Are You Tired of Uncle Sam Scrooging You⁉❔⁉
How To Overcome the Taxes (Including Inflation) Crushing the Paycheck(s) Your Employer and the Government Owns
Photo by Max LaRochelle on Unsplash
The Liberty Accelerator JET Show podcast dives deep into the topics of taxes for this Thor’s Day, and is a foundational discussion for your future Liberty, Autonomy, Sovereignity, and Freedom in our society.
Listen in there BEFORE reading this Knowledge Bomb for additional context and baseline understanding, or read the transcript available at the end below!
All content herein supplements podcast Ep. 3 on taxes.
Plus, a voice over visual discussion on the content in this month’s infoletter is available on the Liberty Accelerator Program YouTube channel.
Please let me know how you like this format…and as importantly, if you don’t!! Either way, let me know so I can improve and tailor to your desire.
Here comes the thunder⚡…
“The hardest thing in the world to understand is income taxes.” - Albert Einstein
I’ve compiled a dozen or so recent content pieces from experts I’m learning from about the REAL economy, not the lamestream news and government talking heads.
In the YouTube video supporting this infoletter and Ep. 3, a visual voice over of this infoletter provides additional context as to how all of this applies to the Armed Forces Family today, so please visit there, too, for additional engagement and detail!
This is the most important content piece I’ve produced to date.
Bank of America on workers - Financial sector workers are quittinging in droves. Do you think it’s because they’re going to other banks for higher pay? Think again…Banks closed a record net 2,927 branches in 2021. So, are you going to backfill those openings thinking they’re great, white-collar paying jobs?
But we’re not talking jobs, today…check out that discussion on Ep. 1 of the JET Show from early January.
Increasing Burden on Armed Forces Families in Base Housing - Did you catch wind of the increased expenditures burden being placed on Armed Forces Families soon? If not, read it for yourself in Military Times!
The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta produces two different calculations for Consumer Price Index calculations, a flexible CPI and sticky CPI. Both are important, sort of.
Why is this so complicated, you’re asking…they’re bureaucrackademics doing busy work to sound important and validate their salaries…don’t worry about their calcuations…worry about your own business: what’s your CPI calculation for your household’s energy costs, food costs, transportation costs, basic necessities living costs and “nicities” costs?
Are they increasing, flat, or decreasing? Do you even know for sure? Mine are increasing, drastically.
Then, there’s another calcuation known as the PPI: Producer Price Index.
That’s the cost producers are experiencing to make, and SUPPLY, all the stuff we consume (i.e., that consumers DEMAND).
See, supply and demand…makes the world go round. Foundation to economics.
Producers and consumers then meet in “markets” to exchange goods.
It’s that simple.
And your family’s “local” Consumer Price Index…it’s the only one that matters.
Now, on to some various headlines from the last few weeks:
Rich get'n richer...on your back! See this article from CNBC on how you’re enriching the rich. Tax liability is only part of it.
Here’s a great video on the liklihood of the Federal Reserve’s actions not helping you.
Start at minute 2:00 with Economic Ninja:
Last half or so of Economic Ninja’s talk on Consumer Price Index/Inflation (12 Jan):
Ninjas talk on the “hidden tax”:
Ninja’s discussion on real price increases (15 Jan):
Price Increases still Outpacing Pay Increases (from CNBC) this is what the typical Joe and Jane hear from the lamestream news outlets.
This graph below from the Federal Reserve Education (FRED.org) shows the devaluation of the U.S. Federal Reserve Note…the numbers on the left hand side…that’s in cents…and it’s at 0.0355 this month…that’s 3 cents on the dollar.
It’s the reason the stuff above “costs more” because the dollar is buying a whole lot less than it use to.
Here’s a visual:
When you hear “CPI is at 5% this month, 7% a month later, 10% after that” it’s the price increases you feel in the grocery basket. Increasing percentages is the direct result of decreasing purchasing power parity.
Michael Invests and Tries to make money video “SHOCKED! What The Fed Just said About The Coming Recession”
Finally, some big picture economic numbers (this isn’t good; look at the trends…the truth is in the trend):
GDP is the Gross Domestic Product (again, production…required for consumption to meet demand). Without production, there can be no consumption).☝🏼☝🏼☝🏼☝🏼
Employment looking good to you (again…truth is in the trend)?
