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Our taxes go to punitive enforcement now. ICE has become massive, gulags being built, our military is massive, now trump is making agencies to spy on and amass data about Americans, etc. but social programs are being cut, scientific programs are being cut, citizens protections cut…
Plenty of money for punishment. None to improve lives.
Not sure about the title of this post. But I just really wish more Democrat voters would come to the realization that a lot of people didn't vote for Trump because they liked him. They voted for him because of how absolutely ineffective the Democratic party has been.
Zohran should really be a reality check for people. The people that voted for him were not politics Andy's like you and I. They voted for him because he had a clear message "free busses and rent freeze" is his "build the wall".
People are looking for real promises. The biggest difference is that a rent freeze and better public transit actually will improve their lives.
If you don't offer real improvements the masses will go for the guy with the xenophobic policy. A policy that promises to hurt "people not like me" and maybe then that will make my life better.
That's the reasoning. Simple as.
It's not because the masses love racism or rapists. It's because they are so desperate for a politician that will actually represent working class interest that the first idiot billionaire with charisma was a "why not" in 2016.
In 2024 it was a complete lack of the Democratic party to capitalize on that. There are people in America thirsting for the "change" that Obama promised. They just got wise. They realized that if it's called "change" or "abundance" it's the same stupid shit that maintains the interest of the rich.
They want simple promises of actual material improvement that a politician can be judged on. And Zohran will be. But he's brave enough to actually take a stand.
Edit: seriously, please don't fall for the same neoliberalism packaged as "abundance" this time.
The way things are looking with multiple challenges to the 2024 election one in rockland county NY and another in PA (maybe there are others but im unsure atm) and so many statistical anomalies/ impossibilities it really looks as if America did not vote for trump. Star link had been connected to tabulator machines. Ive personally believed the us election system Especially the presidential election has been rigged since Reagan maybe even back to JFK with his family connections to the mafia back when his dad was a bootlegger. So I feel trump was telling a half truth in 2020 who knows if the rigging actually affected the results in comparison to voter turnout in that election but since it wasn't rigged in trump’s favor he threw a massive hissy ass bitch fit because to trump it definitely doesn’t matter if it was rigged but only that it was not rigged to his benefit. But i think the wealthiest in our society get together and choose who they want to serve as their puppet but this year instead of participating Space Karen just went rogue and spent as much as possible to swing it in his favor. We have to look at this objectively. Our society has always been somewhat fascist but ever since lbj declined the party nomination in ‘68 and then Bobby Kennedy was assassinated after winning the California democratic primary the democratic party has consistently shifted to the right every election since. C Its the reality that the same financial interests are funding both the Dnc and the Rnc and since bush jr the usa has become extremely more Fascist. All of the 14 traits of fascism are obviously ingrained parts of our society but fraudulent elections is the only one that has plausible deniability.
But it is a fact that every aspect of our political system is up for sale and this was set into motion when Nixon nominated Lewis F Powell to the supreme court which paved the way for citizens united. Now we have legalized bribery, a foreign interest is dictating terms and may even be using Kompromat farming/honeypotting to maintain this control. So imo it is naive to think that this small group of ultra wealthy people who consider the rest of us to be vermin/ useless eaters feel as though they have been imbued with a divine provenance to manipulate our sociopolitical and economic systems to serve themselves at our expense, would for some reason consider the election processes of our government to be too sacred for them to touch. It’s Obvious that these people have no reservations about doing whatever it takes, whenever they can to get their way whatever it may be,
It's also a handout to Israel
We shouldn't. We should protest by organizing the largest tax fraud push the country has ever seen. Someone should create a website to coordinate this effort. Maybe it could even grow into a movement where everyone helps each other to not pay any taxes at all.
If you claim to be exempt from federal income taxes, you can withhold those on your paycheck. Talk to your HR department. If you switch jobs, when you sign up for everything make sure to explain the situation. As in, I am exempt, as I did not make enough money last year. Do not charge my paycheck for federal taxes.
Don't explain the situation to anyone. All HR (actually, the payroll department) needs is a new W4, instructing them on how much to withhold from your pay for taxes.
You dont need to explain your reasoning to HR, and HR probably shouldn't know your intentions anyway.
