Fixing the tax code
One of many policy proposals from Trump 47 has been to float the idea of not only extending the tax cuts from Trump 45, but enacting further cuts. Notably, the original spate of cuts from the 2017 TCJA were temporary. For individuals, that is … the corporate tax cuts were made permanent.
So rather than extend the prior corporate tax cuts, further reductions are on the table. This would be an excellent cure for the government’s massive budget surplus.
If there were one. Alas, the federal fisc is $36T in the hole and rapidly digging deeper. So much so the Trump administration is, with ample justification, aggressively casting about for areas in which spending cuts could be made.
So one might wonder why revenue cuts would be a top priority. Of course it would provide welcome relief for many individuals and businesses. But granting that, some of the biggest beneficiaries of tax relief would be the world’s most fabulously wealthy corporations. A compelling argument could be made that tax relief would help make many smaller enterprises more competitive, but so far as I know, a graduated rate structure of the kind that is deemed just fine for individuals is not being entertained for corporations. Without it, tax relief would apply just as well to corporations whose main competition issue is that they don’t have much.
Thanks largely to years of corporate subsidies via ultralow federal interest rate policy, the US has been raising a bumper crop of oligarchy. I’ve come to suspect that when the corporate news media refers to things ostensibly good or bad for “the economy”, its their economy being referred to, not yours and mine.
There’s a better way. Let corporate tax rates be graduated like individual rates. Rates could easily rise for the highest earners while falling for others. And let stock dividends be deductible to corporations like their bond interest payments are. This would remove an artificial distortion between debt and equity capital. It would also discourage the bottling up of capital in corporations already overflowing with it by encouraging it to be recirculated through dividends.
It would greatly simply the tax code by rendering many special structures moot, such as REITs, MPLs, BDCs, etc … instead of either-or, corporations would be tax exempt to whatever degree of income they didn’t retain. It could also moot a substantial sum of complex and expensive antitrust litigation by restraining the sprawl of supercap oligarchy in favor of companies with more growth runway ahead. Finally, it would eliminate the double taxation of the dividend stream … obviating the rationale for a separate rate schedule for individuals and the optics of a special break for dividend recipients.
Capital gains could benefit from a similar treatment: instead of having to track separately short and long term gains and apply a separate rate schedule; just index them for inflation.
Millions of hours of potentially productive time is wasted coping with the complexity of the tax code. Real savings don’t even necessarily require lower taxes overall … simplifying the byzantine tax code would pay big dividends itself.
Nice downdraft in stock prices today. At least it’s nice for those looking for a harbinger of inflation relief. We sure haven’t been getting it from gold.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/liz-truss-calls-elon-his-nerd-army-investigate-british-deep-state
Life after Trussgate? Farage rising?
Morning in Britain?
Mega’s Dispatch from England!
Political Earthquake?……………..More like Political KRAKATOA !!!!
With the exception of my 92 year old mum whom saw WW2 what has happened in the last 7 days or so has left everyone breathless…….including me.
Trump has politically NUKED the Euro Nazis & the City of London thugs!
So, why?
I have an idea, its all about a deal that no one will every talk about………Greater Israel.
Let me 1st say i am not in anyway against the Jewish people, the best teacher at school i had was a Jew. My Mothers life was saved when she was a child by two Jewish doctors whom came onto her housing project & treated her for nothing as her family was broke.
I had a Jewish girlfriend, …….i met a few i didn’t like but i NEVER met a stupid Jew.
So, with that in mind lets talk about “The Deal”
The Ukraine war was dragging on, Israel had “Loaned” a very large number of its Intel staff to conduct the fight against Russia. Russia was getting badly hurt at this stage of the war & could do with Israeli “input”.
So, Russia called Iran, who called HAMMAS.
Israel was caught totally flat footed by the attack, they VERY quickly recalled their intel staff from the NATO base In Grease & the war began. Make no mistake “Trick play aside” Israel was getting beat on all fronts. In Gaza, in the West Bank & in the Leb….worse still Iran managed to punch though the much vaunted “Iron Done”.
