Tax Cuts

Trust Fund Fairies

The last time student loan forgiveness was in the news, a very conservative friend of mine posted her opposition to it on Facebook. Several of her like-minded friends jumped in and they all had one collective reason for opposing the government wiping out student debt and providing free college: They had to pay for college so future generations should have to pay as well.

If this is your only reason to oppose free college, then you suck. What happened to working hard so our kids can have an easier life? This attitude that other people should suffer because you suffered is cruel and is another example of why Republican candidates appeal to assholes. It’s because Republicans are assholes.

Surprise! The send-them-back party and gang who loves to separate families and throw the babies into cages are opposed to free college. So, what’s wrong with free college? We already provide free education K-12. Why can’t we add four more? Or at the very least, this nation should provide free two-year community college. Conservatives argue that free college is too expensive and we don’t have the money for it. But we do have the money for it.

Free college would probably cost us around $55 billion a year. Ouch, right? But we spend over $700 billion on defense. If we pulled the funds for free college from defense alone that’d only leave defense with $645 billion. How many billions have we spent on tanks that are just sitting in storage?

At least 55 of our nation’s largest corporations didn’t pay taxes in 2020. The statutory federal tax rate for corporate profits is 21 percent, but these companies didn’t pay that, which would have added up to over $8.5 billion. If you add that up with the $3.5 billion in rebates, it comes to $12 billion. That could have gone toward free college, which is something corporate America would have recruited from.

Remember the Wall Street bailout of 2008? We initially set out to give banks over $700 billion, but it eventually came down to $426 billion. Sure, we got that money back, and with a profit of around $17 billion. This was an investment. $55 billion a year to provide free college so we can keep up with the rest of first-world nations would also be an investment.

We spend about $20 billion a year subsidizing the oil industry which does not give us a price break at the pump during a world crisis like we’re experiencing now. Chevron alone has quadrupled its profits and last Friday posted its highest quarterly profit in 10 years.

Donald Trump’s company made over $1.6 billion during the four years he was president (sic). Part of that was the $2.5 million the United States government paid to his golf resorts. If you’re one of those praising him for donating his $400,000 yearly salary back to the government while he raked in over $2.5 million from taxpayers, and additional millions from violating the emoluments clause, shut up and sit down.

We can afford free college. We can debate forgiving all the debt that’s out there, but that’s something we can wipe out too while we restructure the system. Even if we don’t wipe out loans, we should provide free four-year college. There can still be private universities if you’re too snooty for public schools, but the options should be out there. We can keep a loan system in place for those who choose to continue pursuing their education after four years.

Just like we were with health care (and still are), we’re behind the rest of the civilized world with free college. $55 billion a year is too much to spend on free college? We currently spend over $80 billion annually on prisons.

Personally, I think college is a better investment than stuff like prisons, oil companies, and Trumps.

Music Note: It took the entire length of The Foo Fighters “The Colour and the Shape” to color this cartoon.

Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.

Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: There are 19 copies of my book in stock, which go for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.

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Trickle Clowns

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Trickle down economics used to be a theory. I say “used to be” because it’s been debunked.

The theory was that lowering taxes on the richest would stimulate the economy. All those savings for the rich would gradually “trickle down” to the poor and middle class. The rich would be all like, “What do we do with all this increased income? I know….let’s invest it in our employees and community, and not spend it on swanky Manhattan penthouses, yachts, and robot dogs.” It’s a theory that was made into an economic policy. The only problem with it as an economic policy is that it relied on greedy rich assholes not being greedy rich assholes. Did the rich hire more people and increase salaries? No. They bought robot dogs.

Ronald Reagan was the first president to implement this policy but it didn’t work. I mean, it did work in that it made rich assholes even richer assholes, but it never trickled down unless the trickle was yellow. But, leave it to Republicans to double down on the trickle down. George W. Bush relied on it with major tax cuts for the rich…while paying for two wars, and Donald Trump gave major tax cuts to the rich arguing it would trickle down. It’s also a shell game when they do these tax cuts because they always lower them for the middle class at the same time…while giving the larger cuts to the rich. In Donald Trump’s case, to himself.

Republicans rely on you being too distracted and stupid from your extra $300 not to notice the rich’s extra $300 million. And in most cases, they’re right. You, as in all of us, are too stupid. I was once talking to the graphic artist at my last newspaper about us having to pay for Bush’s two wars, and his reply was, “So what? I got $300.”

It’s been over 40 years and it’s been proven trickle down economics doesn’t work. Take Jeff Bezos for example. That guy is worth close to $190 billion (with a “B”), yet his tax rate is less than one percent (with a “1”). Warren Buffett has argued for years that taxes on the rich should increase, but between 2014 to 2018, he paid right under $24 million (with an “M”) in taxes on a wealth of over $24 billion (with a “B”).

