Letter: Opponents don’t know where money comes from

This letter is by Ericka Redic, of Burlington. She is the Libertarian candidate for U.S. House.

Once again, my Democrat and “Republican” opponents demonstrate they have no idea how the economy, taxes or debt work. Exposing their Progressive leanings, both seem to believe that more money from the federal government is the solution to all our woes. My question is, What money? We’re over $30 trillion in debt and Fed is continuing to just print money or borrow more from countries that hate us. Mr. Madden asked Senator Balint if she knows where money comes from, not realizing he needed to ask himself the same question.

Senator Balint touts her experience as a legislator, yet under her leadership the Vermont Legislature has continued to underfund our state pension system — to the tune of billions of dollars. The Transportation budget is underfunded $40 million next year, $60 million the year after that and $80 million the year after that! Where did all that Federal relief money go Becca? If roads and bridges are so important, why aren’t you funding it? If you care so much about “labor” and the working class, why aren’t you funding their pensions?

It’s official: the Bureau of Economic Analysis confirmed that the United States economy is in recession. Our GDP, which is a measure of the economic health of the nation, shrank by .9% in the second quarter of 2022, following a .2% decrease in the first quarter — all of which means the momentum of economic loss is accelerating at an ominous pace.

As the Biden administration plays word games trying to redefine what constitutes a recession, the American people are being pummeled every day by runaway inflation at the gas pump and grocery store. The worst part is that our failing economy is the result of self-inflicted wounds. The Democrats ruined our domestic energy production, and we no longer manufacture basic necessities. They purport to have the country’s best interests at heart, but the outcomes of their policies are hurting the American people in the service of their political ambitions. It’s such a cynical abuse of the trust the citizens have placed in them.

Image courtesy of Public domain

14 thoughts on “Letter: Opponents don’t know where money comes from

  1. Ericka, it’s called ” Socialism ” and all the snowflakes think it a grand Idear,
    and Vermont’s barking buffoon ” Socialist Sanders ” is leading the call, but
    they don’t realize, down the road the ball will be in their court ……. fools !!

    Government has just a couple of situations to maintain, a balanced budget
    and safety for its citizens, Vermont fails at both……………

    Wake up Vermont, we need leadership, not another follower for an agenda
    and padded pockets, do the right thing in November, and let’s get Vermont
    on the right path !!

    • CHenry is right folks. Our participatory government calls on us to think clearly and face the problems before us. Ericka Redic understands what’s needed. She can contribute out recreation of a fiscal responsible community..

      • oops I meant …our resurrection of a fiscally responsible community. (and I haven’t even had an afternoon beer yet.)

    • C Henry, you are 200 percent correct, of course. But I fear Vermont is doomed. As incredibly beautiful as the state is, it is populated by a public who still thinks being a liberal, a Democrat, is “cool” and the “in” thing. Instead of holing up in the hollows of maple stands and Green Mountains, these liberals should take a trip down to New Jersey and see the living proof of the end result of their thinking. I will bet $100 Jersey dollars they’ll be on the road north in less than 10 minutes when the real “liberal” beneficiaries accost them as they roll into the Garden State. Like the song says, “You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone!” that is Vermonters, today.

    • “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be “cured” against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.”

      C.S. Lewis

    • Re: “A 35% tax rate on the top households would of itself yield $1.1 billion,…”

      Oops, indeed. This gross generalization assumes, of course, that the top 2100 Vermont households aren’t paying any tax to begin with. Never mind that those with annual earned income of $1.5 Million are already paying the highest Federal Tax Rate of 37% on about $1 Million of that income. And then add to that Vermont’s highest in the country State income tax rate of an additional 8.75%.

      Furthermore, Vermonters earning $35,000 annually pay only 1% or less in State income tax. Not to mention that 57% of all lower income households in the U.S. already pay no Federal Income Tax.

      So, go ahead. Raise Vermont income taxes even more. As the TNR lead story says: Governor says Vermont’s business climate at disadvantage to tax-friendly states. We might as well drive all of the businesses and high wage earners to New Hampshire, Florida, Tennessee, and Texas. Then what will you do?

