We're doing something we've never done before. We're going to ask a certain group of readers to stop reading right here. Because of the nature of the content, they're not welcome to read what's below. So here's the deal... If you're an elected official or you make decisions on tax issues, stop reading here. We don't want to give you any fresh ideas. For the rest of you, sorry... but the news isn't great. Your taxes are going to go up. There's no way around it. That means if you like the life you have and don't want to go backward financially... you need to either make more money or find ways not to pay the new taxes (good luck). Now you know why we kicked 'em out. The Cost of Living... With Rising Taxes We're worried. We had a call with an analyst from Bloomberg recently. His job is to study the cities, towns and states that make up this nation and compare what he sees with the textbooks. He used the A-word... just once. But we caught it. "Austerity," he said. We'll soon see local governments pushing fresh austerity measures. It's a half-cocked term we heard used often in 2009... and all throughout Europe's debt crisis. We hate it. We hear it anytime a government gets caught making promises it can't keep. To most folks, austerity means government cutbacks. But most folks aren't politicians. To politicians, austerity means raising your cost of living. It's not just obvious things, like boosting income tax or property tax. They're too obvious. No, it's pesky new fees... it's surcharges... and it's taxes on the folks upstream from the end user. San Francisco just passed a tax on companies with what it deems "overpaid" CEOs. Companies within city limits will now have to pay as much as 0.6% of total sales or up to 2.4% of payroll expenses if the boss makes too much. "I do think it will encourage other cities, states and maybe even the federal government to adopt similar proposals," said San Francisco Supervisor Matt Haney, the fellow behind the bill. "I think for this to be truly effective in changing economic outcomes more broadly, it needs to be done at higher levels of government as well." Hmm... Will the top talent work for less, or will they just add to the urban exodus and set up shop in a friendlier town? It doesn't matter. Some folks now want to tax telecommuters too. A New Tax The work-from-home crowd is not paying its fair share, they say. They're not fueling up their gas-guzzling SUVs. They aren't buying lunch out... or buying new clothes to impress the secretary. They aren't riding mass transit. And, darn it, they're not even paying tickets from all those red-light cameras. So how much do the wonks think you should pay for the "privilege" of staying home? Oh my... we fear you'd ask. We couldn't type the words and still sleep soundly tonight, so here they are straight from the source. "If we assume the average salary of a person who chooses to work from home in the U.S. is $55,000, a tax of 5% works out to just over $10 per working day," said Luke Templeman, the strategist at Deutsche Bank pitching this trash. He continued, "That is roughly the amount an office worker might spend on commuting, lunch and laundry, etc. A tax at this rate, then, will leave them no worse off than if they had chosen to go into the office." It will leave them "no worse off." Do you see that? That's what it comes down to? We're no longer finding ways to help folks get ahead... We're taxing them the second they start to make a move forward. It's disgusting. And for many folks, it's devastating. But it's only going to get worse. |
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