Americans deserve better than slogans. Every election season, politicians stand at podiums delivering speeches that say nothing, while TV ads show grainy photos of opponents and dramatic voiceovers warning that the other person is dangerous, dishonest or wrong for America. What you almost never hear is a single word about what they actually plan to do.
Democrats are running against Trump. Republicans are running for Trump. And the rest of us are sitting on our couches wondering whether anyone up there has an actual idea.
This column is not for Trump or against him. It is not for Democrats or Republicans. It is for the voter who is tired of being treated like an idiot — and it is a direct challenge to every candidate running for Congress: put something real on the table.
The tax system is broken, and everyone knows it.
Jeff Bezos — one of the wealthiest people alive — recently said it’s “kind of absurd” that a nurse earning $75,000 pays more than $1,000 a month in taxes. He’s right. IRS tables confirm that a worker at that income level pays roughly $13,000–$14,000 a year in federal, state, and payroll taxes combined.
She’s not asking for a free ride. She’s asking for fairness. And what’s impossible to explain is why a billionaire often pays a lower effective tax rate than she does.
Amazon proves the point. From 2021 through 2025, Amazon paid an effective federal tax rate of roughly 6% on tens of billions in U.S. profit — including a year when it paid zero. Not because the rate is too low, but because the tax code is full of escape hatches.
The nurse paid more, proportionally, than the trillion-dollar company.
That’s not ideology. That’s math.
And this is why the slogan “tax the rich” is complete nonsense. It sounds good on a protest sign. It fits on a bumper sticker. But it has nothing to do with how the tax code actually works. The wealthy don’t avoid taxes because rates are too low — they avoid taxes because the system is written with more escape routes than a submarine manual.
You can raise the top rate to 50%, 60%, 70% — it won’t matter. They won’t pay it. They’ll defer income, shift profits overseas, borrow against assets, and use depreciation schedules and carveouts Congress quietly renews every year.
“Tax the rich” is not a policy. It’s political theater.
The truth is simple: you don’t need higher tax rates — you need a tax code without escape routes.
Here’s a real platform. Any candidate can have it — free of charge.
Fix the income tax. No tax on the first $120,000 you earn. 3% on income between $120,000 and $250,000. 6% between $250,000 and $1 million. 12–15% above $1 million. One page. No loopholes.
Give workers an immediate raise. Eliminate the payroll tax on the first $30,000 of wages. That’s money back in every paycheck — instantly.
Add a modest, broad-based tax on goods and services. A 4% value-added tax — used across Europe and Canada — exempting essentials like groceries, prescription drugs, healthcare, rent, utilities, childcare, education, public transportation, insurance premiums, and basic clothing. It raises $600–$800 billion a year without touching workers’ paychecks.
Guarantee Social Security and Medicare for the next century. A portion of the VAT flows directly to the trust funds. No cuts. No panic.
Make corporations pay what they owe — no more games. A 10% domestic tax rate for companies that bring intellectual property and profit-booking back to the United States. A 15–20% global minimum tax for profits booked abroad. Realistic depreciation schedules — no more one-year write-offs. A flat 25% corporate tax rate with no carveouts.
These loopholes exist because lobbyists spent decades shaping the tax code to benefit their clients. They will oppose realistic depreciation schedules, a global minimum tax, IP repatriation incentives, eliminating carveouts, and a flat corporate rate — not because the policies are bad for America, but because they are bad for the industries that pay them.
Doing nothing is not neutral. Doing nothing is a choice — and it’s the most expensive one of all.
Bring healthcare costs down — finally. Healthcare is expensive because the system is designed to be expensive. CMS projects national health spending will reach $9 trillion within a decade — driven by administrative waste, drug prices, billing complexity and hospital pricing opacity.
This plan attacks the structural drivers of waste:
Cap insurer margins (saves $100–$150B/year)
Medicare drug negotiation (saves $80–$120B/year)
Standardize hospital billing (saves $200–$300B/year)
Reference pricing for procedures (saves $50–$100B/year)
Total savings: $460–$730 billion per year — without cutting care.
Prepare workers for the AI economy — without fearmongering. AI won’t cause mass unemployment, but it will cause more job transitions. McKinsey research shows up to 30% of current work hours could be automated by 2030.
This plan protects workers through fast unemployment payments, wage insurance, portable benefits, short retraining programs, incentives for companies that retrain instead of replace, and a no-penalty restart for older workers.
Workers don’t pay more. Employers don’t pay more. The system pays for it by finally making corporations contribute fairly.
The federal government collected $4.44 trillion in FY 2023. Under this plan, total revenue would be $4.8–$5.5 trillion — more than today — while eliminating income tax on the first $120,000.
Cities and states cannot print money and cannot run large deficits. They rely on property taxes, sales taxes, income taxes, fees and fines.
New York State’s pied-à-terre tax applies only to high-value second homes in New York City — but New York City does not receive a penny of the revenue. The funds flow to Albany, not the city budget. Yet the economic consequences fall entirely on NYC: if high-value owners sell or relocate, property values drop, co-op budgets weaken, and local tax revenue shrinks.
New York City mayors do this all the time — they promise to “tax the rich,” even though they have almost no legal authority to do it. The mayor cannot raise income taxes, impose a wealth tax, create a pied-à-terre tax, or change corporate tax rates. All of those powers belong to the New York State Legislature in Albany.
This plan avoids that trap entirely. By reducing national healthcare waste, ending corporate profit shifting, and letting workers keep more of their income, it reduces pressure on state and local budgets instead of increasing it.
You want votes. Earn them. Tell us how you will protect the nurse who can’t catch a break. Tell us how you will close the door Amazon has walked through for 20 years. Tell us how you will bring healthcare costs down. Tell us how you will guarantee Social Security and Medicare for the next century. Tell us how you will protect workers in an AI economy. Tell us how you will make it more attractive to build in America than to hide profits overseas.
Voters are tired, not tuned out. They know when they’re being talked at instead of talked to. They are waiting for a candidate with the courage to show up with something real.
Somers resident John Mooren is a senior finance professional who evaluates businesses, analyzes long‑term obligations, and determines whether proposed financing structures are aligned with underlying fundamentals and risk. His work focuses on assessing the viability and discipline of complex financial decisions.
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