By Dr. Glenn Mollette 


Americans pay too much in taxes. President Trump's idea to eliminate four of the seven tax brackets is an excellent idea. Most Americans are sick and tired of paying everything they make in taxes. If you enjoy paying taxes and disagree with what I am writing simply write the Internal Revenue Service a check every month and mail them more money.


Let's consider some of the big money people first. A single person making $415,051 dollars is in the upper tax bracket and pays 39.6% of their wages. To make our math simple we might as well say 40% or about $166,000. This would leave the affluent single person with about $249,000. For all the Americans making minimum wage or living on disabled social security they may wag their heads, point their fingers and say, "That's a heck of a lot of money and those dang people should be paying a lot more tax than that!" The single person paying this much money on the other hand probably calculates that they are probably carrying seven or eight non-working Americans and could feel a bit irritated by how much tax they are paying.


Let's stay in the upper bracket and consider two married people working, filing jointly and making $466,951 will also pay 39.6% of their income or let's say 40%. For a round figure they will pay about $186,780 in taxes. This would leave them with about $280,177. This is a lot of money to live on. However, imagine handing the government almost $187,000!


The old adage is if you make it then you should pay it. My contention is who wants to work longer hours and harder and then pay most of it in taxes? We have our Congress people to keep up in their lifestyles. We have roads and bridges to maintain. However, everywhere I go I see tolls for roads and bridges. What about our tax dollars?


Let's go to the low bracket people. A single person making $9,276 is in the 15% tax bracket or $1,391 roughly in taxes which is a lot of money! This leaves the single person with only $7,885. I realize there are other considerations and possible deductions but this is simply for analysis and thought. The main point is no one can do much on $9,276 and much less on $7,885. If this person is placed in the 10% tax bracket they pay $927 and this is a gain of $464. This is a lot of gasoline money for someone on such a meager income.


However, the standard deduction would nearly double under Trump's proposal.
"We are going to double the standard deduction so a married couple wouldn't pay any taxes on the first $24,000 income they earn. So in essence, we are creating a zero tax rate - yes, a zero tax rate for the first $24,000 that a couple earns," said Gary Cohn, head of Trump's National Economic Council, during the news conference which introduced the new plan.
The standard deduction for single filers is $6,350 and $12,700 for married couples filing jointly for 2017.
Too many Americans have an attitude that it's okay for the wealthy to pay 39.6% and even more but realistically every American gets tax weary. We want a strong military and a strong country along with Medicare and Social Security but more and more tax dollars is not appealing to anyone who has to shell it out.


President Trump's idea will bring some relief to all Americans. Will our country suffer? No. More people will feel like working a little more knowing they can bring more of their paycheck home. His idea of only three tax levels of 10%, 25% and 35% will encourage the current workforce and stimulate the economy with more working people.  Less people working cannot carry this country even if they were paying 50% in taxes. A smaller percentage of money from millions more of employed people going to work will generate more money for our government and overall economy in the long run. 


Trump's proposed corporate tax rate of 15% will also help us keep some jobs and bring some jobs back home.


Regardless of your tax bracket, let out a big "hooray for less taxes!" We can only hope. 




Glenn Mollette is a syndicated columnist and author of eleven books. 
He is read in all fifty states.  Enjoy books by Glenn Mollette via all book dealers.
Contact him at GMollette@aol.com.   Like his facebook page at www.facebook.com/glennmollette









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Former RCRC Chair Awaits State Senate Confirmation

SACRAMENTO, CA – April 27, 2017 – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. on Thursday announced the appointment of Sierra County Supervisor Lee Adams to the Commission on State Mandates (Commission).  The Commission’s primary responsibility is to hear and adjudicate local entities’ claims that allege the State has imposed a reimbursable state-mandated program on a county, city, school district, or community college district. 
Supervisor Adams’ public service career spans 36 years, leading to his current role as the 1st District Supervisor of Sierra County (elected in 2008).  Prior to 2008, Adams served as Sheriff-Coroner of Sierra County, County Deputy Sheriff, and Administrative Sergeant.  In addition, Supervisor Adams represents Sierra County on the Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) Board of Directors, serving as RCRC Chair in 2015.
“We applaud the Governor for appointing Supervisor Adams to the elected official position on the Commission on State Mandates,” said Bob Williams, RCRC Chair and Tehama County Supervisor.  “Supervisor Adams’ background and experience in local government will serve rural California well in this new capacity.”
Established in 1985, the Commission is a quasi-judicial body comprised of seven members – the State Controller, State Treasurer, Director of the Department of Finance, Director of the Office of Planning and Research, a public member with public finance experience, and two local elected official positions which are appointed by the Governor.  The public member and the two local elected officials are subject to confirmation by the State Senate and serve for a term of four-years.
In addition to the Commission’s primary responsibility, additional duties include the review of county applications for findings of significant financial distress.

 


May 3, 2017
For Immediate Release
Citizens for Fair Representation (CFR) will file a lawsuit against the State of California for lack of representation and dilution of vote. CFR represents citizens from 21 rural counties in the northern area of the State. A long list of plaintiffs have joined CFR in the lawsuit, representing a diversity of cultures, ages, races and political philosophy.
Over the last 3 years, most of these plaintiffs have petitioned the California State Legislature and Secretary of State seeking equal/fair representation,  Tens of thousands of letters, phone calls and emails have gone out to their elected representatives, requesting they introduce a Bill or Resolution, creating a more representative balance in both legislative chambers. The plaintiffs have personally  visited  individual legislative offices,  but plaintiffs claim that all requests have gone ignored,  leaving them no choice but to now enter the legal process.
Currently, California's population is just under 40 million,  represented by 40 State Senators and 80 Assembly members. The same number of elected representatives that  in 1862 represented 416,640 people.
Prior to 1964, just about every County was represented by one State Senator. Today a California State Senator represents an average of 1 million people, with each  assembly member, representing 500,000.  Currently,  11 northern rural counties have one Senator whose vote is diluted by 15 senators representing the single County of Los Angeles.
California's imbalance of representation ranks the worst on the list of 50 States. The small state of New Hampshire has 400 in their StateHouse of Representatives, with one representative for less than 4,000 people.  There are 24 State Senators,  or 1 for every 55,000 citizens. New Hampshire's ratio of balance closely models the representation that CFR is seeking to accomplish.  If CFR is successful, this would be history in the making, not only for their 21 counties, but all of California's 58 counties and those in other states.
Claimants state, “California's refusal to increase its levels of representation to reflect its exponential population growth is both arbitrary and unconstitutional. “
The case, Citizens for Fair Representation vs Secretary of State Alex Padilla, will be filed on May 8th, in the United States District Court, Eastern District of California, Sacramento Division.  Citizens for Fair Representation is a 501(C)(4), a non profit corporation.
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