Detroit Finds

I realize that government services that we take for granted are intertwined throughout our society and they don't come for free. I would feel like a complete hypocrite if I drove down a publicly funded road that is safe because of publicly funded police forces to see my Congressman to complain that I get nothing for all the taxes that I pay.

That being said, I would like to thank President Trump and all the Republicans that follow him blindly for the huge tax increase I got this year. According to Pew Research Center, I fall into the middle class, which is mostly retirement income from my investments in Social Security and pensions. Between 2017 and 2018 my federal taxes increased about $2,000 on virtually the same income. That is an increase of 30%.

The new Trump Tax plan took away all my itemized deductions and left me with a slightly increased standard deduction. I understand that about 33% of Americans itemize and many middle class tax payers were affected the same way I was. Most of the deductions I lost were contributions to charities and medical costs.

I guess this is only fair, since companies like Amazon (which netted over $11 billion last year) paid no tax at all under the new plan. I guess someone has to make up the difference or our country would go trillions of dollars into new debt. (Oh, that's right, deficits don't matter when Republicans create them.) I can, however, feel better knowing that we are spending huge amounts of money to build a border wall that 70% of Americans think of as useless.

Of course, President Trump will need more income then just my new taxes to help pay for his wall, to allow huge corporations to convert tax money to million dollar raises and bonuses for their top executives, and pay off his huge deficit. That's why all the rest of us get to chip in by giving up the Social Security we paid for all our working lives and paying higher premiums for Medicare.

He also wants to get rid of supplementing all those pesky sick people who thought they should have insurance and decent medical care as a right rather than a privilege of wealth.

As it turns out, I didn't go to Minneapolis to see President Trump on Monday. Too bad. I should have asked someone who actually believes anything he tells us to go and give him a great big Thank You from me. I would have really meant it. Trust me. — Donald Johnson, Detroit Lakes