Israel was on the ropes, then something strange happened………one of Israel’s highest Elites went to Russia & met with Putin.
Mega’s Dispatch from England!/2
I have no idea who idea it was but here is what i think happened.
Russia agreed to allow Syria to fall, thus removing Iran from sreals borders & thus Israel in time could carry on with “Greater Israel” or just enjoy a quite life on WEst Bank etc.
In return
Ukraine will fall
Russia get the land it wants
It gets NO Nato in Ukraine, in fact NATO is Marched back across Europe.
A LARGE number of Treaties & agreements will safe guard Russia from any more Western aggression.
Now to do this Trump must be given a free hand & Israel will use its ASSETS in the US (APAC) etc to help. Note how ALL of Trumps picks are getting though & some grandstanding aside its going his way.
Mega’s Dispatch from England!/3
While the Euro Nazi scum & the City of London Dogs thought they could “Handle” Trump they were totally SHOCKED by Hammer blow.
“Team America” is NOT gong to WW3!
They got pulled into WW1 & WW2, not this one!
Rather than wake up & smell the coffee they are still in “Denial” that the US is going to Dump them!
They still trying the “Peace keeping” force (with tripwires) to try to keep US involved. Every bit of bulsh1t is getting deployed. With out US back up their tiny resources would be (Gleefully) wiped off the map by Russia.
The latest news is that the “Peace Keeping” term has been replaced by “Reassurance Force”
To safeguard returning UKraine people.
Mega’s Dispatch from England!/4
Keep your eyes on the Prize!
What i suspect has happened is Ukraine has signed a “Deal” to allow British/French to loot Ukraine of its natural resources. What Trump has done is BRILL, in a nutshell he eaten their dinner. He has removed the main reason they wanted to carry on the fight, there is not much left for them in Ukraine.
They would hope to install their own person in the White House at a latter date but if Trump walks back American involvement in Europe its going to be VERY hard walk it back to Russia’s borders.
I have enjoyed the last 7 days & i am GAGGING to see what the next 7 bring?
Good Fun ahead
I remember snippets of this from your earlier comments, but this is the first I recall seeing the big picture you paint. Being a big picture sort it’s much easier for me to grasp details in a broader context. Thanks for putting it together for us.
For what it’s worth, while Trump is so obviously providing dynamic leadership on this front, I think the impetus came from the ground up. While elites tend to think of the world as one big game of Risk, most Americans, at least most I know, don’t feel they have anything to gain from world domination. They are more concerned about what’s going at home, in terms of things like putting food on the table, paying the bills, bureaucracy, taxes, and countering mass illegal immigration and radical social engineering. Trump was elected because his America First platform appealed to primarily domestic concerns. Less meddling in other countries’ business is part of that. As the foundation of Trump’s political capital, he will need to be true to it to maintain it.
TRy not to laugh 🙂
https://x.com/Megatron_ron/status/1893213698103099785?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
Or this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPhivsODaak&t=6s
Mike
On “the enlargement of NATO”:
https://dailyreckoning.com/europe-goes-gentle-into-the-good-night/
Gold looks to be hitting a soft ceiling just below the round number level $3000. Until shown otherwise, it should be regarded as technical resistance. After a run like this, it deserves a breather.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlkCWzakkVo
Fixed, even then.
Mike
Sorry to be off for a day or so…..for some strange reason Google home page will NOT load on my PC. I had to use Edge which loads fine.
Mike
Trump is like Washington crossing the Potomac!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2zRRr0CkmU
A 2nd America revolution?
OK, just confirmed Ukraine “Sold” its rare earth’s to the BRITISH!
Mike
Oh MY
https://x.com/Megatron_ron/status/1894098440918892553?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
Bloomberg reports the Trump administration has identified about $2.5T in proposed spending reductions and about $4.5T in proposed revenue cuts (IIRC estimated over the next ten years). Unless my arithmetic is bad, that’s a net add of $2T to the debt, not counting borrowing costs.
Don’t sell yer gold yet.