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Hey AOC, this is what taxing the rich really looks like

December 11, 2020
www.shop.ocasiocortez.com
Jonathon Dunne

Contributor

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made news last week when she unveiled a sweatshirt for $58 with the message of "Tax the rich." From a political marketing point of view, this message is brilliant. It is simple, vague, easy to remember, sounds catchy, and easy to repeat on Twitter so it can become a trending hashtag.

From a principled and informed point of view, it is a message that is misleading at best and downright dishonest at its worst.

Why?

Because our friends on the left, who promote this message, never fully reveal their plans of precisely what taxing the rich looks like. They will share a few policies, but you must trust them with the economy's keys to get the final destination of what they believe is fair. Today, I want to show you what taxing the rich looks like in reality, and you can decide for yourself how reasonable it is.

Definition of "Rich"

When you hear "tax the rich," the first question everyone should ask is: "What is the definition of rich?" You should expect an accurate and detailed answer. If you ever engage with people on social media, you have likely gotten vague replies like:

  • It's clear who is rich
  • Top 1%
  • Fat cats
  • Bankers
  • Millionaires & billionaires, etc.

The kind and compassionate people who support taxing the rich are always quick to promote taking other people's hard-earned money, yet equally quick to complain when their income is taxed more.

Socialism and big government policies eventually come for everyone...

Socialism and big government policies eventually come for everyone because there is always someone less fortunate than you. The only question is how long it will take before the crowd turns on you and demands you pay your fair share. Let me answer this for you.

I will share with you the taxation policies of a country for which many Americans have positive feelings: Ireland. Ireland is a socialist nation, and its government is very proud of its progressive taxation policies. As I go thru each level of taxation, ask yourself what would happen if America adopted these policies tomorrow.

Note: The figures quoted below are in Euros. Currently, the exchange rate is approximately €1 to $1.20.

Wages

The simplest place to start is with your wages. We have three taxes on our direct income:

  • PAYE – Pay As You Earn
  • PRSI – Pay Related Social Insurance
  • USC – Universal Social Charge

The rate of PAYE is 20% on the first €35,300 of income. Every additional penny above is taxed at 40%*.

PRSI is 4% of income. However, if you annually earn under €18,304, you can apply for a yearly credit of up to €624.

The rates of USC are based purely on income:

  • Up to €12,012 — 0.5%
  • €12,012 to €20,484 — 2%
  • €20,484 to €70,044 — 4.5%
  • €70,044 and above — 8%

*Taxation in Ireland is a complicated matter because of individual/couple tax allowances and credits, which can vary from person to person, depending on their circumstances. You will always pay a lower rate of PAYE with these deductions.

Sales Tax

Ireland has a national sales tax, which is called Value Added Tax (VAT). The standard rate of VAT in Ireland is 21%. This rate is charged on the majority of items people purchase – including your grocery shopping, accessories around your household like televisions, PlayStation, and furniture. It also includes personal items like jewelry and clothing.

There are a few exceptions.

We have a reduced rate of 13.5% for items like home utilities (natural gas, electric), building maintenance, and cleaning services.

To help stimulate parts of the economy, the government added a third rate of 9%. This mainly applies to the hospitality sector – pubs, restaurants, and hotels.

Gas Taxation

Americans complain if gas prices go to $3.50 per gallon, get upset at $4.00 a gallon, and if it increases to $5.00 a gallon, watch out!

Gas prices are one of those issues about which Americans complain (and rightfully so), but non-Americans will not sympathize. So why do non-Americans have no sympathy?

For most of the last year, Irish gas prices (similarly worldwide) have been low because of crude oil's cheap cost. Depending on where you shop, the average price has been around €1.20 per litre or €4.55 per gallon ($5.46 per gallon). Note that this is considered inexpensive in Ireland. In the past, Irish gas prices have been closer to $8-$9 per gallon. So why is it so expensive?

America is blessed with oil fields that produce the majority of oil consumed by your country.

America does hold a natural advantage when it comes to oil, purely because crude oil is quoted and traded in U.S. dollars. America is blessed with oil fields that produce the majority of oil consumed by your country. Although U.S. gas prices include some taxes, Irish gas includes FOUR separate taxes:

· Excise tax is €0.50 per litre

· Carbon tax is €0.06 per litre

· NORA levy is €0.02 per litre

· VAT is 23%

Let's put these prices into context. If oil became free for everyone worldwide with Irish taxation, it would be virtually impossible to see gas prices of less than $4.00 per gallon.