BLS Non-farm payroll report Nov-Dec ; the trend is atrocious, and if we’d recovered employment after the March 2020 cliff, the Nation would be nearing 160 Million, not 149 Million, employeed.
That’s 6.8% lower than trend would be had nothing happened, and the trend is “leveling off” or flattening out today.
Time 6:50 Steven Van Metre consumer sentiment (how confident consumers, that is the demand side of the economic equation, are)…isn’t looking good:
Household ownership of equities (stock equities were considered a gamblers market up until the 60’s. Just food for thought!):
The below lists out the valuations in the 2000’s, compared to 2021 and the parabolic increase over the past decade. What’s the old saying? “What goes up must come down!” Gravity guarantees it…and there’s an aspect of gravity with economics, too.
Heresy Finance on inflation being a tax from the poor and delivered to the rich:
Another data point, showing both hard and soft commodities below. What do you think drives producer prices? Believe producers can “just eat” cost increases?
And if you’re thinking, “The government can just implement price controls,” well, who’s going to work to lose purchasing power?
Nobody.
And if producers are “FORCED’ to work and lose, well, what’s that?
If you’re forced to work doing what you do now, for half the pay or nothing at all, wouldn’t that be slavery?
Steven Van - Metre wages falling discussion:
Insightful markets blog on the economy (your job and its wage depends on the economy)
Example in this article of the hidden tax!
A deep dive, masters level discussion from two influencers I've learned from over the past 15 months (not for the faint of heart):
Chicago Tribune example that doesn't point to root cause, but highlights the red herring.
“I’d rather be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war.” ~ old parable
I hope you found some of these resources useful to further develop your world truth…the lamestream and Uncle Sammy Scrooge aren’t looking out for you.
But, you may be asking, what does Uncle Sam have to do with all of this?
Well, it’s Uncle Sam who issues debt (Treasury Bonds) to the Federal Reserve System Bank, which prints up trillions of dollars of currency to buy those bonds (and put his much kinder sister, Lady Liberty, in bondage to pay it back).
The creation of this currency (the Federal Reserve Notes) out of thin air devalues that dollar you worked and produced something to earn, and therefore reduces the purchasing power of your hard-earned dollar, causing prices for goods and services to rise.
So, Uncle Sam is Uncle SCAM, and he’s scrooging you every which way from Sunday.
I encourage your continuing to follow any of the experts I refer to in this Knowledge Bomb.
But here’s the trick…none of these experts have the insights to the “military transition” traps or the preparations that must happen leading up to that inevitable last day on Active Duty.
I do. I have all the insights that connect my expertise on “transition” to the economy and, more importantly, your Health planning (to include true medical readiness), your Self planning (for life beyond the rank, weapons platform, service branch, and/or MilSpouse identity), and your Wealth planning (concerning your time, your taxes, and your personal balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows).
You must save yourself. It’s up to you!
But there’s no need to go it alone. I can help.
We’re forming Liberty Power Teams today…come check it out!
And be sure to sign up and get the first LIE free ahead of buying my book, the 21st Century Manifesto for Military Service!
The Armed Forces Family you know can’t afford to be with out it in this dynamic and evolving economic environment: Avoiding Each & Every Military Veteran’s DIS-Advantage: How To Overcome the LIEs A Military Family Believes To Get Our Freedom Back. Buy the LIEs for $1/each, and I throw in the truth for half off.
Easy peasy.
To Your Liberty,
#HeckYeah
P.s. be sure to react and leave a comment, and share with someone you know who’s in need of “transition planning” support…what other mission did we ever work up alone for, and go into battle like Rambo, again?
“There is no worse tyranny than to force a [wo]man to pay for what [s]he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him.” ~ Robert A Heinlein“A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
Transcript from Ep. 4 of The Liberty Accelerator JET Show on Jobs, Efforts, & Taxes is available here:
Are you as ticked off as I am? I’ve been irritated since early December when the annual pay raise for us on Active Duty was confirmed at 2.7%. Two and 7/10ths percent. Has that sunk in for you and your spouse yet? Or were you excited, even grateful for it?
