BIDEN ENERGY POLICIES ARE COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE AND DESTRUCTIVE

View as PDF

By: Val Wallace Zimnicki

The energy policies of the Biden administration are counter-productive and are harming the U.S.

The U.S. became energy independent a couple of years prior to President Biden’s executive orders. Biden stopped oil and gas leases on federal lands and then stopped construction on the Keystone pipeline. Simultaneously, he approved Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany, which will supply that country as well as other European countries with oil, thus weakening U.S. oil exports. This puzzling action makes no economic sense. It’s a double-hit on U.S. oil exports and U.S. oil independence.  As a result, the U.S. is a net oil importer once again.

During the Trump administration, domestic oil production rose 44 percent, and we were a oil exporter for the first time in almost 60 years. This has changed. Due to Biden’s executive orders, we are now asking OPEC to pump more oil to meet our needs, and, of course, this comes at a cost. Gas and oil prices are now at highest levels in 7 years, since October 2014.

Americans are paying much more at the pump, and this hurts not only the middle class but the poor. Last year the national average for regular grade oil was $2.38 a gallon; today it’s almost a dollar more.

As usual, the costs are higher in Illinois and other blue states. Economists see oil and gas prices continuing to trend in an upward direction.

Transportation costs are not the only ones directly affected by the administration’s economic policies. Oil and natural gas are needed for products like tires, medical equipment, phones, shampoos, dresses, deodorants, sweaters, and about 6,000 other commodities. Watch for more inflation affecting many everyday products dependent on oil. Of course, politicians love higher-priced merchandise. Higher prices create higher taxes!

CONTRARY TO WASHINGTION TAX-RAISERS, THE U.S. TAX CODE IS DEFINITELY PROGRESSIVE

View as PDF

A new report by the nonpartisan Washington-based Tax foundation disproves the charge by Washington Democrats that that wealthy Americans pay little taxes.

“As Congress considers several tax proposals designed to raise taxes on high-income earners, it’s worth considering the distribution of the existing tax code. While the image that rich Americans pay little taxes is popular, it’s a misconception: high-income individuals already pay a large share of taxes, even when compared to their share of national income,” reports the foundation’s Alex Muresianu.

The data and analysis from the preeminent nonpartisan governmental research organizations confirms this pattern.

Also, Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its annual Distribution of Household Income report, this year relying on data from 2018. The data show that top-earning households pay substantial federal taxes. While the top 1 percent of earners took home 18.3 percent of market income in 2018, they paid 25.9 percent of all federal taxes; by the same token, the top 20 percent of earners received 59.1 percent of market income yet paid 68.9 percent of federal taxes.

According to the U.S. Treasury Department, the top 1 percent under current law will pay the highest average effective tax rate, when considering all federal taxes. This difference is largely due to the significant progressivity of the individual income tax: the bottom 40 percent of taxpayers on average pay negative effective personal income tax.

The foundation concludes, “Of course, some people will argue that even if the tax code is currently progressive, it should be even more progressive. But they should not dispute the fact that the wealthy pay a larger share of federal taxes than they earn of national income.”

Source: https://taxfoundation.org/us-tax-system-progressive/

Millionaire Monday: Robert Molaro

Robert Molaro

View as PDF

Positively, absolutely nothing can stop the Illinois state pension madness as it is now, not even death.

Robert Molaro (D), was in both houses of the Illinois General Assembly and collected a enormous taxpayer subsidized pension. In 2019, not long before his death, Robert was collecting $141,972 estimated a year in pension payouts. He had put in only $109,860, and had received over his lifetime $1,233,126. Robert was expected to receive $4,322,660 by the time he reached 85.

Alas, Robert did not make it that long. On June 15th, 2020 Robert Molaro passed away. However, his pension certainly didn’t pass away. Instead, it was passed on to Barbara Molaro.

Who is Barbara Molaro, you might ask? Well, she was the late Robert’s wife, and also pled guilty in a ghost payroll case initiated by the feds. In 1996, Barbara Molaro was indicted by the feds under charges of receiving $40,000 during 6 years she was on the Illinois Senate payroll without having to do any work.

Barbara now receives as of 2021 and estimated $100,413 annually from a General Assembly Retirement System pension. By the time she is 85 she is expected to have received $1,933,043, the lion’s share coming from Illinois state taxpayers.

While is Barbara’s pension so high? That’s because her pension is calculated based off of what Robert Molaro was receiving. Why was Robert Molaro’s pension so high? Its because Chicago Alderman Edward M. Burke hired Molaro as an expert on pensions of all things. Robert wrote a 19-page white paper on Chicago’s pension funds. Molaro worked as an aide to Burke for one month, earned $12,000, and nearly doubled his pension. For those that need a reminder, this is the same Burke that has a 14-count corruption case pending on him.

The Illinois government employee pension system, especially GARS is an absolute circus. There are plenty of pension millionaires, and we at Taxpayers United of America are going to put a spotlight on all of them. If taxpayers would like to view the latest annual report on Illinois pensions, there is a link to it on our website. 15th Annual Illinois Pension Report – Taxpayers United Of America