Poverty, taxes, billionaires, and America's collapsing infrastructure

The way I see it, the fact that there are any billionaires at all among us is living proof that the tax code is seriously flawed. To be a "billionaire" means you've become a millionaire a thousand times over. Where I come from, being a millionaire means you're rich.

Now, I know times have changed. You might have been a working class stiff who bought a 900 square foot bungalow in San Francisco or Vancouver for $8,000 in 1960, and today it's worth two million. If that describes you, high five! I'm happy for ya!

But in most of America, a million bucks still counts as a lot of money.

And a billion is an obscene amount of money.

In 1960, the marginal tax rate for the highest income brackets was 90%. America had two billionaires; J. Paul Getty and Howard Hughes.

Today, the marginal income tax rate for the highest incomes is 39.5%. But that's a bit of a beard. Mitt Romney fessed up during his 2012 White House run that he pays 14% on his "US income." That was a sly way of avoiding the question of how much tax he avoids with his use of off-shore tax havens. Most of your big dogs and your big corporations (always remember that corporations are people too!) stash their income offshore to avoid paying even 14%.

That's why there are trillion dollar capital pools sitting in tax havens doing nothing.

And that's why in the "Western" world we're flirting with negative interest rates.

That's also why America today has well over 500 billionaires and climbing fast.

Is that why the middle class is shrinking?

Is that why the working class has been all but eviscerated?

Is that why America's infrastructure is on the verge of collapse?

The Panama Papers; the non-scandal ripe with possibilities

It seems to be big news to a lot of folks that there's many rich people who exploit the fine print of tax regulation to minimize their tax obligations. Nothing new about it at all. Why do you think KC Irving spent his twilight years in Bermuda?

In fact, the Irvings waged a lengthy battle with Canada's tax collectors re: the sale of supertanker loads of oil dropped off from all over the Middle East at their Canaport reception facility in New Brunswick. Those million barrel cargoes were sold to a Bermuda middle man between when they entered the Bay of Fundy and when they disgorged their load at Canaport. As it happened, any profit on that supertanker load of oil accrued to an Irving subsidiary in no-tax Bermuda instead of high-tax New Brunswick.

Which proves nothing more than that the Irvings were ahead of the curve. Nothing in these sensational Panama Papers is, on the face of it, illegal. The reason we have "tax havens" on this planet is, guess what, so rich people can avoid taxes!

Legally!

Hey, guess who writes the tax codes all over the world?... the lawyers and accountants who work for the rich folks!

This is a surprise???

But here's why this non-scandal is pregnant with possibilities. Maybe, just maybe, enough people will be pissed off about this story that they'll be motivated to make some changes.

Tax havens need to be put out of business.

Triumph of the weasels

There's an interesting story at the Irish Times today about how the corporate weasels behind the Pfizer-Allergan deal can make this deal pay by robbing the US treasury of millions more in tax revenue.

Hundreds of millions. Maybe even billions!

But that's just the tip of the ice-berg when it comes to tax evasion by US corporations. There's hundreds of billions in US corporate profits sloshing around in off-shore tax havens.

As a card-carrying pinko, I suppose I should be distraught about that.

If I thought that tax money denied the state was destined for meaningful stuff like education and health care and housing, I'd be pissed... but it's not. Instead, it's earmarked for more war and more money-hemoraging shit-shows like the F-35 program.

Gotta say that for the time being at least, I'm with the weasels on this one.