Has that 2.7% really percolated? We see it in our paycheck this month, but it’s barely noticeable when compared to our expenses. Think about it carefully for a moment. Are you irritated yet? If not, don’t miss the rest of the episode so you’re empowered to defend against this most serious of domestic threats - inflation! Yes, inflation is a tax and a stealthy one…like the B2 bomber, but nowhere near as cool.
And I’ll ask an important question to end episode 3, so be sure to stick around for that!
But for now, how about this question: Are you planning to retire poor, or are you planning to retire rich? I’m guessing you’re saving for retirement in the Thrift Savings Plan, and perhaps if already in Corporate America you’re storing your expended efforts and energy in a 401K with matching contributions, hopefully.
The primary argument for this type of tax planning is being in a lower tax bracket when all of that stored value, energy, and effort, that being the accumulated savings in those financial services accounts, is withdrawn after retiring from the workforce. Supposedly we’ll be in a lower tax bracket than when contributing into it during the seemingly high-earnings decades of life. This approach suggests that you’re planning to retire on less money than you earn now.
So in other words, you’re anticipating being poor in retirement, and are embedding a scarcity mindset into your subconscious. We here on the Liberty Accelerator JET Show have a hard time thinking this way, because we’re thinking in terms of abundance, not scarcity.
Pivoting slightly, Uncle Sam allowed for injecting 25% of all the currency ever created in the United States in 2020 and 2021. 25%! And some calculations go up as high as 40%. It’s unbelievable if you have any knowledge of history concerning currency creation.
Did you know it took from 1776 until the year 2000 for the United States to create that same amount of volume of currency! And then our drunk, insolvent Uncle Sam asked for that amount over about 18 months. There’s plenty of currency floating around today, so we in the Liberty Accelerator encourage an abundance mindset to attract a little more of it to your world so you can continue adding that unique value you have to offer us all.
Let’s pause on that discussion for a moment, and allow me to tell a quick story from my formative years before we really dig in to the topic of the day: TAXES.
I started up and operated a small retail fireworks stand business a month after I graduating from high school, and the public education I got from that Class 2A school definitely didn’t help prepare me for the real world. Very similar to higher academics today, but that’s for later.
The seasonal fireworks business helped put me through three years of higher academia (in other words, transferring my energy in the form of cash from sale of fireworks to the junior college and university administrations and the professors working there) until I joined the U.S. Navy.
I continued that business for another two seasons before heading off to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, though that domestic idea is limited in our military culture and the propaganda we see and hear day after day.
I was rolling in maybe $12K dollars after that second summer and winter season, because we can only sell fireworks before Independance Day and New Year’s Day each year in Texas, and for all practical purposes it was pure cash profits. Filing my tax return a few months later, in 2000 I guess, my dad asked me what I was doing? I said filing my taxes, and had a tax bill of about $1,200. He asked why I had a tax bill, and I said something along the line of paying my fair share. He called me a couple of expletives saying I was assanine crazy.
The problem was, I didn’t know then what you’re about to learn today. I didn’t learn of it until 2020 and 2021. The public education didn’t teach it. My dad either decided not to tell me or he didn’t know the laws or have the expertise and skills to teach and guide me in reducing my tax burden to a nill amount, or none at all.
That income I was reporting as earned income, and it’s one type of income we can receive under the tax law. Earned income also includes appreciation of assets, such as our house prices, and capital gains in the stock and bond markets when sold. Another type is passive income, which includes dividends from financial equities such as stocks, rental income, and business ventures, but not in the form of a sole-proprietorship fireworks stand where I not only worked on the business, but spent more of my time working in it as an employee, stocking the shelves and selling the products trading my time for cash. The boss in that case being the customer and the market of families in the area I was trying to attract to buy from me and not the other fireworks stand down the county dirt road.
With that context in place, I’m going to explain this tax topic in 3 simple, fast steps, and I invite you to the Liberty Accelerator YouTube channel to see this visually, too, because this topic is that important that it deserves a video, too.
