The lower your income, the more likely you are to pay your fair share of taxes–or even more than your fair share. Billionaires and big corporations still manage to evade taxes and Republicans in Congress continue to block funding for auditing them. Also: contrary to Republican propaganda, immigrants pay more than their share of taxes.
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The first Muslim nominee for a seat on the federal appeals court: Adeel Mangi’s nomination looks like it is going down, defeated by Republican lies and Democratic cowardice. Republicans promote an Islamophobic smear campaign. Senator Catherine Cortez MaSto (C-NV) cited a separate smear, which was thoroughly debunked by Timothy K. Lewis, a former Third Circuit Court of Appeals Judge who was appointed by George H.W. Bush:
“Her decision is, respectfully, rooted in the same kinds of baseless lies and smears that the religious claims against Mr. Mangi were based, associating him with terrorists and antisemites and so forth, none of which is true. And the record clearly demonstrates that.
“The same is true here. The organization that we are talking about is a group that reached out to Mr. Mangi to ask for pro bono services on behalf of an inmate who had been murdered in the New York prison system. And this was not even a criminal case. It was a civil lawsuit that he brought.
“He achieved a landmark settlement on behalf of the family that not only helped the prisoner’s family, but also helped the prison and, in doing so, helped prison guards, because the cameras were installed throughout the prison.
“This is honorable work. This is the kind of work that we value, we encourage in our profession.”
Happy women’s history month? Maybe not. Lyz reminds us about when girls lose their dreams. Yes, still.
“When do we lose those things and passions that make us happy? Research says it starts as early as kindergarten. That’s when young girls begin to think of themselves as less smart and capable than boys. This doesn’t come about by accident. History books are less likely to tell the stories of women. Parents are more likely to think their sons are gifted and talented than their daughters. Google search results from parents reveal they are concerned about their sons’ intelligence and about their daughters’ weight. …
“Let me just lay it out.
Prior Authorization: I know I’m not alone: hundreds of thousands of people struggle with prior authorization every day. For me, it’s trying to get prescriptions for family members, sometimes over and over again. I know prior authorization is not required every month—but the insurance company professes not to know.
Others have worse struggles, as detailed in the New York Times:
“Should your insurance company be allowed to stop you from getting a treatment — even if your doctor says it’s necessary?
“Doctors are often required to get insurance permission before providing medical care. This process is called prior authorization and it can be used by profit-seeking insurance companies to create intentional barriers between patients and the health care they need.
“At best, it’s just a minor bureaucratic headache. At worst, people have died.
“Prior authorization has been around for decades, but doctors say its use has increased in recent years and now rank it as one of the top issues in health care.”
“More than 90% of doctors say their patients have had to delay their health care because of prior authorization, according to a 2022 survey by the American Medical Association. A third of the doctors in that survey say the delay led to serious problems for their patients, like a life-threatening event, or hospitalization.
“Shah recalled one of her patients, who had a history of endometrial cancer and had been trying to find out the status of the cancer for months. The insurance company denied prior authorization for medical imaging. This patient ended up in intensive care with a life threatening blood clot, and got the medical imaging, which also showed that the cancer had spread.”
Social Security: BlueSky quote of the week from Robert Reich on Social Security and tax cuts for the rich:
“Trump wants to cut Social Security so he can give another giant tax cut to the rich. Biden wants to save Social Security by having the rich — who have become far richer over the past several decades — pay more Social Security taxes. The contrast couldn’t be more important.”
Remember—in 2024, you pay Social Security taxes of 6.2 percent on the first $168,600 of your income. For someone earning $168,600, that is a total of $10,453.20. For someone earning $168 million in 2024, the total Social Security tax is—$10,453.20. As Reich posts:
“Inequality has jeopardized the future of Social Security. As the rich have gotten richer, more and more of their income has escaped the cap on the Social Security payroll tax. We should be focused on fixing this by scrapping the cap, not cutting benefits. Hello?”
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A couple of reports document what my dad always knew: the most wealthy and powerful corporations and individuals still get rich off all the rest of us. Robert Reich sums it up on BlueSky:
5 years of exec pay:
Tesla: $2.5 billion
T-Mobile: $675 million
Netflix: $652 million
Ford: $355 million
5 years of federal income taxes paid:
Tesla: $0 ($1M refund)
T-Mobile: $0 ($80M refund)
Netflix: $236 million
Ford: $121 million
Anyone else see the problem here?
Reich’s quick summary comes from “More for Them, Less for Us: Corporations That Pay Their Executives More Than Uncle Sam,” a detailed study published in March 2024 by the Institute for Policy Studies. In the bullet-pointed summary of its findings:
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- 35 major U.S. corporations — including famous names like Ford, Netflix and Tesla — paid less in federal income taxes between 2018 and 2022 than they paid their top five executives. All 35 were cumulatively profitable over that five-year span.
- Among these 35 corporations, the total compensation reported for named executive officers over this five-year period was $9.5 billion. Their combined federal income tax bills came to a negative $1.8 billion — that is, rather than paying taxes, they received refunds.
- An additional 29 profitable corporations paid their top executives more than they paid in federal income taxes in at least two of the five years of the study period.
- 18 corporations in the study — despite reporting net profits over the five-year span — paid $0 in federal income taxes. Actually, except in one case, all paid less than zero because they got refunds. These 18 corporations that paid $0 in federal income taxes found the resources to lavish their executives with a cumulative $5.3 billion in pay packages.
- The 64 firms in the study posted cumulative pre-tax domestic profits of $657 billion between 2018 to 2022, yet paid an average effective federal tax rate of just 2.8% (the statutory rate is 21%) while paying their executives over $15 billion.
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Photo by Miheco, published under Creative Commons license.
As I dug out weeds in the garden this morning, my thoughts turned to the just-ending legislative session. A bold, bright-eyed robin supervises as I dig out thistles and quack grass, pull creeping Charlie, and leave the milkweed for the butterflies.
Weeding is not my favorite part of gardening, but it’s essential. If I don’t keep at it, the thistles and quack grass will take over and choke out everything else. Still, pulling weeds is pointless, unless you also plant. Continue reading
April 15 is tax day. I’m happy to pay taxes. I’m happy to have an income so that I can pay taxes — and buy food and clothing and books and wi-fi. I’m happy to pay my share for schools and roads and social services. I am not complaining one bit about tax day.
Plenty of other people have complaints. Continue reading
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Mary Turck