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-title: Death, Taxes, & No Kings
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-slug: death-taxes-kings
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+title: Death & Taxes
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+slug: death-taxes
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description: Today I learned where my tax dollars go down to the dime.
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description: Today I learned where my tax dollars go down to the dime.
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<!--- authors:
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<!--- authors:
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- name: David Windham
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- name: David Windham
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title: Something Else
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title: Something Else
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url: https://davidawindham.com
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url: https://davidawindham.com
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image_url: https://davidawindham.com/til/img/ralph-loop.jpg -->
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image_url: https://davidawindham.com/til/img/ralph-loop.jpg -->
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-tags: [politics, money, ]
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+tags: [politics, money, philosophy]
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image: https://davidawindham.com/til/img/ralph-loop.jpg
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image: https://davidawindham.com/til/img/ralph-loop.jpg
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hide_table_of_contents: true
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hide_table_of_contents: true
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---
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---
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-Today I learned where my tax dollars go down to the dime. I should say last night because I was up late getting them wrapped up so I could out to work in the yard today. I should also say death really has nothing to do with this essay other than it sounded nice because of the Benjamin Franklin idiom[^1]
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+Today I learned where my tax dollars go down to the dime. I should say last night because I was up late getting them wrapped up so I could get out to work in the yard this weekend while the weather is nice. I should also say death really has nothing to do with this essay other than a reference to the idiom oft attributed to Benjamin Franklin[^1]
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<!-- truncate -->
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<!-- truncate -->
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+An old friend in a text thread insisted that 'beamers' ( BMWs - I corrected him that bimmers are the cars ) aren't allowed at the NO Kings[^2] protests after I mentioned I was planning on doing yard work even though I'm also chasing some work deadlines. I'm not exactly someone to shame easily and I'm relatively civic minded. I vote and I pay taxes. And I'm certainly glad that people are out showing some opposition to the dumpster fire that is our current administration. Some folks just like a confrontation and I believe that kindness is the ultimate form of resistance to the brand of politics in play. I'm certainly not shy of sharing my opinion and if I really wanted to protest I would actually publicly refuse to pay my taxes.
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-I think everyone should actually do their own so they know exactly how they work. I also think talking about money shouldn't be so taboo because it's actually the heart of culture, politics, and policy. I think some of the cultural norms about it direct correlate to inequality and a way for those who have to hide it. Just head on back to the workplace and start a poll amongst your colleagues and watch how your employer reacts as evidence of an effort to keep labor costs at bay. Or if you want some snarky stares amongst your social group, just start asking how much things cost.
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+I think everyone should know exactly how their taxes work. We should also provide a public education service on tax literacy so folks can see who pays what and where the money goes. Talking about money shouldn't be taboo because it's actually the heart of culture, politics, and policy. Some of the cultural norms about it directly correlate to inequality as a way for those who have it to hide it. Just head on back to the workplace and start a poll amongst your colleagues and watch how your employer reacts as evidence of an effort to keep labor costs at bay. Or if you want some snarky stares amongst your social group, just start asking how much things cost at your next dinner.
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-Over the years I developed a kinda thesis on a philosophy of money that works for me. The first hurdle was associating wealth with worth and even though I had seemingly cleared that one before I left primary school, it actually took years of experience to settle in. I was lucky to work amongst some very wealthy folk because I was able to see directly that there was zero correlation between it and well being. The second rule I developed is key in that actually being rich is a state of mind - you just don't have to worry about money. That one is much easier said than done in that it works from both sides and not worrying also means not wanting which is the tougher part in our stuff obsessed cultures. I like to say that having money won't necessarily make you happy, but having none will definitely make you unhappy. I'm lucky to have lived on both sides of the coin.
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+Over the years I developed a kinda thesis on a philosophy of money that works for me. The first hurdle was associating wealth with worth and even though I had seemingly cleared that one before I left primary school, it actually took years of experience to settle in. I was lucky to work amongst some very wealthy folk because I was able to see directly that there was zero correlation between wealth and well being. The second rule I developed is that actually being rich is a state of mind - it's mostly about not having to worry about money. Much easier said than done in that it works from both sides and not worrying also means not wanting which is the much tougher part in our stuff obsessed cultures. I like to say that having money won't necessarily make you happy, but having none will likely make you unhappy. I'm lucky to have lived on both sides of the coin.
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-I mostly started making notes for this essay mainly because I wanted to brag on my methodologies. At one point in college I was a mathematics major because I had planned to become an actuary after discovering the starting salaries. Can't say how that would have turned out, but I'm still decent with numbers even though I have fine arts degrees. I go for simplicity. I don't have accounts everywhere. I have one brokerage for investments and one bank houses both my business and personal accounts. I don't play any points or games with credit aside from stashing little cashback rewards and I rarely ever gamble because that involves thinking about it. I have a little spreadsheet that syncs to know exactly where I stand all the time but I never look at it.