I’ve also posted this in the KnowledgeBombs for Armed Forces Family Readiness newsletter on Substack, too, so read it there for free, too.
STEP Number 1:
We must define some terms first. The terms we’re going to use in this episode are money, taxes, currency, and inflation. The words we use, and when we choose to use them matter. That’s the one thing I took from the MBA 8 years ago.
Time is an important aspect of this discussion too, but you know what that is. But for giggles, let’s take the physics definition of time:
the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole
More generally and as we commonly refer to it every day,
a point in existance as measured in hours and minutes past midnight or noon:
Now, Money is a medium of exchange with the specific property of being a stable store of value over time, making it different in this aspect from currency.
This “value” idea comes straight from episode 2 on Efforts/Energy, so if you missed it be sure to listen in on that foundational discussion for this series.
Value, for the sake of this discussion, is Worth in usefulness or importance to the possessor; utility or merit. When we put forth effort and energy into producing a good or service, whether for sale or for ourselves and individual benefit, even in recreation, we’re expending energy for something we value.
When we trade our time and efforts for payment, we’re storing our effort or energy from the value delivered, and time spent, in that medium of exchange, again typically currency, and not money.
Currency, as discussed on episode one about JOBs, has all the traits of money except for being a stable store of value over long periods of time.
That’s where cost increases come from, because increased amount of currency units created out of nothing have no value in them, and hence decrease the value of all the other currency units in existence that were exchanged for value rendered, that is energy and efforts put forth toward some end. Lastly for definitions, we’ll define taxes:
Tax is a compulsory contribution to state revenue, levied by the government on workers' income and business profits, or added to the cost of some goods, services, and transactions:
Taxes make a strain or heavy demands on (someone's energy, efforts, or resources);
to impose a heavy strain on someone or something
Is that clear? If not, please pause and go back and listen to that again. It’s extremely important for the discussion ahead today and all we’ll talk about in the future. Not understanding this cost me years, no decades, in time and wealth building, and you get it for free, right now.
PAUSE
As you understand the LIEs about taxes, you’ll find the truth and the truth will set you free.
The tax system today is almost like being in prison for a large chunk of your life. You’re likely working through May each year to pay your hard-earned income taxes, sales taxes, value-added taxes, payroll taxes, estate taxes, and property taxes, and then for the remainder of the year you’re being stealthy taxed through the inflationary policies that our monetary system (the currency system, not a money system) we are forced to use exchanging goods and services for, and pay our taxes in.
The average worker world-wide pays 30-50 % or more of their hard-earned income in taxes of all kinds. Think about that. Almost a third to one-half of the worlds efforts is handed over to governments. Seem crazy? I think so.
Recall your interaction with the state Department of Motor Vehicles, or any federal agency bureaucrat? That’s an example of your time and efforts being squandered away through a transfer of energy from you to Uncle Sam and his red-headed step children at the state and local levels of government.
Recall, the term money is thrown around at will when most often those saying “money” are actually speaking of currency or fiat money, fiat meaning “by decree of a government.”
Currency includes the U.S. Federal Reserve Note (commonly known as the dollar) in your wallet or digitally, and also includes monopoly play money.
They’re one in the same except for the belief that the Federal Reserve Note is valuable and the law reinforcing that belief through enforcing the use of that U.S. Federal Reserve Note.
Okay, lastly…inflation. Have you heard that term thrown around in the mainstream, no, they are the lamestream, media and news outlets?
Here’s the deal, like many other words in the English language, inflation is a single word with multiple meanings depending on use and context.
Every time you hear the word inflation being used, you must ensure you’re confident about how it’s being used, just as we must be hyperaware of the terms money and currency being interchanged haphazardly.
For inflation, most generally, the term can be placed into three different buckets:
One, inflation of financial securities assets such as stocks and bonds, and the valuation of mortgages and other kinds of debt
Two, Consumer Price Indices and Producer Price Indices reporting, which is the common folks and non-economics subject matter experts use of inflation, the rise in consumer prices and producer prices for everyday goods, including power and energy costs such as electricity and gasoline…and groceries which at their root are energy for our individual sustainment
Three, Inflation as it’s defined in the terms of monetary policy by the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury: an expansion of the currency and credit supply in an economy with or without an equivalent amount of goods and services for the additional currency to chase.
