Odds, Ends and Bullshit

  

                      Odds and Ends

 

    A recent meme from a conservative news site states a bill introduced in the House of Representatives would allow undocumented immigrants to receive stimulus checks as part of the CARES Act. This has also been picked up by the Trump campaign as if it was Joe Biden’s initiative. As is almost always the case with Trump, this is as much a matter of what isn’t said than what is.  Another example of this later.

        Without an information overload, here, as Paul Harvey famously said is “The rest of the story:

        As enacted, the CARES Act (first round of stimulus money) required recipients of benefits to provide a valid Social Security number, which undocumented immigrants don’t have and can't legally get. This, by definition, eliminated undocumented persons who have no SSAN but do have a Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) and who pay income tax.  Many undocumented immigrants pay taxes because it’s legally required and because their history of tax payment may in some cases be used to strengthen their cases for citizenship. Proposed second round Pandemic relief legislation would provide stimulus money to anyone who filed an income tax return or was Social Security eligible. This meant anyone who had a work income or filed for income tax credit and has a SSAN got a check.

        Don’t let the Trump fog of partial truth fool you. This means that undocumented individuals who work with     an ITIN have income tax deducted from their pay checks, as well as Social Security/Medicare withholding which will never be paid back to them until such time as they become citizens. Undocumented immigrants contributed over $13 billion into the Social Security funds in 2016 and $3 billion to Medicare.

        Understand what that means: there are folks here who work and pay taxes who see fewer of the benefits of doing so. These are the persons in question. American businesses hire them, withhold income tax and Social Security/Medicare taxes yet they would receive no stimulus money even though others, working or not, deserving or not, do. Check almost any Florida roofing crew. The employer is required to withhold FICA, but there is no such thing as a “personal” SS/Medicare account, because Social Security does not create an individual savings account for each worker that pays FICA tax, the government uses any money it receives to pay benefits to current recipients of Social Security.

       Yeah, as stated earlier, in some cases this means working individuals who pay into SS/Medicare and get nothing back, would also be denied stimulus money while citizens who choose not to work (yes there are some (too) many of those) will get a check. Now you know the rest of the story.

 

        In another “You really can’t make this shit up” moment, we’re resented with what we suspected – that the “stable genius” isn’t much of a business genius. NY Times released the news that Donald Trump paid no personal income tax in 10 of the previous 15 years, and just $750 per in the several before being elected President. Other details from the Times initial article mention the massive debt and imminent insolvency. No surprise there; Trump has failed thus 6 times previously.  Trump hates WaPo owner Jeff Bezos, whose corporation paid $162 million in federal taxes last year, not including his annual $1 billion investment in Blue Horizon – space research which benefits NASA. 

        Why so little for Amazon? Ask Trump, which tax “reduction” bill was a love letter to businessmen like Bezos, who, as expected, take advantage of such legislation,  but more desperately to the point, to the struggling Trump Organization. Trump is heavily leveraged, and most US commercial banks won’t lend any more. (“Rage”, Bob Woodward).

        As expected, Trump’s mouthpiece du jour led the bucket brigade, announcing that Trump had “paid millions in federal tax.” The “deplorables” are expected to accept that at face value as vindication. To that end, Trump immediately resorted to his favorite shibboleth “Fake News.”

        For the rest of the literati, here's the truth. Yes, the Trump Organization sent a lot of money to the Federal government. Of course, they had, to since with 22,450 employees (2015 numbers) they sent a lot of those damned “payroll tax” dollars to Washington. Trump wants you to believe that is “personal tax”. It isn’t. It’s a business expense and not so surprisingly, one which Trump has tried by executive order to minimize by “suspending” and (he hopes, and has said so) eventually permanently reducing, payroll tax. These are what that FICA line on the paycheck means, and are part of what the Republicans like to call “entitlements.”  This is code for “what we wealthy cats will never need so why should we pay into it?”      

        You know - Medicare/Medicaid/Social Security? In an America where somewhere between 60% and 70% of retirees acknowledge that Social Security and Medicare are essential to that retirement, it should surprise few of us that those who assail the system are those who will soar above it with private monies. 

         So, in summary, when Trump asserts that “he” pays lots of taxes, he’s lying by omission. That omission is that the taxes in question are paid on others’ behalf  and the employer portion of FICA is a deductible expense for businesses. (not to mention that not paying it is a criminal offence.) Add to this, the fact that when Don Jr, and “Forrest” Trump travel on Trump Organization business, their security (just 2 of 18 individuals related to Trump for whose security we foot the bill) is not reimbursed to the Federal Government by the Trump Organization. Remember, these are adults doing private business on public money. This is in addition to the room rents paid to Trump properties for Secret service individuals. Can we say, “conflict of interests?”  

       Finally, and a personal opinion: Warren Zevon was an under-appreciated artist. Looking at his lyrics in some cases is reminiscent of Dylan (Bob, not Thomas), ‘Hold Me in Your Heart” is a masterpiece. “Werewolves of London” is a freak anthem and “Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me” so good that Jackson Browne and Linda Ronstadt both covered it. Do your ears a favor and take a while and listen to Warren’s best album, “Excitable Boy” and then branch out. Dead of mesothelioma at 56, Warren Zevon was gone too soon, like Dan Fogleberg, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Marvin Gaye, Jimi, Lennon and too many others. And on that rather mournful note, I do believe that’s all I have to say about that.