April 11, 2022
Permission to republish original opeds and cartoons granted.
It’s your money, or is it?
The right to private property is laid out in both the Fourth and Fifth amendments to the Constitution. In the Fourth, individuals are protected from unreasonable search and seizure, and the Fifth protects against the government taking your property without “due process of law” and “just compensation.”
Over the years, these basic concepts have been whittled away so much that it is reasonable to question whether the right to property still exists. Civil asset forfeiture, where an individual is treated as though they have been found guilty before any trial occurs is just one example where the Courts have turned a blind-eye to “due process of law.” After all, taking one’s property denies that individual the ability to sell that property to help pay for a legal defense. Not to mention the difficulty of recovering the property when one is found to be not-guilty as it has likely already been sold for pennies on the dollar so the local police can get the latest surveillance equipment.
But you don’t have to look farther than your paystub and the real estate taxes you pay to understand how little control over “your” property you actually have.
Your paystub shows you that you are paying 7.5 percent of your income for Social Security and Disability Insurance and another 1.45 percent for Medicare. Uncle Sam also helpfully pre-taxes you by withholding a portion of your paycheck based upon your number of deductions and size of your earnings. If perchance you owe too much money at the end of the year, the following year, the IRS strongly suggests that you pay estimated taxes. After all, the federal government demands that you pre-pay your taxes with the promise that they will let you have back what you can prove you overpaid.
And don’t fool yourself into thinking that Uncle Sam is benevolent to those he determines have not paid enough money or cannot afford to make their tax payments. Late fees, penalties and interest often easily outstrip the original amount of money owed, in the kind of usury that would make “It’s a Wonderful Life’s” Mr. Potter blush.
Can you see why federal bureaucrats and many politicians believe that it is their money and they are just letting you keep some of it?
State and local property taxes are even worse.
The old image of a couple burning their mortgage upon making their last payment used to be indelibly marked in the minds of homeowners as they finally broke free from their property being owned by the bank. However, with property taxes, that couple never actually owns the property. Don’t believe me, just try not paying your property tax bill, and see how fast the local government moves to collect it, even to the point of selling your property to pay the taxman.
If local government can confiscate your property because you don’t pay property tax, who owns the property? The answer is – not you.
You can burn that mortgage all you want, but that just gets rid of the bank lien, not the annual government lien on the property. In states like California in the 1970’s, property values were soaring, and many seniors who burned their mortgages had a problem. They were being forced out of their lifelong homes due to the resulting property tax increases. The people of the state fought back by passing Proposition 13, which capped the amount that property taxes could go up, and to this day, both the state and local governments in the once golden state do everything they can think of to circumvent this tax limitation.
If this seems wrong to you and anti-American in some fundamental way, it is because it is. America was founded by a bunch of British colonists who got sick of being taxed without having representation in the federal government (Parliament), hence the rallying cry of the revolution, “no taxation without representation.”
Just as it was in the 1760s and 70s, today it is more important than ever that you know what taxes you are paying. Yet, incredibly there is a movement in Washington, D.C. to allow people to just have the IRS do their taxes for them. While it might seem easier and maybe even less expensive than doing your own taxes, it is a massive mistake as it will further promote ignorance of how much we pay in taxes while encouraging the idea that when the federal government sends you a refund check, they are giving you something.
They aren’t. After all, it is your money they are returning after using it for a year interest free.
Private property is an individual right. It is time that government at all levels get reminded that it is our money, not theirs.
Democrat-controlled House Oversight Committee ignoring Hunter’s laptop to focus on NFL workplace conditions
By David Potter
Last Tuesday, Democrats on the House Oversight and Reform Committee denied a motion for a subpoena that would compel President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, to testify as a witness on electrifying the vehicle fleet belonging to the USPS.
Republicans on the Committee seek to question Hunter in relation to his business dealings with China. Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ) sarcastically Tweeted "Hunter sold a U.S. cobalt mine to a Chinese company. Cobalt is necessary for electric car production. Hunter's expertise is invaluable!". Hunter was a partial owner of a business venture that was involved in the $3.8 billion purchase by a Chinese conglomerate of one of the world’s largest cobalt deposits. Hunter’s involvement in international business deals have raised questions of national security threats. President Joe Biden’s own Department of Justice has their eyes on Hunter for his taxes and for possible violations of foreign lobbying laws. The Democrat majority on this powerful Committee, at least for now, have the ability quell any Congressional investigations into Hunter.