Lastly, four the legendary American Economist Milton Friedman warned in 1963 “inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomena.”
So inflation is known by insiders as the stealth tax, because the creation of currency out of thin air (i.e., expansion of the currency supply) devalues the currency you earned through efforts and energy expended on your job and the paycheck you get and then save or buy securities in retirement savings vehicles with and what you buy your groceries and electricity with.
The reality is, taxes in every form, and especially inflation, will kill your hopes and dreams by stealing your time, and eventually your wealth, and diminishing your quality of life in this debt-based, inflation-dependent monetary system run by bureaucrats and academics, and in most cases a combination of both: let’s call them bureauCrackademics.
Did you know there’s over 700 PhDs working at the Federal Reserve, who controls the nations monetary policy, and through it the cost of currency by setting interest rates for loans and the bond markets while also creating Federal Reserve Notes, aka U.S. Dollars, out of thin air at your expense.
More bureaucrackademics support the Bureau of Labor Statistics, too.
That’s bad news you…if you’re not aware of what’s going on.
To sum up step number 1: Basically, we take our monetarily stored energy that we use to build our dreams in the form of family, career, or whatever and we’ve put our trust with that very precious resource representing our time, effort, and energy in the custody of banks, brokerages, corporations, institutions, and payment providers.
They are custodying our life energy and we trust them with that. We take that for granted today. Furthermore, the wealth is denominated in currency units that are controlled by bureaucrats, academics, and politicians who have, generally characterized, many other self-interests in mind, the main one with politicians being getting re-elected.
Okay, on to Step Number 2!
Take my military paychecks this month from Uncle Sam, for example, at 19 years 3 months of service (YOS) O5 paygrade. That’s a Lieutenant Colonel equivalent in the US Marine Corps, Army, Air & Space Force.
My bump was $258 per month in additional base pay (and that’s taxable pay, too, so take off 12% right off the top - $30 buck for easy math, recall, I’m mathematically challenged.).
Yes, I realize there was also a tax free BAH plus up of about 5% and we’ll get to that, so don’t fret. Hang with me and hear me out, then decide if it’s worth your time or not to stick around for future episodes. Note on that tax-free BAH plus up, I noticed a military times article saying utilities bills are returning to the family in base housing, no longer being included in the rental amount to base housing managers. No details were available, though.
Taking this math and conducting a backwards calculation, so to speak, my base paycheck, the taxable portion, excluding allowances and special pay, from December 2020, was just shy of ten grand.
This is public knowledge with a simple google search, so I’m not bragging or shy to share it. The CPI, really the Changing Propaganda Index commonly referred to as the Consumer Price Index, remember, has been creeping up from the 2% range to 4% since summer 2021 through 6.7% in November and finally a whopping 7% in December, the highest since 1982, when the calculation of this metric was much different than it is today.
And recall, the CPLIE is calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, ran by federal government bureaucrackademics working in jobs trading their time for earned-income paychecks that are taxed most aggressively by Uncle Sam.
So there’s no way my paycheck from a year ago is purchasing the same amount of goods and services that it did in January 2020 with only $258 additional dollars. Not a single chance of it.
The 2.7% pay bump us military families got once in a years time is not a pay raise at all, because our purchasing power didn’t increase.
Recall from an early episode I discussed what purchasing power is. I’ll repeat it once now, but this is the last time we’ll define this definition:
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/purchasingpower.asp
Investopedia says purchasing power is the value of a currency expressed in terms of the number of goods or services that one unit of currency can buy.
Purchasing power is important because, all else being equal, inflation (that is the expansion of currency dollars and credit in an economy) decreases the number of goods or services that can be purchased with the same amount of currency units.
The transcript of this podcast is on my SubStack so visit there if you need to read and digest this concept. It’s critically important for your future, near and long term.
Now, I encourage you as the servicemember or military spouse to conduct a similar calculation for your paycheck from January 2020 and this year’s paycheck. I used my December pay to be conservative in the calculations.
and something called a “ten year stop the clock rule for real estate capital gains.”
