through faster economic growth. Politics make it hard for him to say anything else. But math is not on their side. The fact is, the tax plan just doesn’t add up.