The brilliant 1st century jewish rabbi Jesus was executed at 33 years old because his message was threatening to the unjust power and wealth establishment at that time
He was asked about taxes and if it was theft -- He said "if Ceasars picture is on the money, how can it be theft for Ceasar to ask for a cut?"
Taxes are generally something the rich attack more than anyone else
It's no secret that avoiding taxes is one of the top priorities for many rich people -- They think it's beneficial to them to be able to use all public resources and infrastructure and not pay for it
They hire communications strategists to figure out how to position the question to get us on their side -- for example calling taxes theft and pretending they own the public infrastructure like the very USD they are trying to keep
Jesus made clear that a government charging taxes in it's own currency is NOT theft
That took away a talking point from those trying to manipulate people at that time
I wonder if Jesus were alive today how many of us would listen to this important point
Taxes are a way of paying for the public infrastructure that we are utilizing -- but will we let those using and abusing it the most get away with stealing what rightfully belongs to all of us?
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Amazon cutting more employees in the next few weeks bringing total layoffs to over 18,000, more than any other tech company. Its CEO was paid $221 million in 2021. Amazon recently made record revenue & profit. Amazon is worth $868 billion. Founder Bezos net worth is $107 billion.
Amazon pays its workers so little that they often qualify for food stamps. It is among the top 3 employers (along with Walmart and McDonald's) whose employees are on public assistance in virtually every state
Context:
Amazon full-time warehouse employees make $31,200 a year. Jeff Bezos makes that every 12 seconds.
Cost to give warehouse workers 2 weeks paid sick leave + pay bumps so they don't qualify for food stamps = 0.9% of Bezos' fortune
1. Amazon workers in Staten Island just won a vote to unionize. During the union drive, the company held 20 mandatory anti-union meetings per day and had pro-union workers arrested. nytimes.com/2022/03/24/bus…
2. Amazon paid a 6% tax rate last year, which is up from 0% a few years prior.
So one of the richest companies in the world pays a lower tax rate than their warehouse workers making $31k a year.
Compared to white people:
*Black-owned homes are devalued by 23%
*Black-owned homes' property taxes are 13% higher
*Bank fees are 2x higher for Black people
*Black people w/ no criminal record earn $10k less than white people w/ a criminal record
That's just the beginning ...
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*Black college grads have 50% less wealth than white high school dropouts
*The 10 counties most audited by the IRS are 79% people of color
*The Black-white homeowner gap is bigger now than it was in the year 1900
*In the pandemic, Black-owned businesses closed at twice the rate
*All Black Americans combined have half the wealth of the nation's richest 400 people
*The average inheritance for white families is 3x that of Black families
*Relatedly, Black families have $166,000 less wealth than white families, a bigger gap than before Civil Rights