Now are you on the opposite side of this coin? Do you think, “What’s his dang problem, he should be grateful for a 2.7% payraise?”
If that’s your thought, I’ll kindly invite you to join me on the edge of this discussion and consider a different perspective.
Okay, Step #3, expanding on what we discussed in Step #1:
There’s more to taxes than the income, property, and sales tax you’re all so familiar with…much, much more. It’s the secret and biggest LIE Uncle Sam, no Uncle Scam, has kept from you your entire life, and it’s screwing all of us…and if you keep on letting Uncle Scrooge, that’s his name, too, do so, he’ll gladly keep on because he’s drunk, he’s insolvent, and he’ll boot you out of the DoD airplane faster than you can pop to attention and say “Yes Sir.”
You may be surprised to know we just covered it, and it’s in fact the inflation tax.
Neither inflation nor CPI are good things. Inflation doesn’t grow the economy. The myth that 2% inflation is good for economic growth is a dangerous Limited Idea Entertained, that’s the acronym for LIE, by the way, as Jim Kwik coined a few years ago.
Productivity and increased efficiency grows an economy, not the production of currency and credit out of thin air, which is what the little known, but more well-known now, entity referred to as the Federal Reserve does.
It’s neither federal in nature nor does it hold any reserves to back the currency, which is how banking is supposed to work and function.
The Federal Reserve, run by bureaucracdemics manipulates the quantity of currency and credit in the economy, while also manipulating the cost of currency and credit, which is interest rates.
Think about it, what does it cost you to get a loan for the amount received? You’re charged an interest rate, along with some transaction fees, usually.
That’s right, the cost of currency and credit in the economy is set by the interest rates, including your credit card costs. It’s the foundation of markets of all kinds, because in this economy half of every transaction is the fiat dollar currency.
The cost for currency is the interest rate set to get a loan, think mortgages and credit cards, or store it in a bank account as savings, which is being eaten away too by inflation, and a cause of stock and bond markets going to all time highs as measured in the currency.
Having this power, setting the cost of one half of every transaction, because most everything we purchase or sell is done so through the legal tender of exchange, is enormous…don’t underestimate the gravity of this power of the purse, so to speak. History shows us it never ends well.
I’m going to make a contrarian statement here from Tom Wheelright, a tax accountant and commonly known as the Rich Dad Tax advisor: he states “many feel it’s our patriotic duty to pay the most taxes is both ridiculous and completely wrong. In fact, it’s actually your patriotic duty to reduce your taxes by all legal means.”
But we’ve been conditioned to believe we owe the governments at all levels our money, which equates to us owing them our time, and through it our lives.
But once you understand that the government issues as much debt as it can and the Federal Reserve purchases it with freshly created currency out of nothing, you’ll understand and be motivated to drive you tax burden to as close to zero as possible, so far as the law allows, and in fact, encourages.
In Mr. Wheelwright’s book, Tax-Free Wealth, he summarizes, until you believe and are committed to these two fundamental rules of tax law, Rule #1, it’s your “money” and not the governments, and
Rule #2 99.5% of the tax law is written primarily to reduce the tax burden, and the complexity that exists in the tax law aims to reduce the tax burden, not increase it by encouraging certain activities.
Until you believe this whole-heartedly, there is really nothing can be done to reduce your tax burden, and his book, or my guidance henceforth in this series or my written content, even my book, will be of little use to your Armed Forces or military veteran family.
You’ll keep on paying 30 to 50 percent of your hard-earned income to the government, which equates to working from January to about May to cover the taxes, and then continue being taxed by the decreasing purchasing power of what earned the rest of the year.
Maybe that’s what you want, but I’d think not. Because unless we live in a dictatorship, the payments we earn and the wealth accumulated belongs to us from our time, effort, energy, imagination and knowledge we used to deliver value to a paying customer.
If you’re working for the government to give them taxes as a patriotic duty, then you’re working for a dictator, you’re a wage slave, you have no Liberty, and you’re in a prison for over half the year, meaning you are not Free.
