'Toon of the Day: Beware Of False Profit-Hating, Forked-Tongued Snakeoil Salesmen

The Last Temptation of the Black Jesus*

In 1969, the Alternative Minimum Tax was aimed at 155 "evil rich" households.  Today, it affects 30 million Americans.

According to Democrats, individuals earning $200,000 annually and married couples making $250,000 per year are "millionaires and billionaires."

The new "3.8% Obamacare Medicare surtax" will be assessed to all investment income in addition to capital gains taxes.  Thus, if you and your spouse earn $250,000, purchased your home for $150,000 in 1980 and sell it for $500,000, you would have a capital gain of $350,000.  Ordinarily, if you purchased a new residence within 2 years (or some set time frame), you were not liable for any capital gains taxes.  While it has yet to be determined whether the capital gain situation will change, Obamacare will require you to pay a Medicare tax of $13,300 upon the sale of the house.  Again, this surtax is not adjusted for inflation.

In 2018, Obamacare puts a new 40% excise tax on so-called “Cadillac” health plans, i.e., plans that cost more than $10,200 for an individual and $27,500 for families even if provided by employers or unions, in whole or in part.  As with the ATM, this excise tax is not adjusted for inflation so the tax on "Cadillac" plans will eventually become the "Cooper Mini 40% Healthcare Excise Tax."

Beginning in 2013, Obamacare increases the Hospital Insurance (HI) portion of the payroll tax from 2.9% to 3.8% for families earning more than $250,000 a year and for single filers earning more than $200,000 annually. The increased HI tax is also applied to investment income for the first time, i.e., the HI tax will be in addition to the CGR or dividend tax rate. The 3.8% surtax on investment income is probably the most economically damaging tax in Obamacare. And these tax increases won’t remain just on families making more than $250,000 a year for long because, once again, they aren't indexed for inflation.  Effectively, in a decade, this could mean that a so-called "high-income" threshold will be around $150,000 for individuals and $185,000 for married couples.  We won't have to worry about Obama's economic policies leading to booming growth that leads to soaring wages; rather, it will be the constant QInfinity and debt monetisation that will lead to higher wages and taxes, but lower standards of living for Americans.

You may feel like a poor, working stiff, but in the eyes of the greedy, insatiable, gluttonous Leviathan, you either are or soon will be one of the "evil rich."

h/t David Axelrod for the "Black Jesus" nickname for Barack Obama