The Ship RMS Titanic Sank This Day in 1912
The RMS Titanic broke in half and sank at 02:20 AM zulu on this day in 1912. Should never have happened, but metallurgists of the day didn’t understand the adverse effect of phosphorous upon the ductile to brittle transition temperature of steel. Today the Titanic rests at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean at Latitude 41° 43′ 57″ North, Longitude 49° 56′ 49″ West, over 12,000 feet underwater. 1,514 men, women and children perished, only 710 survived. May they all rest in peace. The last Titanic survivor died in 2009. Not the worst maritime disaster in history, but the one seared into the conscience of the English speaking world.
Most of us, however, associate April 15th with the annual deadline for filing your U.S. and Michigan personal income taxes. Just how much money is extracted in personal income taxes on this fateful day?
Michigan expects to collect $ 8.3 billion in individual income taxes for its General Fund and refund $ 1.8 billion during the current fiscal year. A net of $ 6.6 billion. Our School Aid Fund will receive an additional $ 2.6 billion in personal income taxes. So Michigan’s total take from personal income taxes this fiscal year will be $ 9.17 billion. Total net Michigan government revenue is expected to be $ 52.7 billion during this fiscal year. The difference between the $ 9.17 billion in personal income tax revenues and the $ 52.7 billion in total net revenues – $ 43.5 billion – is all the other taxes and Federal funding which Michigan receives. Personal income taxes amount to 17.4% of all Michigan state government spending.
The White House expects to collect $ 1,610 billion ($ 1.6 trillion!) in personal income taxes during the current fiscal year. The Federal and Michigan government fiscal years have been in sync since the mid 1970s, both now starting on October 1st. Total net U.S. government revenue is expected to be $ 3,430 billion during this fiscal year. The difference between the $ 1,610 billion in personal income tax revenues and the $ 3,430 billion in total Federal revenues is all the other Federal taxes, about $ 1,820 billion. Those other Federal taxes exceed the amount collected in personal income taxes by 13%. The Federal government also spends a lot more than it takes in; FY 2016 total Federal spending is expected to be $ 3,964 billion, creating a projected Federal deficit of $ 535 billion, 13.5% of all Federal spending.
Funny how both the Federal and Michigan governments tack these income tax figures to the very end of their hundred plus page long budget documents, in small print to boot. All the ‘for the children‘ spending gets top billing in the glossy front pages.
Misery loves company. Now you know just how much company you have today.
(11)Nuh Uh.
(0)
Then throw all the "Fees" into that "tax figure," which are charged on after-tax dollars.
The British got the shit kicked out of them - for a lot less.
The first broad-based political activism in how long(?) was centered around April 15th here in Michigan but a few years ago. The last event claimed support by "over 40 tea party organizations across the state". That event managed to attract not one table representing any of them and a guy selling tea bags i the sparse crowd as their stand-in.
Despite taxes growing exponentially since that first rally (WITH grassroots political pressure) and poised to grow at rates which will make that (cough) 'angry' period seem like the good 'ol days..Michiganders (evidently) absolutely LOVE tax day.
History will be unable to record this fact any other way.
For nearly a century and a half of our history (I'm not counting that time "Honest" Abe stuck us with an early version of what we have today...until it was repeatedly struck down by the courts), the Republic not only functioned, but grew during that time frame on revenue generated by things like tariffs, fees, sin taxes (more than most people realize) and even lotteries.
We were not serfs who are compelled to take the time out of our schedules to calculate what we have earned and "voluntarily" give it to the federal government.
Yes, the NeoCon's and Free-traders heads would collectively spin uncontrollably if we ever did that again, to say nothing about the loss of control they would have over the producing class. Apparently the billions of man-hours spent the compile numbers and ensure compliance, to say nothing about the tens of billions of dollars spend on that endeavor, are well are an acceptable trade-off for them.
Land of the Free...yeah, right!
We sacrificed our freedom(s) a long time ago.
It is in the hands (now) of those (still) expecting more out of this country than it could have realistically offered in the first place.
And until those expecting still more from a dry well choose to do the simple math and self-sacrifice along with a younger generation already doing so?
We will lose even more freedoms and go down in history as the single most selfish generation of privileged individuals drunkenly living off the TRUE sacrifices of those laid down previously.
'Taxes' are but the tip of the iceberg here in Michigan this year.
Anyone believing that we will all sail quietly through both this upcoming election and the lame duck would do well to study the parallel story of opulence and misery (our younger generation arrogantly jammed below decks) related to the Titanic picture posted above.