We as citizens have a right, and in fact a duty to reduce our taxes every minute of each and every hour. All we must do is learn the rules of the game and then surround ourselves with the experts who can help us on our Liberty Power Team.
Briefly I’m going to touch on pension benefits, since I’m confident many listeners are either headed toward a pension from DoD in the years ahead, or are already collecting one.
Pension benefits are normally taxed as ordinary income, not passive as you’d think it would be.
Many of these pensions are not deductible to you when you pay them into a separate plan, either, such as those at defense contractors or other corporations contributing to 401ks, to include the government TSP for civil servants and military personnel.
How is that fair?
Those contributing to these plans don’t get a deduction for the payment and still get taxed if and when you receive the payment back to you. That’s just what happens in the United States with Social Security, too.
But remember, fair has nothing to do with it. Uncle Sam incentivizes certain activities…do what he wants you to do, and lower your tax liability.
By decreasing your tax liability, you’ll increase the amount of time you own in this world,
and then decide what you do with that stored effort and energy in the form of assets and liabilities.
So to summarize, the words we’re using around the tax topic matter.
And the two rules we must believe that 1) it’s your money and not the governments and 2) the tax law exists to reduce your tax liability, then you’re ready to ensure the tax law works hard in your interest to keep your Liberty and Freedom, and not see it squandered away by bipolar, insolvent, and drunk Uncle Sam, no, Uncle Scam and Uncle Scrooge, and not the other way around.
Stop supporting his drunkenness and insolvency. You, and only you, have the control over your money, and through it your time, and your tax liability. Noone else does, and frankly noone else cares.
This includes the typical tax preparer and tax advisor, and it especially includes the free offerings at your local base family readiness center, the insurance agents and financial services brokers who are funneling your money into services that support their livelihoods.
So, work hard to keep your wealth so you can add ever more value to our world. Lord knows we need it more than ever today. Because as a coach of mine told us on a coaching call, money is like a mistress…as soon as you stop paying her any mind, she’ll leave you for another without a care in the world.
And take note: the Uncle Scammy Scrooge encourages certain activity through two mechanisms: by force and by policy. And none of it is beneficial to Lady Liberty when our drunk, insolvent Uncle Scam can issue as much debt and ask the Federal Reserve, which isn’t Federal and has no Reserves, for as much currency as it needs to fund government operations.
So, I pose this question if the government can issue as many bonds and as much debt, approaching $30 trillion now, as it likes for the Federal Reserve to print as much currency as is needed to purchase that debt, then Why are taxes even needed?
That’s for a future discussion about something referred to as monetary policy, and we’ll get there soon enough.
For now, just realize Policy dictates tax law through a series of incentives for experienced investors and seasoned entrepreneurs, and most often works against the employee and likely the small-business owner and newly minted entrepreneur who are working in, and not on, their businesses.
These tax policies are enforced through the threat of fines and imprisonment by decree of a fiat currency, which is being debased, and is the stealthy, hidden tax from which few ever escape.
The taxes to be mindful of include inflation as well as the five types of other taxes: income taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, employment taxes (as both employer and employee for government-sponsored social programs such as Social Security & Medicare), and value-added taxes (which is a tax on the amount by which the value of something has been increased at each stage of its production or distribution), and then there are other excise taxes (sales on certain goods/services/uses), and estate taxes (the tax that attempts to confiscate at your death what the income tax wasn’t able to get during your life.
Very briefly as a bonus, estate planning comes down to two things: making the financial aspect of your death as easy as possible for your family to handle through a painless financial experience and leave your assets with your loved ones instead of Uncle Scammy Scrooge’s government).
That’s a lot to unpack, so we’ll leave it here for next time when, in episode 4 we’ll summarize the Liberty Accelerator JET Show context and link it to something I call my life pillars model for living life fully alive, in service and in preparation for far beyond.
We’ll then bridge into the fastest and easiest way to put more money in your pocket and increase your cash flow: by reducing your taxes. This is, I believe, one of the single biggest issues that separating and retiring Armed Forces Families and military servicemembers have.