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+At one point in college I was a mathematics major because I had planned to become an actuary after discovering the starting salaries. Can't say how that would have turned out, but I'm still decent with numbers even though I have fine arts degrees. I go for simplicity. I don't have accounts everywhere. I have one bank that houses both my business and personal accounts and one brokerage for retirement and investments. I don't play any complex tax deferment strategies. I rarely ever gamble with investments because that usually involves breaking my second rule thinking about it. Every year I just pull down my annual statements of my accounts and trim em down to the categories I need to file using formulas to compute the totals.
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-Some years ago my father, who has owned an assortment of businesses over the years, pointed out that anytime you get enjoyment out of your work, it's not really work. I worked for a number of years where I just poured and tasted wine all day, but even that got tiring. I've had various ideas for businesses that involved reviewing golf courses, traveling to food expos, and so on. You really want your business to offset your largest personal expenses like housing, transportation, and healthcare. I've now got a retirement idea that involves a very small scale farm. Every year while reviewing the statements and seeing personal expenses, I think to myself isn't my well being a business expense - how could I possibly work if I'm not happy?
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+Some years ago my father, who has owned an assortment of businesses over the years, pointed out that anytime you get enjoyment out of your work, it's not really work. I worked for a number of years where I just poured and tasted wine all day, but even that got tiring. I've had various ideas for businesses that involved reviewing golf courses, traveling to food expos, and so on. You really want your business to offset your largest personal expenses like housing, transportation, and healthcare. I've now got a retirement idea that involves a very small scale farm. Every year while reviewing the statements and seeing personal expenses, I think to myself isn't my well-being actually a business expense - how could I possibly be productive if I'm not happy and healthy?
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-Uncle Sam is getting about $7000 from me this year. We file jointly in the 22% bracket and I use a sole proprietor for my business because it's the easiest. I try to keep as much as I can within the company accounts and put the bulk of my personal income into tax deferred retirement accounts. I do alright barely falling into the top quartile, but I also just don't spend that much. Food, transportation, housing, and utilities are my largest expenses. I don't cheat Uncle Sam either. I'm lucky that I can write off a bunch of stuff that I also happen to use for personal usage like my home studio, technology, and telecommunications expenses. I don't expense entertainment, millage, or other bullshite I order for myself. Let's break down Uncle Sam's cut with some basic estimates: Social Security - $1400, Defense - $1000, Medicare - $1000, Medicaid - $1000, National debt interest - $1000, Unemployment/child credit/food stamps $600, Law Enforcement - $400 , Veterans/Environment/Education/Science-NASA/transportation/etc - $700 ( these are just estimates from prior year budgets ).
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+My only strategies are that I try to keep as much as I can in my company and put some of my income into tax deferred retirement accounts. I do alright... barely falling just below the top quartile, but I also just don't spend that much. The obvious food, transportation, housing, and utilities are my largest expenses. I don't try to cheat Uncle Sam and I'm lucky that I can write off some stuff that I also happen to use personally. I usually don't try to expense entertainment or millage unless I've done an expensive conference. Here's Uncle Sam's cut from me using basic estimates from previous years budgets[^3]:
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-I'm down with a couple grand for some poor folk, education, science, and transportation infrastructure. The only ones I think I'm getting swindled on are healthcare, debt, and defense. Healthcare only because I know how much the providers, insurers, drug makers, and for-profit healthcare systems make. Also because it's more the fault of Little Debbie and the uneducated that folks are unhealthy. Defense because I'm not hip on bombing children and the manufacturers are charging umpteen million per killing machine while we're not living in the age of empires anymore even though dumpy likes to think so.
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+| For What | How Much |
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+|--|--|
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+| Social Security | $1400 |
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+| National Debt Interest | $1000 |
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+| Defense | $1000 |
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+| Medicare | $1000 |
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+| Medicaid | $800 |
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+| Income Security - unemployment/child credit/food stamps | $600 |
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+| Veterans / Law Enforcement Benefits | $600 |
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+| Other ( education/science/international/environment/transportation) | $500 |
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-I think the reason why the 'satisfaction with life' and 'happiness indexes' reports from around the globe are led by other countries like Finland & Denmark[^2],[^3] have more to do with actual quality of life rather than the democratic socialist policies. I don't think regular folk really take into account other less obvious thinks like urban mobility driven by the extremely high automobile taxes. I can't imagine living somewhere like Charlotte or Atlanta and spending a couple of hours a day in the car navigating aggressive traffic. It doesn't correlate directly to GDP or low taxes no matter how many folks are trying to convince you otherwise. And just like my approach to money, it's absolutely a state of mind that's more closely related to other measures of well-being.
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+I'm down with a couple grand for the old, poor, and veterans. I think education, science, and transportation infrastructure are important. The only ones I think I'm getting a slightly swindled on are healthcare and defense. I'm ok helping the sick, but I also know how much is profit going to insurers, providers, and drug companies. Eisenhower was right in 1961 about the military industrial complex[^4] and I'm not hip on bombing children while the manufacturers are charging umpteen million per killing machine. We're not exactly living in the age of empires anymore. And the evidence that our health is worse while we pay higher rates hints at a medical-industrial complex[^5] as well.