Double Taxation

In Ireland (and most countries with big governments), it is prevalent for income to be taxed more than once. Ireland has very progressive tax policies when it comes to people using their money to advance themselves. Let me share some examples.

  • DIRT Tax (41%)

This stands for Deposit Interest Retention Tax. It is prevalent (mainly in working-class areas) to take a portion of your paycheck and save it in the credit union. The credit union then uses your money to fund its business and gives interest at the end of the year. During the year, any interest earned is taxed at 41% and is taken directly by the credit union.

  • Capital Gains Tax (33%)

After all these taxes, if you are lucky enough to have some money left, you may decide to invest in the stock market, buy some gold or other investment. Any profits from these investments are taxed at 33%.

  • Gift Tax (33%)

If you decide to give someone a gift of money or an asset, it will be taxed at 33% if you surpass the different thresholds. You can currently give your friend or extended family (i.e., cousins) €16,250 or a sibling/parent €32,500 ($39,000) tax-free. Everything above is taxed at 33%.

  • Inheritance Tax (33%)

Inheritance taxation is similar to the Gift Tax and has similar tax free thresholds. It is also charged at a rate of 33%.

Additional Taxation

There are countless other taxes, but here is a small sample of additional taxes:

  • Stamp duty of 1% is due on all house purchases
  • Property tax of up to 0.25% of your property value must be paid annually
  • Car tax on your vehicle is based on engine size (noting that U.S. vehicles are much bigger). A standard SUV will likely cost €570 - €750 annually.
  • Benefit in kind: If you are lucky enough to work for a company that provides you with a work vehicle, you will pay a tax on your wages because you are deemed in receipt of a benefit from your employer.
  • If you own a pet, you also have to pay a tax to get a dog license, etc. These are about €20 annually.

Conclusion

This is what paying your fair share looks like in Ireland 2020. To those who read this and think it's not enough, fear not, as Ireland is not the finished article. I do not doubt that it will only be a matter of time before the Irish or European governments develop new and innovative ways to ensure everyone pays his/her fair share.

This is what paying your fair share looks like in Ireland 2020.

After reflecting on these numbers, I would ask you to think about whom these taxation policies hurt the most. Are they taxing the rich or hurting the poor?

I hope you have never been poor or had to worry about putting food on the table. If you have, you will know that every penny counts. There will be weeks that you have nothing left in your wallet because everything is so expensive.

  • With this in mind, how could anyone possibly justify a 23% tax on all you buy?
  • How can anyone justify taxation on gas being so high that it costs €65 to fill a car?
  • If someone is careful with his/her money, saving all they have to buy a first home or move to a better place, how can someone justify taking 33% or more of their savings?

Socialist and progressive policies can sound great in theory and may even come from a place of well-meaning. In reality, they always hurt society – especially those at the lowest income levels working hard to improve their financial future.

Jonathon hosts a weekly one hour show exclusive to the Blaze Radio Network called Freedom's Disciple where he highlights the IDEA of America, promotes the eternal principles of freedom & and shares his passion of America's Founding documents. Please check out his show for FREE on The Blaze and is available on all major platforms.

Britain says “no work without ID”—a chilling preview for America

OLI SCARFF / Contributor | Getty Images

From banking to health care, digital IDs touch every aspect of citizens’ lives, giving the government unprecedented control over everyday actions.

On Friday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stood at the podium at the Global Progressive Action Conference in London and made an announcement that should send a chill down the spine of anyone who loves liberty. By the end of this Parliament, he promised, every worker in the U.K. will be required to hold a “free-of-charge” digital ID. Without it, Britons will not be able to work.

No digital ID, no job.

The government is introducing a system that punishes law-abiding citizens by tying their right to work to a government-issued pass.

Starmer framed this as a commonsense response to poverty, climate change, and illegal immigration. He claimed Britain cannot solve these problems without “looking upstream” and tackling root causes. But behind the rhetoric lies a policy that shifts power away from individuals and places it squarely in the hands of government.

Solving the problem they created

This is progressivism in action. Leaders open their borders, invite in mass illegal immigration, and refuse to enforce their own laws. Then, when public frustration boils over, they unveil a prepackaged “solution” — in this case, digital identity — that entrenches government control.