Very true and correct.
somebody has to pay for ICE being one of the biggest armed forces in the world.
So you don't go to jail.
They don't really care to have a reason any more.
The threat of violence against our person and family, that's why.
Yeah but the orange manbaby did funny impression of a disabled person, and that speaks to my inner dickhead
That isn't how taxes work in the usa. The government borrows money from your/our future prints it to pay all its bills. Taxes just cover a bit of the expenditures when they come in. The government can care less about balancing the budget. So it doesn't matter if they get their money throughout the year or in April you wont hurt them. Only thing at risk is general people being audited and hurt also i believe you pay a penalty for not paying through the year. Since I have been alive we never have had a surplus. It would take years of a democratic presidency for the surplus to hit as the programs take years to produce profits and reduce the deficit. Sadly a democratic president/platform never stays popular for long enough.
General strike is still legal and more efficient than not paying taxes which will land you in jail. Withhold the means of production long enough and Trump might just fall out a window.
Its crazy to me that its incredibly hard to convince Americans not to go to work.
Do they think the police are going to evicted 1/3 of the population? (Assuming we were wildly successful)
Do they think the government wont recognize how important it will be to stabilize the workforce and offer relief, lest risk more strikes?
Do they think, myself, your neighbor, wont empty my pantry so you can be fed another day and we can carry on?
The only problem is you thinking you need to sit it out. Its the exact opposite, if you cant afford to strike youre the one who needs to fight. Youre the one who is getting fucked the hardest.
Yes, we need to meet a threshold to where we cant be ignored. No its not easy, but look at the alternatives. Carryon like this until we are actual slaves to disgusting GOP masters (Id rather be dead) spit. Open war against the world's most advanced military?
No, cut off the corporations and make them answer to you. After all, they are you.
To me it's a no brainer and the last option before armed revolution. As JFK once said, "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."
And quick reminder that the IWW will help anyone (including you, dear reader) unionize their job, no matter what it is, and even if you can only get one or two others on board with you!
"still legal"
Since when has that ever mattered? Remember, the first unions and labor strikes weren't legal but that didn't stop them. They didn't become legal until we forced the State to meet us on equal terms.
Also, the Constitution doesn't matter anymore and crime is legal
Never mattered in the first place. It's just a piece of paper with scribbles on it made by people hundreds of years ago, ascribing to a culture with norms that we know today to have been incredibly regressive in their conception, who never could have imagined society as it currently exists. It's an outdated document that has sorely been needing to be replaced, wholesale not simply amended, which other countries do routinely. What matters is the ruling authority which governs the political entity that that piece of paper is supposed to represent and how they enforce their interpretation of what is scribbled on it.
Who holds the authority to dictate what is or isn't crime? Why do people respect or validate that authority with their compliance when it is so clearly oppression and restrictive? Cause where I'm standing, the ruling authority of this country is illegitimate and people need to be disobeying en masse. Their laws and documents which grant them their ruling authority be damned.
I'm sorry but that's bullshit.
strike is more efficient than not paying taxes
that's the bullshit. The government, like any organization, is utterly dependent in financial input. Without it, they fall over. Withholding taxes is the strongest move that protesters can make.
A government that run its own currency does not necessarily need taxes to sustain itself.
oh shit, you're right. i hadn't thought of that.
As of currently the way the government works is everything is paid for by printing money and the government taking out loans. It claws some money back with taxes but they haven't covered the government since I have been alive.
How does the american tax system work?
I remember hearing 10 years ago that it was a hell of a lot of work to figure out how much taxes you had to pay to IRS, and that for filing your taxes, you often needed a lawyer or sth like that.
And then they changed it and implemented sth like "direct tax" or sth, and that means that they take your taxes from you automatically, without your intervention. Is that accurate?
To add on to the other explanations: The thing you heard about 10 years ago was likely Trump's tax bill that increased the standard deduction - a set amount that you can deduct instead of having to do a lot of math - and took a way a lot of deductions.
A deduction just means "you don't pay taxes on that money."
The big deductions that hurt was removing deductions for items people bought for work. The idea is that the employer should be providing that stuff, but that's not always realistic.
