Skip to content
Andrew Tobias
Andrew Tobias

Money and Other Subjects

  • Home
  • Books
  • Videos
  • Bio
  • Archives
  • Links
  • Me-Mail
Andrew Tobias
Andrew Tobias

Money and Other Subjects

Patriots Pay Taxes

September 14, 2011March 25, 2017

3rd ESTIMATED QUARTERLY TAX DUE

The “greatest generation” paid a top rate of 90% in federal income tax (36% on long-term capital gains). Most people, not being rich, paid nowhere near that top rate, of course, and no one is suggesting anything like that rate today – nor should they. But we had World War II to fight back then, and then to pay off over the ensuing 35 years as we got our war debt back down to a reasonable levels. Which reasonable level Reagan, Bush, and Bush blew back out of the water with massive tax giveaways mostly to the wealthy.

Enjoy the patriotic feeling it’s still possible to have when you pay your estimated tax tomorrow. America is a wonderful country; the obsession some rich people have with not paying taxes is certainly misguided (it’s destroying their country) and arguably selfish or even shameful.

I do not myself argue that it’s shameful because I think those folks have persuaded themselves it’s good economics – that they are the job creators, etc. It’s only truly shameful if they realize how selfish they’re being. Though – deep down – can they really not? Can one of my Republican classmates who threw himself a multi-million dollar birthday party really believe his talents are so extraordinary that, when he makes $500 million, it’s because he “created so much value?” Steve Jobs has created tremendous value. But this guy? He makes deals, some of which work out, some of which don’t.

Or what about the folks who take huge risks trading financial futures with other people’s money. How have they “created enormous value” when their bets turn out right? Why do so many of them feel they are the ones with the raw deal, having to pay a chunk of their seven-, eight-, or nine-figure incomes in taxes, when their nannies and hedge-trimmers and cleaning ladies pay little or no income tax?

Anyway, don’t forget to mail in your third quarterly 2011 estimated income tax tomorrow if you’ve had appreciable income on which tax has not been withheld.

THE AMERICAN JOBS ACT

Here’s the bill, summarized for easy digestion. It will be a badly needed boost.

Post navigation

← Pep
YOUR Local Bridge →

Quote of the Day

"Annual income, twenty pounds; annual expenditure, nineteen pounds; result, happiness. Annual income, twenty pounds; annual expenditure, twenty-one pounds; result misery."

words offered to Charles Dickens by his father, a financial failure (and later put into the mouth of Mr. Micawber, in David Copp

Subscribe

 Advice

The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need

"So full of tips and angles that only a booby or a billionaire could not benefit." -- The New York Times

Help

MYM Emergency?

Too Much Junk?

Tax Questions?

Ask Less

Recent Posts

  • My Money's On Jack White

    August 23, 2025
  • Never A Bad Word About Putin

    August 22, 2025
  • James Comey + Taylor Swift

    August 19, 2025
  • Getting By On $100 Million -- And The Pando Plan

    August 18, 2025
  • Putin Is Winning

    August 17, 2025
  • I Have Your Weekend All Planned Out For You

    August 14, 2025
  • Tough On Crime (Unless She Worked With Jeffrey Epstein Or Stormed The Capitol)

    August 13, 2025
  • Bully . . . Bedlam

    August 12, 2025
  • Bankrupting Yet Another Enterprise; Threatening Your Life

    August 11, 2025
  • Don't Miss Today's Last Item: What A Soft Coup Looks Like

    August 8, 2025
Andrew Tobias Books
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
©2025 Andrew Tobias - All Rights Reserved | Website: Whirled Pixels | Author Photo: Tony Adams