Britain isn’t the first to embrace this system. Switzerland recently approved a digital ID system. Australia already has one. The World Economic Forum has openly pitched digital IDs as the key to accessing everything from health care to bank accounts to travel. And once the infrastructure is in place, digital currency will follow soon after, giving governments the power to track every purchase, approve or block transactions, and dictate where and how you spend your money.

All of your data — your medical history, insurance, banking, food purchases, travel, social media engagement, tax information — would be funneled into a centralized database under government oversight.

The fiction of enforcement

Starmer says this is about cracking down on illegal work. The BBC even pressed him on the point, asking why a mandatory digital ID would stop human traffickers and rogue employers who already ignore national insurance cards. He had no answer.

Bad actors will still break the law. Bosses who pay sweatshop wages under the table will not suddenly check digital IDs. Criminals will not line up to comply. This isn’t about stopping illegal immigration. If it were, the U.K. would simply enforce existing laws, close the loopholes, and deport those working illegally.

Instead, the government is introducing a system that punishes law-abiding citizens by tying their right to work to a government-issued pass.

Control masked as compassion

This is part of an old playbook. Politicians claim their hands are tied and promise that only sweeping new powers will solve the crisis. They selectively enforce laws to maintain the problem, then use the problem to justify expanding control.

If Britain truly wanted to curb illegal immigration, it could. It is an island. The Channel Tunnel has clear entry points. Enforcement is not impossible. But a digital ID allows for something far more valuable to bureaucrats than border security: total oversight of their own citizens.

The American warning

Think digital ID can’t happen here? Think again. The same arguments are already echoing in Washington, D.C. Illegal immigration is out of control. Progressives know voters are angry. When the digital ID pitch arrives, it will be wrapped in patriotic language about fairness, security, and compassion.

But the goal isn’t compassion. It’s control of your movement, your money, your speech, your future.

We don’t need digital IDs to enforce immigration law. We need leaders with the courage to enforce existing law. Until then, digital ID schemes will keep spreading, sold as a cure for the very problems they helped create.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

The West is dying—Will we let enemies write our ending?

Harvey Meston / Staff | Getty Images

The blood of martyrs, prophets, poets, and soldiers built our civilization. Their sacrifice demands courage in the present to preserve it.

Lamentations asks, “Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?”

That question has been weighing on me heavily. Not just as a broadcaster, but as a citizen, a father, a husband, a believer. It is a question that every person who cares about this nation, this culture, and this civilization must confront: Is all of this worth saving?

We have squandered this inheritance. We forgot who we were — and our enemies are eager to write our ending.

Western civilization — a project born in Judea, refined in Athens, tested in Rome, reawakened in Wittenberg, and baptized again on the shores of Plymouth Rock — is a gift. We didn’t earn it. We didn’t purchase it. We were handed it. And now, we must ask ourselves: Do we even want it?

Across Europe, streets are restless. Not merely with protests, but with ancient, festering hatred — the kind that once marched under swastikas and fueled ovens. Today, it marches under banners of peace while chanting calls for genocide. Violence and division crack societies open. Here in America, it’s left against right, flesh against spirit, neighbor against neighbor.

Truth struggles to find a home. Even the church is slumbering — or worse, collaborating.

Our society tells us that everything must be reset: tradition, marriage, gender, faith, even love. The only sin left is believing in absolute truth. Screens replace Scripture. Entertainment replaces education. Pleasure replaces purpose. Our children are confused, medicated, addicted, fatherless, suicidal. Universities mock virtue. Congress is indifferent. Media programs rather than informs. Schools recondition rather than educate.

Is this worth saving? If not, we should stop fighting and throw up our hands. But if it is, then we must act — and we must act now.

The West: An idea worth saving

What is the West? It’s not a location, race, flag, or a particular constitution. The West is an idea — an idea that man is made in the image of God, that liberty comes from responsibility, not government; that truth exists; that evil exists; and that courage is required every day. The West teaches that education, reason, and revelation walk hand in hand. Beauty matters. Kindness matters. Empathy matters. Sacrifice is holy. Justice is blind. Mercy is near.

We have squandered this inheritance. We forgot who we were — and our enemies are eager to write our ending.

If not now, when? If not us, who? If this is worth saving, we must know why. Western civilization is worth dying for, worth living for, worth defending. It was built on the blood of martyrs, prophets, poets, pilgrims, moms, dads, and soldiers. They did not die for markets, pronouns, surveillance, or currency. They died for something higher, something bigger.