Without a doctor's note, lots of businesses aren't going to buy an employee an ergonomic chair because it costs 10 times as much as the Amazon special. They also aren't going to buy you a wardrobe of business suits that you'll only use for meetings. Being able to write that stuff off was huge for some of us.
I had to convince my side gig (teaching scuba and underwater photography) to change me from employee to contractor because I suddenly couldn't write off my gear.
Tell me about it. I'd been fully remote for about three years before that took effect, and I could take a pretty hefty deduction for my home office because of how it was calculated
It's pretty straightforward for most people if you're filing for yourself. It only gets complicated if you do itemized deductions which only makes sense if your total deductions are greater than the "standard deduction" (which I think is like $12,500 or something? The tax app does it for you).
You decide how much withholding that your job will do when you are hired (you can have it changed if you want). You can choose to have them estimate based on how many dependents you have and deduct that from each paycheck. It will usually be slightly more than you actually owe, so you get a return when you file once a year. Or you can choose to not have them deduct anything, and then pay the IRS the total amount when you file.
The latter is probably the smarter way to do it in that you're not essentially loaning money to the IRS, but in a country where most people live paycheck to paycheck, people don't like the idea of having to write the government a 4 to 5-figure check every year.
I'm self employed. My taxes are about six forms that cross-reference each other, a pita for sure. Also I pay a higher tax rate than billionaires.
No, not entirely.
We have taxes taken out every paycheck that is kind of like an estimate of what you actually owe. At the end of the year, you file complicated paperwork to determine what you actually owe. Big tax companies lobby hard to keep it this way.
For anything more complicated than a very basic life, people often use a tax company (like TurboTax or HR block) for help, which costs money. For even more complicated ones, people may use an accountant.
It's a ridiculous system and the lobbyists keep it like that
Because the commies and socialists will steal your guns, turn your kids gay, have state funded abortions, twerk, eat hot chips and lie if you don’t vote red.
Eating hot chips and twerking sounds like a recipe for a Pollock mud mask to the front three rows.
Gallagher fans are prepared
I mean, they paid for a ticket to a shitshow, so that tracks.
I wonder what sort of impact it would have if everyone who's upset with Trump's lawlessness adjusted their tax withholding at work to not withhold anything. They'd have to save the money so they can pay their taxes next April to avoid legal trouble, but in the meantime, federal income could get hamstrung.
They'd just use it as an excuse to cut more programs.
Hell, according to the CBO, the current bill is guaranteed to cause an imbalance in the budget, which thanks to existing pay go rules means across the board cuts to everything, including Medicare.
This way they didn't purposely or directly fuck over Medicare. It was just an oopsie.
That's a tremendous amount of concerted effort that that plan would take. I don't see it happening.
I think it'd be a fuckload easier than arranging a general strike. No missed work, no lost income, no need to coordinate a universal date to act on collectively, just a little paperwork and some effort to maintain savings. As more people hear and get upset, the money faucet slowly shuts more and more.
Am I high or is everyone in this thread just ignoring that the IRS can garnish your wages and put levies on your accounts?
Unless everyone triggers a bank run to get their dollars into coffee cans, taking what you owe is as simple as a few key strokes.
That's why I explicitly said people would have to save the money so they could pay their taxes come next April. You're under no legal obligation to have accurate tax withholdings. It's only a convenience to make sure you don't owe a ton at the end of the year. You just have to make sure you properly file and pay up come tax season.
Of course, an increasingly criminal administration might do something illegal to seize withheld funds, but that's another thing all together. Force their hands and make them do it if they want the money.
That makes no difference to their budget. They can still spend what they want, maybe with a little extra inflation, and they still balance their books anyway. The only thing they miss is that free couple hundred dollar loan from the 65%-ish that over withhold.
A government doesn't need fiat currency, they just need to control the flow of it in/out of the economy. Sitting on your taxes is as good as paying them. Also, income tax is 48% of revenue and ~30% is paid by the top 5% of earners. I don't think a 6 month delay on <18% of revenue would be noticeable.
Food for thought: private income tax was levied in the US to bolster the Civil War effort against these fuckstains' ancestors (and, largely met with resistance, at the time), but then quietly forgotten to be removed again. IIRC, it was most recently given legal precedence when corporations became people. 🤔
Cool. Hiw about a national tax exempt status followed by a general strike. Starve them out.
