We really don’t know (at least at the time of this writing) what the final negotiated details will be from those doing the deciding in Washington, D.C., on what they are going to put in the Fiscal Year 2022 “budget.” The amount they finally settle on as well as where they will decide to spend the money…and oh yeah – how they are going to raise the dollars to use.
In all likelihood there will be some amount of trillion involved in both the spending and the taxing. Trillion now seems to be the favorite number that those in the majority consider to be essential for any type of doing. Then again when the other party was in charge, they got into the habit of trillion being important too. When you’re spending other people’s money, the bigger the better. If you are throwing those dollars at someone who also considers other people’s money something that they should be getting, bigger is better too.
After destroying our state’s economy, when it was decided who could be open and who couldn’t be open – you remember, when it was just going to be 14 days for “flattening the curve” – Nevada’s people in charge have also gained the opportunity to spread other people’s money to those who they decide should be given the dollars that they can gift. Ideally those receiving other people’s money will remember when the voting comes around that those handing out the funds were the gracious ones…
Prior to the earlier phase of the $3.5 trillion idea for “Building Back Better” it seemed very likely that a portion of the funds that would be used as covering the tab was going to come from various ways of cashing in on the value of property from dead people. Those who built up assets during their life time, probably with funds they earned and scrapped together – all the while government at every level was finagling to capture along the way – were now going to get to “contribute” some more to the federal government rather than having their heirs receive it.
Through preemptive grassroots activity there was a strong push to highlight attention on protecting the existing provisions for the step up in basis. This essential protection was covered by approval in a Senate amendment and appears to be recognized as a accepted foundation going forward.
On the other hand there are concerns about alternatives to gain sufficient financial resources to pay for the excessive spending that the majority party plans to ram through the process could have Orwellian rhetorical phrasing to imply that others will be carrying the tax burden while digging deeply into everyone’s pockets. Imagine how the President had the gumption to suggest that the $3.5 trillion proposal wasn’t going to cost anything because only “rich” guys who deserve to be over-taxed will be paying and all the good benefits from their government benevolence would be more than worth the sacrifices.
Beyond the efforts to acquire trillions of dollars in new taxes, the core of the plan is spending trillions of dollars on ways of expanding government’s invasive role into the private sector’s day to day activities.
Should the federal government…
- Continue to provide welfare benefits without work requirements and provide for those who won’t work to support themselves?
- Establish a Civilian Climate Corp to be used as federally funded group of climate police as activist?
- Incorporate federal dollars for assisting in the indoctrination of Green New Deal/”environmental justice” philosophies further into higher education?
- Enhance the incentives for illegal immigration to provide new ‘free’ college entitlement, additional student aid and expanded child tax credits?
- Increase in the authority of OSHA to increase penalties on businesses which don’t implement the mandate that President Biden has initiated through an Executive Order to force COVID vaccination?
- Issue a punitive methane tax and implement a tax on natural gas up to $1,500 per ton?
- Initiate alternative energy mandates to force requirements of 40 percent of electrical energy to come from solar/wind/and other unreliable forms of energy generation?
- Grant amnesty for persons who have immigrated to the United States without going through the immigration process established by law?
- Provide for federal funding for abortions, by not including the Hyde amendment prohibitions?
- Provide for federal funding for grants for organizations to treat individuals suffering from “loneliness” and “social isolation?”
These 10 bullet points are only a sampling of those identified by Congressman Jim Banks of South Carolina, who identified a list of 42 bullet points, extracted from the language of the massive reconciliation bill – another measure that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has said we need to pass in order to find out all the good things that it has in it.
“It’s not an understatement to say this bill, if passed, will fundamentally change our country forever,” Congressman Banks remarked, adding “Americans will wake up in a few years and wonder what happened to their freedom. We can’t let that happen.”
Something must be done to get the message through to elected representatives in Congress that tax and spend measures like the “Build Back Better” monstrosity is not the type of government that Americans believe is appropriate. The same message needs to be delivered to those elected to serve in state or local government.
Beyond communicating for limited and restrained government conduct, the message needs to be sent through the election process of candidates who support a government which fits within the constitutionally-delimited provisions of enumerated authority for what government is supposed to be covering.
Along with making the crisis of the pandemic economically worse, taking advantage of the numerous opportunities for an expanded and more intrusive government, the insistence of reshaping our understanding of the role government should play in our lives needs to be recognized for what it really is. Fighting back to regain the ground lost to government infringement of the rights, responsibilities and roles of individuals won’t be easy, but it is essential. Without pushing back, we will get the government that government wants us to have.
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By Doug Busselman | NFB, Executive Vice President