MATTHIEU RONDEL/AFP via Getty Images | Getty Images

Yet hope remains. Resurrection is real — not only in the tomb outside Jerusalem, but in the bones of any individual or group that returns to truth, honor, and God. It is never too late to return to family, community, accountability, and responsibility.

Pick up your torch

We were chosen for this time. We were made for a moment like this. The events unfolding in Europe and South Korea, the unrest and moral collapse, will all come down to us. Somewhere inside, we know we were called to carry this fire.

We are not called to win. We are called to stand. To hold the torch. To ask ourselves, every day: Is it worth standing? Is it worth saving?

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Pick up your torch. If you choose to carry it, buckle up. The work is only beginning.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Stop coasting: How self-education can save America’s future

Joe Raedle / Staff | Getty Images

Coasting through life is no longer an option. Charlie Kirk’s pursuit of knowledge challenges all of us to learn, act, and grow every day.

Last year, my wife and I made a commitment: to stop coasting, to learn something new every day, and to grow — not just spiritually, but intellectually. Charlie Kirk’s tragic death crystallized that resolve. It forced a hard look in the mirror, revealing how much I had coasted in both my spiritual and educational life. Coasting implies going downhill. You can’t coast uphill.

Last night, my wife and I re-engaged. We enrolled in Hillsdale College’s free online courses, inspired by the fact that Charlie had done the same. He had quietly completed around 30 courses before I even knew, mastering the classics, civics, and the foundations of liberty. Watching his relentless pursuit of knowledge reminded me that growth never stops, no matter your age.

The path forward must be reclaiming education, agency, and the power to shape our minds and futures.

This lesson is particularly urgent for two groups: young adults stepping into the world and those who may have settled into complacency. Learning is life. Stop learning, and you start dying. To young adults, especially, the college promise has become a trap. Twelve years of K-12 education now leave graduates unprepared for life. Only 35% of seniors are proficient in reading, and just 22% in math. They are asked to bet $100,000 or more for four years of college that will often leave them underemployed and deeply indebted.

Degrees in many “new” fields now carry negative returns. Parents who have already sacrificed for public education find themselves on the hook again, paying for a system that often fails to deliver.

This is one of the reasons why Charlie often described college as a “scam.” Debt accumulates, wages are not what students were promised, doors remain closed, and many are tempted to throw more time and money after a system that won’t yield results. Graduate school, in many cases, compounds the problem. The education system has become a factory of despair, teaching cynicism rather than knowledge and virtue.

Reclaiming educational agency

Yet the solution is not radical revolt against education — it is empowerment to reclaim agency over one’s education. Independent learning, self-guided study, and disciplined curiosity are the modern “Napster moment.” Just as Napster broke the old record industry by digitizing music, the internet has placed knowledge directly in the hands of the individual. Artists like Taylor Swift now thrive outside traditional gatekeepers. Likewise, students and lifelong learners can reclaim intellectual freedom outside of the ivory towers.

Each individual possesses the ability to think, create, and act. This is the power God grants to every human being. Knowledge, faith, and personal responsibility are inseparable. Learning is not a commodity to buy with tuition; it is a birthright to claim with effort.

David Butow / Contributor | Getty Images

Charlie Kirk’s life reminds us that self-education is an act of defiance and empowerment. In his pursuit of knowledge, in his engagement with civics and philosophy, he exemplified the principle that liberty depends on informed, capable citizens. We honor him best by taking up that mantle — by learning relentlessly, thinking critically, and refusing to surrender our minds to a system that profits from ignorance.

The path forward must be reclaiming education, agency, and the power to shape our minds and futures. Every day, seek to grow, create, and act. Charlie showed the way. It is now our responsibility to follow.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn Beck joins TPUSA tour to honor Charlie Kirk

Joe Raedle / Staff | Getty Images

If they thought the murder of Charlie Kirk would scare us into silence, they were wrong!

If anything, Turning Point will hit the road louder than ever. On Monday, September 22, less than two weeks after the assassination, Charlie's friends united under the Turning Point USA banner to carry his torch and honor his legacy by doing what he did best: bringing honest and truthful debate to Universities across the nation.

Naturally, Glenn has rallied to the cause and has accepted an invitation to join the TPUSA tour at the University of North Dakota on October 9th.

Want to join Glenn at the University of North Dakota to honor Charlie Kirk and keep his mission alive? Click HERE to sign up or find more information.