Tom Toles for September 29, 2017

How the super-wealthy managed to convince so many people that a tax that currently, on a federal level, applies only to estates greater than $5.5 Million is unfair to them, is a mystery that would stump the Sphinx.

And all Trump Disciples still truly believe he is ‘on their side’.

And that his tax plan will not benefit him personally.

TAX UNDOINGS – {limerick}

√ Repugs the tax code they whittle

in ways where the richies pay little.

√ Trump’s OWN taxes

he vigorously axes.

For the NATION they care not a tittle.

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FROGS – {a pair of limericks}

This image bears repeating: -

- that while the water is heating,

we frogs float inert

and not alert

that our fortunes are fast depleting. … …

… … The rich will sip the soup

which is flavored by froggy goop, -

- if we frogs don’t regroup

with a rebellious whoop

as a revolutionary troupe.

========

I wish I could somehow fit the Greek myth of Zeus and Danae in regard to this cartoon.

@LIVERLIPS – Simple, they called it a death tax and said liberals liked it.

The estate tax could be abolished and the funds reclassified as income to tax purposes.

the BLESSED & the SUPPRESSED – {limerick}

Will NEVER we learn our lesson? -

- that the Rightists forEVER are stressin’

that the Rich are blessed

and we Others suppressed.

To get THEIRS they’re ever aggressin’.

======

Ah! It looks like 2018 promises to be a Great Year — for the RICH! Mr. T’s new motto: “Make The Rich Richer, Again”!

Can’t WAIT for that $1000 so I can run right out and buy a BRAND NEW CAR! If this was 1930, that is…

Maybe the wealth can then be enjoyed by one more generation?

http://time.com/money/3925308/rich-families-lose-wealth/

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/globe-wealth/eroding-family-fortunes-how-the-cycle-can-be-broken/article33757468/?ref=http://www.theglobeandmail.com&

Again with the golden showers. Ah, Trump.

For poor Americans a golden shower from Trump and the Rethuglicans of a different kind.

I’m thinking of the old joke, “My husband cheats on me so often that I’m not even sure my last few kids are HIS!” DNA tests for Little Donnie, Eric, and Ivanka!

And all the republicans have to do is take away health insurance and the standard middle class house deduction to pay for the tax cuts to the 1%

Heard yesterday that while the Rich get a boost of 5% the lowest poor get a tax increase of 4%!!!!!!!!!! The only group getting such an increase. Is this opposite day? It is the poor who need more money not less. And the super idle rich need much less money so they won’t purchase our govt from us and keep it.

This Republican “tax reform” (and the inheritance tax part is not the worst) is so far over the top, that when they come and say they are willing to compromise they will still be getting most of what they really want.

The Republicans have changed 180 degrees since Republican Teddy Roosevelt was in office. “We grudge no man a fortune in civil life if it is honorably obtained and well used. It is not even enough that it should have been gained without doing damage to the community. We should permit it to be gained only so long as the gaining represents benefit to the community … The really big fortune, the swollen fortune, by the mere fact of its size, acquires qualities which differentiate it in kind as well as in degree from what is possessed by men of relatively small means. Therefore, I believe in a graduated income tax on big fortunes, and … a graduated inheritance tax on big fortunes, properly safeguarded against evasion, and increasing rapidly in amount with the size of the estate”.

Teddy Roosevelt was one of my favorites. Even though he was born with a silver spoon, he was pretty much down to earth when it came to people and what he was supposed to be doing for the people while he was in office. There have been some common-sense presidents. There have also been some tax squeezing presidents who would squeeze every dime they could get out of the Common Man. Trump is going to be one of the worst.

We didn’t have any $1,000, but still had to buy a new car because someone creamed the perfectly good 10-year-old one we had. Now we are trying to get them to include a century-old safety device called a spare tire. Those were standard when they were debating whether four-wheel brakes were needed.

Well, the Republican “Healthcare” windfall for the super wealthy didn’t pan out, so just try “tax reform” directly.

“We are free today substantially; but the day will come when our Republic will be an impossibility. It will be an impossibility because wealth will become concentrated in the hands of a few. A Republic cannot exist upon bayonets; and when that day comes, when the wealth of the nation is in the hands of a few, then we must rely upon the wisdom of the best elements of the country to readjust the laws of the nation to the changed conditions.”James Madison, 4th President of the U.S

You know what they say about Trump and golden showers.

Some say that a major reason Trump wants to abolish the inheritance tax is to benefit his children when he dies, but I think he has a bigger reason:

If there’s no tax, then there will be no accounting of the inheritance, and that way neither the public nor the government will be able to verify that his debts actually exceed his assets.