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# Taxes: There Ain’t No Free Lunch … Whiskey Costs Money!
April 14 2016
Written by Ken Alpern.
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INSURGENCY POLITICS-The Bernie Sanders/Donald Trump election insurgencies are both revolutionary and breathtaking, with those opposing their candidacies outright the victims of their own hypocrisy. How can one complain about the 2000 Gore/Bush elections but be okay with the elections going to Sanders but the delegates to Clinton? How can one complain of the past IRS suppression of conservative/GOP groups and be okay with what happened in Colorado?
And for those who still adhere to the "it's the rules" meme, it's doubtful even they believe that statement passes the smell test. This ain't 1816. It’s 2016, after all, and the "it's a republic, not a democracy" paradigm doesn't have to mean we're a "banana republic.”
But the hypocrisy goes far beyond that. And while both Trump and Sanders have a [lot to complain about](http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/11/politics/donald-trump-bernie-sanders/index.html) and hopefully will change the system with a new Constitutional amendment or two after the elections, the "rich versus poor" phenomenon and the "powerful versus the grassroots" battle continues into the biggest issue.
Taxes.
Yes, as with Death, Taxes are inevitable. There ain't no free lunch. Whiskey costs money.
Even Americans who are rabidly pro-free trade have to acknowledge that globalists and opportunists are turning a good thing into something horrible for income- and power-inequality. No, the ability for businessmen in this country to export more to other countries is *not* supposed to destroy the American middle class or allow offshore, tax-free bank accounts for the rich, connected, and powerful.
The Panama Free Trade Agreement, which Clinton supported in 2009, potentially hurts her even more among voters who are *sick* of the rich and powerful getting favored not only by the usual suspects (the eeeeeevil Republicans) but by the Democrats -- who claim to be [representing the poor and middle class](https://news.vice.com/article/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-panama-papers-attacks-new-york-primary).
And with the GOP electorate base attacking its Establishment and throwing out the rich and powerful Bush family, the Democrats are getting a taste of grassroots empowerment, as well.
The Panama Papers fallout may not mean much to most Americans, but it's [brought down](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/04/08/panama-papers-leak-law-firm/82787358/) Iceland's new prime minister and dramatically hurt British Prime Minister David Cameron's credibility.
No one wants to learn that a "free trade agreement" allowed the rich and powerful to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.
Hillary Clinton's ties to the rich and powerful who do what they can to hold onto their money, continue to dog her, and that's probably why there are many Democrats who are perhaps agonizing over their support for her as much as Republicans did for Mitt Romney in 2012.
We *all* need to pay taxes, but how much is "fair?” And more importantly…*how well is our tax money being spent?*
Those with minimum wage hikes and new jobs (even if they're only part-time, and even if they're without benefits) will get to discover the lovely reality of working harder...and seeing significant fractions of their wages go somewhere else.
And in the City of LA, where we will potentially have not one but *two* tax hike initiatives this November, we may discover that even in liberal/Democratic Los Angeles, people really want to make sure their hard-earned money is being spent well, and that enough of their money is left for them to pay for food, rent, utilities, and maybe even a vacation here or there. All of this means that more taxes will *not* always be embraced by the majority.
*(Ken Alpern is a Westside Village Zone Director and Board member of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Planning and Outreach Committees, and currently is Co-Chair of its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee. He is co-chair of the CD11Transportation Advisory Committee and chairs the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at* ***.*** *He also co-chairs the grassroots Friends of the Green Line atwww.fogl.us**.** The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mr. Alpern.) Edited for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.*
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