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We Demand Dividends
Townhall.com ^ | June 9, 2019 | Gil Gutknecht

Posted on 06/09/2019 4:43:32 AM PDT by Kaslin

Baby Boomers are retiring. Most are now starting to take their pensions and Social Security. The more fortunate are beginning to dip into their IRAs and 401Ks. 

As we reach this milestone, our views tend to harden. We are growing less tolerant. Some may call it cranky. We don’t buy a lot of the nonsense that is shoved down our throats by so many of the so called experts on television. We frequently find ourselves yelling back at them. 

We are even less tolerant of all the politically correct BS. As our circulation slows, we look forward to spending more time in warmer climates. So, the Global Warming ruse doesn’t scare us a bit. We are oblivious to the snickers of our kids or our comfortable clothing choices. 

The cat calls from the Left have little effect either. We acknowledge that we are mostly white, middle class and have faith in God. We worked hard, sacrificed to pay for braces and tuition. Along the way, we paid off the mortgage. So, call us any name you want. We are not homophobic haters and are quite comfortable in our now sagging skin. We are not easily cowed. More than some Americans, we relate to people like Rush Limbaugh, Donald Trump and William Barr. 

If there is one thing that makes our thinning hair stand on end, it is the growing sense that we have been lied to. We’ve started to figure a few things out. And we are getting crankier. 

For decades we were told by experts that we had to make “investments” in one government program after the next. Oh, they never said that they really just wanted to grow government. No, we were making investments in people or in children. If we had a dollar for every time we were told that our investment in public education was the best investment we could make, we could all retire more comfortably. Here in Minnesota, the per pupil investment in our public schools has increased by 23 percent over the last ten years. This while Social Security COLA’s have increased by only 15.6 percent. Do test scores reflect a very good return on that additional investment?

Against our better judgment, we have allowed our taxes to go up and up. With only a few exceptions, spending (and thus taxes) at all levels of government has grown at rates that far outpaced inflation. The property taxes on our home here in Rochester have gone up 41.3 percent in just the last five years. We could have invested that money ourselves and received a nice return. We’ve been forced to reduce our standard of living to subsidize others. We were promised that if we would just allow the enlightened to build bigger and better safety nets, everyone would be better off. The welfare state grew. Our national well-being did not.

Higher education was said to be the best investment of all. A college education, we were told, was the key to a better future. So, we dug a little deeper to subsidize the denizens of Leftist indoctrination. First, through our taxes and state support. Second, through ever-increasing tuitions. Kids were forced to run up mountains of debt to pay for diplomas, many of which are worth only slightly more than the sheepskin they are written on.

he same voices lied to us about immigration. How many times have we been told that illegal immigrants and refugees “contribute so much to our economy?” Poppycock! If you still believe that, just drive through the large sections of Minneapolis that now resemble a third world country. Taxpayer subsidies have ballooned. The promised contribution hasn’t found its way back to those of us who have been pulling the wagon and paying the bills.

The day for payback has come. Baby boomers are expecting real dividends from their IRAs and other investments. We want dividends on those decades of public investments as well. No excuses. We demand tax cuts and we want them now! President Trump has delivered. Now it’s time for state and local officials to follow suit.

A national tax revolt is brewing among cranky baby boomers. And we vote.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: 401k; babyboomers; election; gilgutknecht; incometaxes; investment; ira; socialsecurity; tax; taxcutsandjobsact; taxreform; tcja; trump
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To: PSUGOP

Those who were perceived to be unequal really don’t want equality. They want control. And they want to crush America.

***************

I don’t think many people really understand just how much the Left hates this country and the people who built it. Thanks to the election of Donald Trump we can more clearly see now some of the depths of their hatred toward him — and those who elected him. His election opened a window into their very souls.

I worked around lots of lefties for a long time and listened carefully to their never ending whining and diatribes. There is a deep antipathy and resentment of this country embedded in their emotional rants. They would love to push a reset button if they could, take control and impose their ideology on everyone. Its a very dangerous and intolerant mindset that seeks not to compromise in a constructive way, but to destroy.

As you so aptly put it they want to crush America.


21 posted on 06/09/2019 6:57:29 AM PDT by Starboard
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To: qwerty1234

Florida does not have a state income tax, though.


22 posted on 06/09/2019 6:58:34 AM PDT by gloryblaze
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To: qwerty1234
You want a place near the ocean. You want the warm weather. But you want low carrying costs too? No such beast exists anywhere, including Florida.

I own two properties in Florida and the taxes on them are high compared to Arizona where I retired from but not unaffordable. Also, Florida doesn't have a state income tax. Local government have to get their money from somewhere and it's from property taxes.

First, I didn't buy on or near the ocean. That right there is going to drive up your "carrying costs". You want a 2nd home where everyone else wants to live and it's going to drive the costs up.

I own 30 acres in the country and built a new home on it. I filed for a homestead exemption on the house and an agricultural exemption for the land. We raise beef cattle.

My taxes on the land are now almost nothing and those on the house, I pay for with the sale of our calves every year. Created a family cemetery on a portion of the land and that acreage has zero taxes on it.

Our second property is a lake house about 10 miles away in the next county. Taxes are relatively low because it's rural and it's a manufactured home.

But both properties are in the middle of the peninsula and not on either coast. My property taxes would double if I moved 120 miles east or west to be near the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico.

You want all of the benefits of living in Florida, the ocean, the warm weather, but don't want the costs. You're being unrealistic.

23 posted on 06/09/2019 7:00:43 AM PDT by HotHunt (Been there. Done that.)
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To: HotHunt

Lake. Probably the most conservative county outside of the panhandle.


