Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

April 15th: “Render unto Caesar . . . .”

Did you settle accounts with the Infernal Revenue 'Service'?  If yes, then celebrate with The Beatles, Harrison and Clapton, and Tom Petty.

No, I am not opposed to paying taxes.  I am not anti-tax any more than I am anti-government. We need government, and we need to fund it somehow.  It does not follow, however, that there must be an income tax.  There are alternatives.

We paid 14% of our 2024 income in federal and state income taxes. What did you pay?

Did we get value for our money? We got Biden-Harris. That suffices for an answer. No need to get scatological about it.  We are very lucky, however, that our geopolitical adversaries did not take the opportunity to pounce on us in our Biden-induced weakness. They wouldn't dare do that now.

Say what you want about tariffs, but one thing is blindingly evident: it is utter folly to be dependent on one's enemies for such essentials as pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, to mention just two classes of goods we cannot do without. And say what you want about Trump, but he alone has the cojones to end this insane dependency. The Dems are for it, and the Republicans would only talk about it. Too bad the moniker 'Big Balls' is already taken . . . . 

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Bill Vallicella

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4 responses to “April 15th: “Render unto Caesar . . . .””

  1. The financial ostrich Avatar
    The financial ostrich

    Average tax in UK is 24% so you get off lightly, although health costs in UK are lower.
    On tariffs, nine in 10 electric fans bought from abroad in the US last year came from China, as did 40 per cent of self-contained air-conditioning units. Three quarters of kids’ toys, including Barbie dolls. 90% microwaves. Half of ceramic sinks. All of these will go up in price as a result of the tariffs. Can their production be ‘insourced’? Not without increase in labour costs probably exceeding that of the tariffs.

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  2. BV Avatar
    BV

    You cannot assume that what I pay is what the average US taxpayer pays. And by ‘average’ do you mean mean or median?
    We will have to wait and see what the long-term net effect of Trump’s tariffs will be. I would be happy to pay more in the short term if it makes the USA less dependent on its foreign adversaries.
    As I said, ” one thing is blindingly evident: it it utter folly to be dependent on one’s enemies for such essentials as pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, to mention just two classes of goods we cannot do without.”
    >>Can their production be ‘insourced’? Not without increase in labour costs<< AGREED >>probably exceeding that of the tariffs.<< NOT CLEAR. There are many complicated questions here, some moral. I'm a frugal guy, but I am willing to pay more for American-made fans and microwave ovens if it means less slave labor and happier people in the homeland. Happy people don't cause trouble.

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  3. oz Avatar
    oz

    average (=mean) annual factory wage in Vietnam is $3,500 average factory wage in US is about $35,000, so you have a sense of what was “NOT CLEAR”.
    On whether Asian pay is slave labour, when I was in Vietnam a few years ago I asked about this issue, and was told that many chose to work in the factories because the pay was better compared to the poor rural areas. (It was the same in 19C industrial Britain where workers flocked to the factories rather than the farms).
    Recall that while the Vietnamese wages are a fraction of the US, the same applies to the salaries of teachers, doctors, lawyers and so on. It is the same in Africa, where many people educate their children privately. Fewer people in the West (and particularly in the UK) can afford the luxury of private education any more. It’s all about relative costs.

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  4. BV Avatar
    BV

    Oz,
    Sorry about your comment not appearing. The problem is with Typepad. Had the same problem with a Canadian commenter.
    I hope you are not denying that there is slave labor in China. Would you buy a beautiful lampshade made of human skin? Presumably not. Similarly I don’t want to buy textiles made by literal slaves.
    https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/against-their-will-the-situation-in-xinjiang

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