2 in 3 Americans Feel They Personally Pay Too Much in Income Taxes – Do You?

“Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors… and miss.”

– Robert A. Heinlein

Tax collectors in Ancient China and Ancient Rome routinely enriched themselves by gaming the system. Any time that a tax collector was able to collect an excess above what the government required, he kept it for himself. As a result, tax collectors were particularly hated in society. This is one reason why the Pharisees leveled criticisms at Jesus when Matthew, a tax collector for the Romans who focused on Jewish community tax levies in his native Capernaum, near Galilee, became one of the 12 Disciples. 

Abuses of the tax system by crooked bureaucrats have been systemic since the dawn of collective societies. The coercive nature of taxes inevitably empowers governments to want to take more. Joe Biden’s and Kamala Harris’ plan to hire 82,000 armed IRS agents specifically to enforce additional tax collections were a chilling notion that drove many voters into the Trump/Vance camp. Donald Trump ran on campaign promises to cut taxes on US citizens. So far, President Trump appears to be laying the groundwork to keep that promise, provided Congress does its part to codify his tax cuts into law.

“You Don’t Pay Taxes. They Take Taxes.”

  –  Chris Rock

A survey taken by the Center for Federal Tax Policy was conducted with over 2,700 taxpayers over age 18 from a wide range of income brackets, races, religions and other demographics. The results found a significant amount of misunderstanding on the part of a majority of taxpayers, likely the result of political slogans by Democrat politicians continually misrepresenting statistics with class warfare slogans designed to create envy and a sense of unfairness. For example, fewer than 23% of respondents were aware that the top 1% wealthiest Americans pay over 40% of all federal income taxes.

Nevertheless, 65% of respondents concurred that income taxes were too high, and that the services offered from the government were not commensurate with the amount of taxes that are extracted from paychecks. The underlying unease with taxation has become exacerbated in recent years, due to a  number of factors:

Bidenomics: 

The reckless overspending by Congress and Bidenomics policies on over- regulation, energy, and the border resulted in the highest inflation levels in 40 years. Joe Biden’s repeated pronouncements of the economy being “great” were contradicted by: 

• The Labor Department’s repeated downward corrections of false employment numbers after initial announcements, which became routine every fiscal quarter;
• The escalation of prices for fuel, food, and medicines, and his calls for raising taxes further, echoed by Kamala Harris during her  2024 presidential campaign;
• The desperation of families struggling to make ends meet having to resort to credit cards to pay for basic necessities;

DOGE Uncovers Where Taxes Have Been Spent:

The revelations of widespread abuse, fraud, kickbacks, and criminal misappropriation of taxpayer dollars for pet projects, predominantly from Democrat and Left-leaning Republican politicians, has vindicated the suspicions of millions of Americans. The evidence uncovered by Elon Musk and DOGE have informed the public at large that taxpayer dollars have been wasted on ridiculous programs that have little benefit to the American people. 

President Trump, Tariffs, The History of 1913, and Interim Measures

Strategies to mitigate the bite of taxes that Americans have successfully deployed include:

• Contributions to tax-deferred retirement (IRA, 401-K) and health savings accounts; 
• Aggressively taking small business deductions with S-Corp and LLCs if applicable;
• Strategic use of energy credits, child credits, AMT, and other tax provisions.

These tactics have helped but could be compared to band-aids being used on bullet wounds in terms of their overall impact. 

However, President Trump has proposed an even more comprehensive solution: the elimination of federal income tax altogether, to be replaced with tariff revenues and a consumption tax between 14-17%.

President Trump’s recent “Liberation Day” tariff policy announcement has already overseen the creation of over a  trillion dollars of US investment commitments and the commencement of new factories, tangible new jobs on a large scale, and other positive US economic activities.

 He cited how the US was once “very wealthy” before 1913.  Not coincidentally, that was the year that President Woodrow Wilson created the Federal Reserve Bank, and the 16th Amendment authorized the creation of the Internal Revenue Service. 

If the tariffs have the intended effect of stimulating business growth to his anticipated levels, the Trump Administration will be able to make a good case for eliminating the IRS, thus restoring thousands of annual dollars back to taxpayers, and restoring “fairness” with a consumption tax that hits wealthier people harder as they spend on more expensive items. Time will tell, but President Trump’s cutting of inflation to its lowest levels since his previous term and reduction of food and fuel prices from Bidenomics levels in just his first 65 days in office is putting the wind at his back for additional reforms.

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