A Website (I'll Bet) NO ONE Ever Visits

[A Website (I'll Bet) NO ONE Ever Visits](#) Has anyone in American history ever visited this U.S. Government website... and sent a check to this address? Garrett {NAME} OCT 16 [Icon]( [Icon]( [Icon]([Icon]( We’re less than 500 hours from the 2024 election. We’ve yet to hear anyone answer a single question on America's most important economic issue: the $35 Trillion Debt. My more progressive counterparts are virtue signaling and calling for higher taxes. Not to pay off the debt... though. Instead... to engineer social outcomes. Like clockwork, on Twitter, plenty of people say they’re willing to pay “more in taxes” so that we can have… Insert your cause of choice. "Everyone has healthcare access… better pay for teachers… government buildings will be more secure, there will be more equality in America…" And - OF COURSE - think of the children… These are Tweets from yesterday. As if paying a central government — where 15 cents of every $1.00 in taxes stays within 100 miles of Washington permanently — will solve local problems. Now, there’s a solution for all these people wanting to pay more taxes. They can click on a simple website that NO ONE ever visits. If they’re serious… I’ll give them the solution they want. But first, we must understand how we got to this level of fiscal insanity. A History of Whiskey Our first Treasury Secretary — the person in charge of managing America’s financial debts - was Alexander Hamilton. NO… not that guy (a teenager recently showed me that picture of “Hamilton). This is Hamilton - the guy on a $10 bill. In 1791, the U.S. government had a ton of war debt. So, imagine Hamilton scratching his powdered wig and wondering how to pay it off. Hamilton decided to institute a tax on “Whiskey.” Now… this set off people in Pennsylvania. Not only did farmers and distillers like to drink the stuff, but it was also a form of currency. Why? It was easier to move whiskey than it was to transport grain. Imagine if someone tried to tax your Bitcoin or your offshore bank account. That's how these farmers felt. Who wanted the Federal government reaching into their wallets… or their barrels? By 1794, things escalated. America had an uprising called the Whiskey Rebellion. It was a mix of “Sons of Anarchy" meets "Drunk History." Angry mobs tarred and feathered tax collectors (they were unarmed at the time) Or they chased the collectors away with pitchforks. Hamilton, ever the law-and-order man, saw this as a challenge to federal authority. So, President George Washington (with Hamilton's encouragement) took an unprecedented step. Washington rode with a 13,000-man militia—bigger than the Continental Army during most of the Revolutionary War—to crush the rebellion. It's like using a bazooka to kill a mosquito, except the mosquito is drunk and armed with a pitchfork. Imagine the sight of Washington in full military regalia, riding west like an 18th-century Terminator. This made the rebels scatter. But the real story was Hamilton. He used this event to convince Congress that federal taxes were serious business. And the power of the purse has been emboldened for centuries. Back to the Moral Showcase With a government that’s $35 trillion in the hole, there’s a massive call for more taxation. But what people don’t understand is that America has been massively overtaxed in the last four years alone. Why? The first reason is inflation. Inflation is a stealth tax that eats into income and savings purchasing power. The currency's purchasing power has dropped by 20% in four years. Second, consider this. Milton Friedman once noted that ALL GOVERNMENT OUTLAYS are a form a taxation. Every Federal outlay MUST be paid back, so when the government spends money and runs a deficit, citizens will pay the cost in taxes or inflation. This means that real taxes on Americans are up… nearly 40% since 2019. Of course—who's stopping the people willing to pay more so that they can achieve all of these wonderful social and economic outcomes from a government that has spent $8 billion and only built seven electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in a few years? The answer is nothing. If they want to "morally posture" about taxes, there’s a website for that. [Right here.]( They can make direct cash gifts to the U.S. Treasury… Here’s the pitch… Gifts to the U.S. Government How do I make a contribution to the U.S. government? Citizens who wish to make a general donation to the U.S. government may send contributions to a specific account called "Gifts to the United States." This account was established in 1843 to accept gifts, such as bequests, from individuals wishing to express their patriotism to the United States. Money deposited into this account is for general use by the federal government and can be available for budget needs. If someone wants to pay more in taxes than their current tax rate… have at it. Then, if they REALLY want social media clout, they can show us their donation receipts. They can even brag that they’re a better person than their followers. After all, I’m sure the money will be well spent… [I’d rather use the money to hedge against the ongoing inflation…]([you can too]() Or just buy some whiskey. Stay positive, Garrett {NAME} Secretary of Finance [Icon]( [Icon]( [Icon]( [Logo Image](#) Postcards from the Republic 1125 N. Charles St. Baltimore, MD 21202 This email was sent to you because you subscribed to this publication via FinPub. To stop receiving these emails from Postcards from the Republic, Please click [unsubscribe](. © 2024 Postcards from the Republic, All Rights Reserved. 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