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-I'm not bitter towards taxes or death. I also don't associate self worth with income. My primary wish would be that lots of folks out there weren't suffering. There are countries leading the way on this and unfortunately, I just don't think we're the one right now. We've got some debts to pay both monetarily and metaphysically. I'm still learning from others and now that we're getting older, I'm particularly looking for those that are doing it in old age.
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+The interest on debt to treasuries is the stickiest of the bunch because gauging it's usefulness is abstract. Some of it is going back into our federal reserve, state/local governments, and mutual/pension funds but a third of it is foreign owned[^6]. I think it's actually the one causing the most political chaos because the core governing and economic philosophy disagreements tend to revolve around federal debt even though it's seemingly scapegoating minority populations. There's no doubt that we've got some monetary and metaphysical debts to pay. I'm not going to play armchair economist, but I will say that I believe it's actually a zero-sum game[^7].
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-My buddy via text thread insisted that 'beamers' ( bimmers [BMWs] ) aren't allowed at the NO Kings[^4] protest because I told him I was going to do yard work today. When I wrote earlier in the essay that I'm lucky to have lived on 'both sides of the coin', I was emphasizing that I've also spent years driving a ten year old Toyota Tercel working several menial jobs at the same time. I strongly believe that what drives a lot of the anger and discontent about money is that everything you see is constantly emphasizing the value of it while the vast majority of folks live below the meager averages. I think part of the solution is change our perceptions of what is actually valuable.
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-
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-But I also think that leveling the playing field for labor and quelling corporate corruption via policy is essential in fighting our growing inequalities. I valued my time today in the yard but I also think dumpy is a shit stain on this country and humanity. They don't have to be mutually exclusive. Pushing to take away healthcare and education of your fellow man and calling yourself a man of god - ok buddy. I think I'd still be alright under an even higher tax rate if my taxes were actually being spent wisely. Ole' orange dumpy is gonna drive us into the ground like a jersey shore casino by spending our taxes bombing children, arresting immigrants, and gaudy golden decor.
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+Life itself is really a zero-sum game and I think that's why so many folks are on antidepressants. It's partially inspired by our lifestyles and beliefs. Some folks might want to blame peak capitalism or oil, but I think it's mostly a crisis of confidence coinciding with the advent of the information age. The reason why human development happiness indexes'[^8] type reports from around the globe are led by other countries[^9] has more to do with lifestyle and beliefs over political policy and what we're really discovering is that money really can't buy happiness especially when it's unequally distributed to a relatively small minority.
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+I don't think regular folk really take into account other less obvious subjective well-being issues like urban mobility, social connectivity, cultural collectivism, career satisfaction, or even things as subtle as noise pollution. I couldn't possibly calculate a value on spending a couple of hours a day in the car navigating aggressive traffic. Those things doesn't correlate directly to GDP or low taxes no matter how many folks are trying to convince you otherwise for whatever reason. It kinda mirrors my approach to money where it's mostly a state of mind that's more closely related to other measures of well-being. This is sometimes a literal 'can't see the forest from the trees' issue in our screen-addled attention economy because money is so immediate and tangible.
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+I think that changing our perceptions of what is actually valuable is the key. I don't associate my worth with income. When I wrote earlier in the essay that I'm lucky to have lived on 'both sides of the coin', I was emphasizing that the years I spent driving a ten year old Toyota Tercel working several menial jobs at the same time were just as happy as I am now. Time is the only real commodity and having the freedom to spend it as you choose is really up to you. Just be careful what you think you're working towards. Death is finite and it's much more certain than taxes. I'm sure my old friend thinks I'm going soft... and in a lot of ways, he's absolutely correct. I prefer to swim downstream to protect my energy for the things I value. The azaleas and magnolias I planted this weekend will easily outlive both our current administration and me.
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<div><br/><br/></div>
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<div><br/><br/></div>
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[^1]: Death and taxes - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_and_taxes_(idiom)
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[^1]: Death and taxes - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_and_taxes_(idiom)
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-[^2]: Satisfaction with Life Index - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satisfaction_with_Life_Index
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-[^3]: World Happiness Report - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Happiness_Report
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-[^4]: No Kings - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_No_Kings_protests
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+[^2]: No Kings - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_No_Kings_protests
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+[^3]: _Chart Pack: The U.S. Budget_ - https://www.pgpf.org/article/chart-pack-the-us-budget/
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+[^4]: Military-industrial complex - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military–industrial_complex
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+[^5]: Medical-industrial complex - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical–industrial_complex
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+[^6]: _The Federal Government Has Borrowed Trillions. Who Owns All that Debt?_ - https://www.pgpf.org/article/the-federal-government-has-borrowed-trillions-but-who-owns-all-that-debt/
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+[^7]: Zero-sum game - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-sum_game
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+[^8]: World Happiness Report - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Happiness_Report
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+[^9]: Satisfaction with Life Index - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satisfaction_with_Life_Index
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