24 posted on 06/09/2019 7:14:47 AM PDT by napscoordinator (Trump/Hunter, jr for President/Vice President 2016)
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To: Kaslin
“Why anyone votes for tax increases is beyond me.”

Millions are on the public dole, always have been, always will be.

They don’t pay taxes, and couldn’t care less.

But they vote.

Oftentimes, more than once per election.

25 posted on 06/09/2019 7:35:51 AM PDT by daler
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To: napscoordinator

I’ve lived all over the US in my life and from my experience, property taxes don’t ever stay the same or go down. Over time, they always go up.


26 posted on 06/09/2019 7:35:55 AM PDT by HotHunt (Been there. Done that.)
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To: napscoordinator

I’ve lived all over the US in my life and from my experience, property taxes don’t ever stay the same or go down. Over time, they always go up.


27 posted on 06/09/2019 7:35:56 AM PDT by HotHunt (Been there. Done that.)
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To: odawg

Some individual teachers here in Louisiana may be conservative, but when the chips are down, they vote their self-interest. Always. Otherwise, Bel Edwards wouldn’t have been elected governor.

When I say teachers union, I refer to the collective, not necessarily the Louisiana Association of Educators.


28 posted on 06/09/2019 9:15:05 AM PDT by abb ("News reporting is too important to be left to the journalists." Walter Abbott (1950 -))
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To: napscoordinator

“....but still get screwed paying the extra taxes because of the emotional voting liberals.”

This is why people made new towns in the old days. If you don’t like what they are doing, get away from it. Move to another state or country. If it’s causing that great a problem for you financially or harming your lifestyle, you’ll go broke and feel miserable anyway. Find your comfort spot and go there. If it’s really there, there will be others just like you to welcome you. I did. Good luck.

rwood


29 posted on 06/09/2019 9:21:29 AM PDT by Redwood71
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To: Kaslin

Our government has WAYYY too much money to play with. For instance 35 million for Mueller, Nancy-Jerry-Adam mini DOJ they have set up within Congress that hired many extremely well paid hit men with law degrees. We all know the stories and yet government is like the plant in Little Shop of Horrors....appearing benign when it first started but grew into a huge monster demanding “feed me...feed me”.

I think we could cut our government in half and never feel it in our real lives. It’s an out of control lying demanding monster.


30 posted on 06/09/2019 9:46:46 AM PDT by Aria
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To: abb

“Otherwise, Bel Edwards wouldn’t have been elected governor.”

Definitely not enough teachers in Louisiana to sway an election unless the voting is half and half. Then you can divide out any segment and claim that was the winning edge.

Trump got more votes in 2016 than Edwards’ and Vitter’s combined total in the governor’s race. I think the voter turn out was about 30% for that race.


31 posted on 06/09/2019 11:53:41 AM PDT by odawg
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To: qwerty1234

One alternative is to consider living on a boat. 6% sales tax at the time of sale but no personal property tax. It is not for everyone but might be worth looking into.

https://www.myyachtmanagement.com/news/2018/pros-and-cons-of-living-on-a-yacht


32 posted on 06/09/2019 2:25:21 PM PDT by taxcontrol
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To: redangus
Re: We need to convince the Xer’s that they are in the same boat and it’s sinking fast.

We also need to convince the current flood of legal immigrants that - in the near future - NO ONE will be stupid enough to move to this country to pay Medicare and Social Security pensions to previous generations!

33 posted on 06/09/2019 5:46:42 PM PDT by zeestephen
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To: taxcontrol

Where can you anchor it without directly or indirectly paying property tax to someone?


34 posted on 06/09/2019 5:50:54 PM PDT by zeestephen
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To: zeestephen

It is my understanding that the State of Florida does not charge personal property tax on boats/water craft. I am no longer a resident of Florida so my information may outdated.


35 posted on 06/10/2019 4:58:38 AM PDT by taxcontrol
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To: Kaslin

I think a few really wise people founded this Republic with a limited government - they hoped that future generations would resist trading away their liberties - giving the government too much power....

... and its been down hill ever since - because the average voter does not grasp the simple concept that you can’t rob Peter to pay Paul. The average voter falls for the same political scam time after time:

Government gradually becomes nothing but a protection racket - people voting to empower the government to enforce some special interest to be paid for by other people.

The government was originally set up to protect citizens’ liberty, but it has long since become an instrument of legal plunder whereby we can all attempt to coerce each other in the name of some lofty sounding social cause.

The concept of minding one’s own business and leaving each other alone is completely lost.


36 posted on 06/10/2019 6:45:48 AM PDT by enumerated
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To: taxcontrol

Re: Personal Property Tax

I was thinking exclusively about real estate taxes.

You need to dock a large boat someplace.

That means you have to pay “rent” to someone who is paying commercial or residential real estate taxes.


37 posted on 06/10/2019 3:36:55 PM PDT by zeestephen
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To: Kaslin
What Congress creates, subsidizes, and give tax breaks to, Congress can take away and destroy.

Every privatized pension plan established by businesses/corporations are given a carrot on the stick in the form of "tax breaks". When revenues and T-bills are NOT enough to "pay the bills", Congress extracts from what "they have given". Greatest generation/Boomers voted for this, they should reap the TRILLIONS of debt they racked up. Sorry, passing the buck onto the next generations is theft. Don't blame x,Y, Millennials, Zoomers, etc... for resisting.

Who are you to say that the next generations need to clean up the Federal Leviathan unleashed by the post WWII "greatest generation/boomers" that voted for this mess in the first place?

38 posted on 06/10/2019 3:52:41 PM PDT by rollo tomasi (Working hard to pay for deadbeats and corrupt politicians)
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