Just Add Water

Some of our relatives passing through from the beach stopped for an overnight respite.  They left with us some consumables not suitable to continue the journey.  Among those items was a half-gallon bottle of Mott’s apple juice “beverage”.  It was labeled for “tots”; however since they had no “tots” with them the appeal must have been the 40% less sugar prominently shown on the container. Understandable, but...

When I later tried some after they were gone, the taste encouraged me to investigate further. What Mott’s did to achieve their sugar (and calorie) reduction was simply to add (40%) more water to the reconstituted apple juice, which they proudly explained on the back label. They also, as an aside, added a premium price.

This, of course, begs the question; why doesn’t the consumer buy the less expensive 100% apple juice and just add their own water, getting more for less?  Why are so many people willing to accept a explanation when it blatantly works against their own best interest? There is a lesson in here and I couldn’t help but find it Trump related.

Last week Trump unveiled his much anticipated “tax plan”.  I worked in the tax field for 32 years and this one was different.

Every Administrative proposal for a new tax bill has looked like a novelette, which might still appear modest next to the 75,000 page US Tax Code (not counting regulations).  Trump’s was one page, double spaced with 13 lines of proposed changes, the rest being general intent and hyperbole.  Even then, with all its vagueness, it still made me gasp.

One reason I was so taken aback was that earlier in the day a fine, conservative friend of mine had come up to me and said “did you see how Trump’s going to lower our Taxes…how do you like that!?!”.

Now I’m confident he hadn’t read the Trump tax page, rather he probably heard discussion on talk radio or some other Conservative media source. Still, after seeing what our President had presented, I couldn’t get my friend’s sense of glee out of my mind.  I couldn’t help but see him holding up that bottle of Mott’s saying “Oh Wow…look!! Apple juice AND 40% less sugar!!!”

Who’s to blame, the Administration or the eagerly duped taxpayer?  I find myself angry at both. Yes…angry, which is something I don’t like to be.

Explaining taxes is very tough. Trying to explain (to name a few proposals) that taxing S Corporations at 15% benefits ordinary individuals unequally and is a colossal windfall for the very rich (like Trump, who manage their businesses as private enterprises), or that there is no such thing as “Death Taxes” (rather Transfer Taxes - Estate and Gift - that only affect the very wealthy), or that retaining the mortgage interest deduction while eliminating other itemized deductions and raising the standard deduction primarily benefits those people owning mega-mansions would probably result in blank stares and head scratching.

Instead of seeking to understand, Conservative taxpayers (who may also be socially Liberal) will eagerly shoot themselves in the feet because they have bought, swallowed, and digested the argument that taxes, per se, are bad…period.

Let me speak to that. You believe that taxes are bad because you think they only benefit some gargantuan government that does little good for anyone and always seeks to repress the productive individuals in our society.  Yes?  Let me point out that the size of government(s) is what it is at any given time and that in a free, relatively democratic nation you (you damned fool) ARE the Government.

You view taxes as if you lived in a feudal culture where the Lord’s henchmen collected from you daily. The fact is that in a dynamic economy the Lords don’t collect their treasures from you by taxing; they accumulate the wealth made possible by a free, large, and expensive Nation and make you pay for it, either directly or through debt. Your debt!!

The only thing they’re afraid of is that you might figure it out - that taxes are potentially the great equalizer. 

Through wealth redistribution we could fund those aspects of the economy that benefit growth, infrastructure and technology e.g. (see http://pennyfound.blogspot.com/2016/12/why-you-should-care.html).  Instead you vote as requested, to exempt the mega wealthy from possibly paying back a large portion of that wealth, preferring to allow them even greater advantage with each tax bill.

You willingly allow them to add water to your apple juice and somehow feel you should pay them for it. 

Come on Conservative America. You may be dumb, but you’re not completely stupid. Read the damned labels.  Allow taxation on those who can pay it and still remain wealthy.  Hang Grover Norquist in effigy.  It will create jobs by taking stagnant wealth and putting it to work. It will curb and reduce debt. It complements the fiscal responsibility you’ve always advocated.

The battle should be on what we are going to spend America’s income on, not where it’s coming from.