Meanwhile, this same Committee is actively investigating the National Football League (NFL) and the Washington Commanders football team for allegations of a hostile work environment, financial irregularities, and harassment claims. As of February 4th, the NFL has sent nearly 80,000 pages of documents to the same Committee. Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) personally wrote a letter to Roger Goodell, the NFL Commissioner, requesting additional documentation regarding the investigation.
“The NFL must explain why a target of its investigation was given the ability to block the release of the investigation’s findings and why the NFL instructed Ms. Wilkinson to reverse course and not provide a written report. Most importantly, the NFL must end its months-long efforts to hide the truth about misconduct at the WFT and cooperate with the Committee’s investigation. For all these reasons, we request that you fully comply with the Committee’s prior requests to produce (1) Ms. Wilkinson’s findings; (2) the 2,100 documents from the Wilkinson investigation in the NFL’s custody; and (3) the remaining documents central to Ms. Wilkinson’s investigation, which are currently held by a third-party vendor. Please produce these documents by February 14, 2022. If the NFL fails to comply, the Committee will consider alternate means of obtaining compliance.”
The Oversight Committee desires hundreds of thousands of documents pertaining to an investigation of the NFL but has shown little interest in the potential national security risk posed by many of Hunter Biden’s business dealings. After the subpoena motion denial, Biggs later Tweeted "Wow, Democrats just denied my motion to subpoena Hunter. They continue to protect him at any cost. I guess Democrats are ok with his shady business dealings."
The NFL and its teams should be expected to maintain healthy, functional work environments, same as the other hundreds of thousands of corporations in America, but the House Oversight Committee's job is to do more than chase prurient headlines. The allure of breaking into the nation's sports broadcasts where politicians rarely find themselves, is strong but the Democrats should leave the NFL scandals to the courtrooms. At least until they determine the extent of Chinese influence on the White House due to Hunter's personally documented illicit financial dealings and maybe even open the records on the dozens of sexual harassment payouts due to misdeeds by elected Members of Congress.
Despite big tech, the legacy media, and White House officials labeling Hunter Biden's laptop as Russian disinformation in October 2020, the laptop’s existence is now irrefutable. Jack Maxey, the whistleblower who handed Hunter’s laptop to congressmen, the Washington Post, New York Times, and DailyMail.com in the spring of 2021, reveals that he intends to release 450gb of deleted material including 80,000 images and videos in the coming weeks. Fearing retaliation from the White House, the former Bannon podcast co-host has fled to Zurich, Switzerland. The original laptop leak revealed some disturbing details. “One infamous May 2017 email by Hunter's partner James Gilliar, he suggests 10% of the equity in the deal would go to 'the big guy' – a phrase consistently used throughout Hunter's communications to refer to his father. Other emails show that Joe and Hunter shared a bank account and paid each other's bills.” The situation will likely only get worse after an additional 450gb of laptop content is released. House Democrats should consider national security over partisan politics.
Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning said the following regarding the Committee’s decision to ignore the implications of Hunter’s actions. “Democrats on the House Oversight and Reform Committee are clearly not serious about their jobs. Choosing to investigate a private NFL disciplinary matter over investigating whether President Biden's son has profiteered off that relationship and what he gave the Chinese in exchange for the payouts is a dereliction of duty. Obviously, if Joe Biden has personally benefited from his son’s questionable deals with enemies of the United States, it would be an impeachable offense.”
Even if the Democrats continue to stonewall this legitimate investigation, Republicans appear ready to bring forth a storm of Hunter investigations next January after they reclaim the majority in the House, assuming historical trends remain accurate at predicting a House flip. Attorney and commentator Jonathan Turley believes that Mueller set a new legal precedent with the handling of Paul Manafort’s case. “This week, I testified in the House Judiciary Committee on enhancements of FARA and was asked whether Hunter Biden could be charged under the act. The answer is clearly yes. Indeed, if the Justice Department applies the standard used in the Paul Manafort case, it would seem like such a charge is not just possible, but even probable.”
Clearly the Oversight Committee is failing to act. An issue this important should stir them into action, but it would further damage the reputation of their already failed party leader (according to approval polls). Republicans will be left to clean up the mess.
David Potter is a contributing editor for Americans for Limited Government.