The $500 billion problem (When the going gets tough, Americans look for ways to pull a fast one . . .)

Photo above - anti-vandalism bumper stickers, now available from Amazon. Next day delivery free for Prime members . . .

In 2024, Americans paid $2.2 Trillion in personal income taxes. (And more in corporate tax, tariffs, tobacco tax, alcohol tax, gasoline tax, social security, Medicare, Medicaid, airport boarding fees, etc.). That’s probably not going to happen this year.

Based on 2025 tax filings to date vs historical patterns, the Treasury Department is projecting that ONE QUARTER of all Americans are planning not to file. A $500 billion shortfall. This of course would be taxpayers who OWE money. It won’t be anyone expecting a refund.

So if we’re $500 billion short, this isn’t happening because low income leftists are flipping the bird to the IRS. The nonfilers are probably normal people. They’ve seen media reports that the IRS is planning to cut staff and figure it’s now or never if they want to attempt tax fraud. Some people are probably asking themselves: “What’s the worst that can happen? The IRS catches up with me in 2 years, and I might have to pay then?”

Tax scofflaws probably aren’t people getting ordinary W2 forms. They won’t be teachers, police officers, cube farm wage slaves, or any of us who get paid every two weeks but are living paycheck to paycheck.

I suspect the missing $500 billion will be top tier tax filers: entrepreneurs, entertainers, and risk takers. People like crypto speculators; stock day traders; house flippers; professional athletes, singers, and actors; car salespeople; real estate salespeople; farmers who had a good harvest in 2024; people who received inheritances from parents who passed away . . .

Not filing your taxes isn't a political statement of disapproval of the Trump presidency. It’s just con artists seeing how much they can get away with.

Firebombing Tesla dealerships is a political statement. 200 torched so far. I think one guy might actually have been arrested. The media, which is usually skittish about reporting mass shootings and identifying the perps by name, appears to have no such qualms about Tesla dealerships going up in flames. “Elon Musk is worse than Hitler. Our local Telsa dealership is on fire. Film at 11 . . .”

Americans coming together in times of adversity? If this was church arson, there would be a LOT more media disapproval. The tiplines would be going crazy. “Yeah, my next-door neighbor’s kid tossed a Molotov cocktail through the church window. He posted it on Tik-Tok. Here’s the URL . . .”

I saw someone driving around in a brand new Cybertruck yesterday, with paper tags. It was gleaming white . . . most usually look like a fry pan you'd order from Amazon. I’m thinking OK . . . this guy is either crazy, or he got a crazy good deal from the local Tesla dealer who was trying to clear out their inventory before it gets torched. And the new owner probably has a garage to park it in every night, so it won’t get swastikas carved into it.

This same thing used to happen in the 1970s. People would used keys and icepicks to vandalize Japanese made cars. People used to burn down the local Walmart, because it was “stealing jobs” from stores on main street. Abortion clinics got firebombed. Jewish synagogues. Black churches. White-only country clubs. Korean green grocers.

We are NOT a nation which comes together in times of adversity. Even when 9/11 happened, some media sites tried to convince us that it was an inside job by President Bush.

Hey everybody . . . pay your taxes. Stop burning things down. Stop using Musk as an excuse for keying a Tesla owned by some guy you’ve hated since the 8th grade.

Let’s go to the primaries next time and pick better presidential candidates. We had two REALLY bad choices on election day in 2024.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

Massive Revenue Shortfall Predicted by IRS