      Question: Did you ever consider lowering State spending? i.e., the State’s underfunded ‘defined benefit’ pension program? Or one of the most expensive, poor performing, education systems in the U.S.? After all, when 40% of the Vermont workforce is employed in the heavily tax subsidized Education, Healthcare and Government sectors, economic efficiency isn’t typically a top concern.

      • Jay, you’ve hit it on the head. Now, hit the liberal Democrats on the head and we’ll perhaps knock some sense into these sleeping drones. Taxation is a government fining its populace. The ultimate irony is that the people complaining about how hard things are getting are the same people who voted in the tribe who are making things harder. Rinse. Repeat.

      • Tax rates, schmax rates. That 35% is both nominal (everybody, after all, is able to take deductions to adjust their income pre-tax, and the wealthiest 0.189% in Vermont not only deducted for their federal returns, but got to deduct even more (an average of over half a million) for their Vermont returns), inapplicable to Vermont taxes (their tax rate for their income over the first $160,000 is only 6 percent), and, finally, non-existent, since the most recent tax “reform” lowered it to a (once again, nominal) rate of 22%. In 2019 that top cohort paid an average of 7.5%

        All this talk about rates is intended to obscure the fact that one of our major parties in Vermont has always worked toward one main goal– shifting more and more of the wealth to the upper class. Greed, like any other addiction, will produce rewards that cause an overproduction of serotonin, the “feel-good” neurotransmitter. As a result, the richest are addicted to making even MORE money, cutting every ethical and moral corners they find inconvenient. Michael Lewis’ essay, “How Wealth Destroys Your Soul,” cited studies that showed them more likely to cheat just to get $50 more, to steal candy meant for children, to shoplift more often and for whom the average extra amount of money needed to make them happier was three times as much as they already had. By taxing the over-millionaires to a point where they have to live on only $2.4 million a year in Vermont, we could have a tax system that would provide cuts of 65% or more for everyone making $1 million (yes, tax cuts for mere millionaires!) or less.

        Readers can reasonably assume that contributors opposed to a tax cut of 65% or more for themselves and their community are personally extremely comfortable financially.

  2. In 2019 the top 2,100 households in Vermont reported a Vermont adjusted gross income (AGI) totaling $3.1 billion (out of a total taxable Vermont income of all households of $40.2 billion). This is an average of roughly $1.5 million per household. Each of course enjoyed withholding from about $42,000 to $350,000 per household from their reported federal AGI.

    A 35% tax rate on the top households would of itself yield $1.1 billion, which would go a looooong way to resolving the problem Ms. Redic writes of. Of course, those top taxpayers ($500,000 and up would have an average of some $950,000– the amount reported by Vermont’s lowest 45% of households.

    Now, let’s give 99.4% of Vermont’s taxpayers a break and base their tax rate on the proportion of their earnings to the top 0.6%: If a taxpayer is making 1/10th of 1.5 million, make his tax rate one-tenth of that 35%, 3.5%. Computations show that this system would not only completely fund state government and allow long-term catchup on pensions, etc., but would provide tax breaks for the 95%.

    But who listens to anybody who makes less than $500,000 a year when it comes to taxes?

    • And then what does Vermont do when those wealthy earners leave the state? Why does Vermont need to heal a healthy planet, wasting millions? How about a session in the legislature for shutting down programs and state positions not needed? Where in either constitution does the legislature derive authority to appoint boards of unelected people (well-connected people) to sit on these bords and committees. Why does Vermont have a monopoly health insurance scam? Vermont needs to get 30% of its fiscal budget from Washington DC that is $31 trillion in debt and pays billions in interest payments already. Sorry, your comment to belittle Ms. Redic fails bigly. If you want fiscal responsibility stop voting for demo/progs.

    • The problem with you, cgregory, is that you are smart and understand. The problem with your “elected ‘representatives'” is that they are not smart and they do not understand. They know only how to ruin your beautiful state.

    • The problem with you, cgregory, is that you are smart and understand. The problem with your “elected ‘representatives'” is that they are not smart and they do not understand. They know only how to ruin your wonderful state.

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