The typical middle class taxpayer pays a higher rate than billionaires like Bezos, Buffett, Elon Musk, and Michael Bloomberg. A report by ProPublica has revealed these billionaires pay very little in taxes, and sometimes none at all (none, with a “zero”).

The thing is, the United States taxes income, not wealth. Some people, like Senator Elizabeth Warren want to change that. I’m with her. Let’s tax the rich’s wealth. Let’s tax those Manhattan penthouses for mistresses. Let’s tax those yachts. Let’s tax those robot dogs. There should even be a tax for naming your snooty daughter “Ivanka.” If you give me time, I can come up with a list of names that should be taxed. We can start with “Ivanka, Tiffany, and Barron.” We should also increases taxes for boob jobs, face lifts, and rhinoplasty (with an “R”).

Much of the rich’s wealth are in things like shares in companies they run, vacation homes, yachts and other investments, which are not considered “taxable income” unless those assets are sold and a gain is realized. For example, when Derek Jeter sold his penthouse in Trump World Tower for $16 million after buying it for $13 million (both with “Ms”), there would be a tax on that (he was trying to sell it for $20 million, but it took two years to dump it. Even though it had a great view of Manhattan overlooking the Chrysler Building, Empire State Building, and One World Tower, it was still in Trump World Tower). Even then, there are loopholes in the tax code that can limit or erase all tax liability. If you are a billionaire, you pay for the best tax accountants.

President Biden wants to increase taxes on everyone with an “income” over $453,000 a year by two percent. If you’re a couple making $800,000, then you might pay an additional $5,200 a year in taxes That’s a joke, yet Republicans are fighting it. It would reverse the deductions Trump gave to the rich, including himself. But what will raising the income tax by two percent on the 25 richest Americans, who pay less than 16 percent, do other than make them chortle through their teeth? Maybe buy smaller robot dogs? Republicans act as though that two percent increase is aggressive. I’m surprised one of them hasn’t compared it to the Holocaust yet. But in all honesty, it’s still rewarding the rich for being rich.

If you’re rich, congratulations. I’m sure you worked hard to get there. OK, some of you worked hard to get there. OK, maybe fewer than some. A lot of you inherited what you have. And a whole bunch of you screwed people over to get where you are. Donald Trump, for example, did both. This is a guy who inherited his fortune, and refused to pay people building his towers and casinos. Some years, he only paid $700 in income tax…if any at all. If you make $50,000 a year, hell, $30,000, good luck getting away with only paying $700…legally. And I promise that you feel the pinch of paying $700 a lot more than Donald Trump does.

Senator Warren wants to raise taxes on the rich by two percent also…but not on income. She wants to place a two percent tax on wealth over $50 million (with an “M”). This would include stocks, gifts, homes, yachts, apartments for mistresses, towers that have to be bailed out by Saudis, stock in Grey Poupon, robot dogs (I’m not over robot dogs yet), etc. We can call it the “Asshole tax” (with an “A”).

The rich will always be able to find loopholes. They could spread their property out through their children, who may not be worth $50 million yet. And, those kids would still be tax deductions. Can a robot dog own an apartment? Can you deduct a robot dog? I bet one of these rich jerks has tried.

Over the past few decades, the income gap has increased. The rich have gotten richer while the poor and middle class have not. Wages have remained stagnant. And even when they do increase salaries, they pass it to the consumers who will have to pay 36 cents more for a burrito at Chipotle (I don’t get why everyone love Chipotle? What’s up with that? The food’s dull and boring. They can’t even make a decent taco). When companies raise salaries, they don’t plan for it to cut into their profits or wealth. They plan for you to pay it. It’s why some places charge you for ranch dipping sauce. Don’t believe me? Go to Little Caesars. Their pizza pizza can be a rip-off rip-off.

Republicans have always championed the rich and demonized the poor. Even Ronald Reagan went after welfare recipients, often fictionalizing them and describing one as a “welfare queen” (guess what color she was), while we spend double of social welfare on corporate welfare. We want to piss test people trying to feed their children but we’re not making corporate executives being paid millions of dollars, while their companies are collecting welfare, pee in cups. Hell, if an executive can increase the welfare his company receives, it’s probably another bonus where he can buy a new yacht…that won’t be taxed. Senator Warren…put it in your bill that they have to pee in cups.

If we are depending on this nation to prosper only from the generosity of the rich, we’re fucked….with a capital “F.”

Hopefully, after this column and cartoon is published, no rich asshole sends his robot dog to bite me.

Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.

Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: I have two copies of my book in stock, which I’m selling for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403.

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Something, Something Tax Cuts

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Funny thing about those massive tax cuts for the rich that Republicans were so excited to campaign on; they’re not running on them. You remember those tax cuts, right? Donald Trump flew down to Mar-a-Lago afterward and told his rich, snobby friends over wine, steaks, caviar, and lobsters that they “just got richer.” We were promised they wouldn’t increase the deficit, but as predicted, they have and Mitch McConnell’s solution is to cut Medicare and Social Security. But, hey. Trump’s kids won’t have to pay estate taxes after he croaks, so it’s all good.

For some reason, these tax cuts that were going to be so awesome for everyone isn’t being mentioned by Republicans in the midterm campaigns. Instead, they’re running on fear.

Donald Trump is telling supporters that Republicans create jobs and Democrats create angry mobs, and they’re for open borders and against law and order. He’s encouraging Republicans to run on caravans and Kavanaugh.

Trump retweeted a video accusing George Soros of funding people from Central America who are walking over 2,000 miles to seek refugee status in the U.S. He’s arguing that we can’t have Democrats in Congress who won’t let gropers on the Supreme Court. He’s claiming that Republicans don’t support taking away coverage of pre-existing conditions, except his administration is fighting in court to do just that. As we have come to know, Donald Trump lies. Lying has now become the Republican Party platform.

While Trump and Republicans accuse Democrats of having nothing to run on, they’re running on lies.

In a race for New York’s 19th Congressional District, the Republican National Congressional Committee (which should be excited about tax cuts) is running an ad against Democrat Antonio Delgado. Delgado, who is black, is a former rapper and the GOP is using that to scare voters while using Kanye to recruit them. It’s OK if you haven’t found the logic in that yet, because I haven’t either. Is it the rhyming ability or the fact he’s black we’re supposed to be afraid of? Maybe it is the music part because in Texas they’re scaring people by pointing out Beto O’Rourke used to play in a punk band. Oh, my god. He knows at least three chords.

In another New York Congressional District, Republican Chris Collins is trying to take attention away from the fact that he was indicted on insider trading charges by pointing out his opponent is bilingual. His opponent is Democrat Nate McMurray whose wife is a naturalized citizen from South Korea. The Republicans are running an ad showing McMurry speaking Korean while showing pictures of Kim Jong Un. Never mind the fact that Donald Trump can only speak enough English to say he’s in love with Kim, a bilingual Democrat is in direct opposition to nationalism. Do you know who else speaks Korean? Koreans! AGH!

In Virginia, Abigail Spanberger, who is a former undercover CIA operative who fought terrorism for eight years, is being accused of teaching future terrorists. First off, U.S. Postal employees accidentally delivered her confidential personnel file to Republican operatives. Now, Republicans supporting Dave Brat are using her stint teaching Bronte and Shakespeare to make her appear as a terror teacher. The Super PAC aligned with Paul Ryan is using confidential information from a security clearance in a political campaign.

Spanberger taught for two semesters at a Saudi embassy school outside Washington. Two former students of the school were involved in failed terrorism plots, which Republicans are using to dub the school “terror high.” They ignore the fact that Spanberger obtained a security clearance after teaching at the school and went on to serve eight years in the CIA. Lord knows that high school is the only one in the nation to produce criminals.

At least Spanberger is only being accused of educating terrorists, and not being one. Ammar Campa-Najjar, a Democrat running for Congress in San Diego, is being accused by his opponent of being an actual terrorist.

The Democrat is a Christian who was raised in a Mexican-American community, but his paternal grandfather, Muhammad Youssef al-Najjar, was involved with the plan to murder Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games in Germany. My step-grandfather claimed he helped invent Hellman’s mayonnaise, but I hope that’s never held against me. I swear to God my allegiance is to mustard!

The real irony of this is that Campa-Najjar worked in the Obama White House, which required him to get a security clearance from the FBI. His opponent, Duncan Hunter, could never get a security clearance because he was indicted by the FBI.

Republicans are also using the terrorism allegation against Democrats in Ohio and New Jersey.

Republicans can’t do anything honestly. They cheated with help from the Russians, and maybe even the Saudis, to get the White House. They have to cheat to confirm their justices to the Supreme Court. They have to cheat to win elections by gerrymandering and suppressing minority voters. And, in a straight-up head-to-head campaign, they have to lie to win. They warn us about what sort of nation the Democrats will deliver while giving us one led by cheaters, liars, and sycophants. They’ve proven they’ll run and govern from the gutters.

Republicans campaign of fear is working, because I’m scared to death of their America.

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