It’s not lack of a job, but lack of cash flow. And tax liability is the biggest expense reducing our cash flow beyond uniformed service, and planning for that eventuality must begin immediately to get away from it.
The shelter we receive from Uncle Scammy Scrooge in uniformed service is significant, and ought to be recognized by the Armed Forces Family so you can intentionally plan for the loss of that benefit when you leave service…which happens for us all eventually.
And with reduced cash-flow, comes reduced Liberty and restricted Freedom for doing what we wish with our precious, limited time.
The guests and discussions thereafter will help your Armed Forces Family, active duty or military veteran to thrive in a complex world of out of control Uncle Scammy Scrooge’s government and Corporatocracies, because they’re not concerned with your Liberty, or Freedom in uniformed, un-informed service to Lady Liberty, or in preparation for far beyond.
Lacking an intentional, informed tax strategy for all types of taxes is the most serious domestic threat in your household, hands down. Seemingly nobody is talking about this in our military culture and DoD bubble.
We’re too distracted with jobs and efforts focused on the foreign threats and retirement savings, when the most dangerous threats to our Liberty and Freedom are right here at home, nationally and personally.
One quick note on this idea of retirement: If you’re aching to retire, allow me to be the bearer of bad news. You’ve got a monumental challenge ahead of you - you’ll likely never be able to retire, at least not with the income you enjoy while working.
This is especially true if using the same methods to retire that our parents were sold on - relying on a pension, profit sharing 401K plan, the Thrift Savings Plan, or local, state and federal pensions.
These government-qualified retirement plans provide temporary, not permanent, tax benefits, and they’re the reason most middle-class people will never be able to stop working for money, and their annual increases are falling way behind price increases for the necessities to live a comfortable life.
Oh, and that house that’s doubled in valuation as measured in the fiat currency, well, will you be able to afford the maintenance and operating expenses of it as prices continue to soar, or refinance for a cash-out with a reduced income? This is a wealth effect you’re seeing, and it is not real.
It’s all a catch-22, and the hidden and blatant taxes will suck the time right out of your life, forcing you to continue working for a paycheck into your old age, poor and helpless and desperate…hey, that’s an acronym, PhD, isn’t it - poor, helpless, and desperate?
Tax knowledge can make you rich, or taxes WILL certainly make you poor.
There’s no other option on the hidden and blatantly obvious taxes…it’s up to you to choose.
In this fiat monetary system the currency is easily manipulated by a very few people, and that ability gives them tremendous power over you and me and it effects us all very personally, even if we don’t know it or realize it.
It’s immoral, too.
Money must be used as a stable store of value and acceptable medium of exchange.
The soaring prices of the stuff of life—fuel, food, housing, health care, transportation—are strangling the middle class.
The inflation tax is one mechanism of many being used to steal your stored value and mess with your medium of exchange, keeping you poor, helpless, and desperate throughout your life.
Fiat is the primary tool by which government, through central banking, has waged war, controlled populations, bought and controlled politicians and the laws that have been passed, and shrouded the entire corrupt state in secrecy.
So, every mission we ever went on we did so with a team.
Your biggest mission, Transition, is no different. Anytime we’ve ever done something great it’s been with a team. Don’t be afraid.
Just get the right team in place, as soon as possible, to enable intentional, informed planning for that inevitable last day on Active Duty…because we all get out one day.
If already separated or retired, please watch your buddies six and share this series with them and/or their spouse still on Active Duty or recently separated veteran.
We talk a big talk about taking care of our people, but the focus is too much on promotion…let’s change that, today.
As promised, answer this question before we meet again, and actually there’s two questions that connect back to episodes 1 & 2 on Jobs and Efforts:
How secure is your job and the purchasing power of the paycheck you’re getting from all that effort?
And second, is it your patriotic duty to pay taxes?
See the InfoLetter for this episode for a detailed answer speaking the truth.
This months knowledge bomb for military transiton is packed full of charts and good information complementing Episode 3 today.
And it’s a big world out here. Bankless living and cryptocurrencies are one route.
There are hundreds of others.
We’ll discover this and more in the Liberty Accelerator JET show episodes ahead.
Fly fast.
To Your Liberty,
#HeckYeah