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It says 'the value of assets seized has ballooned to $4.3 billion in the 2012 fiscal year' which means that, spread across every American, is an extra $1400 tax
by Everlag 12y ago
It says 'the value of assets seized has ballooned to $4.3 billion in the 2012 fiscal year' which means that, spread across every American, is an extra $1400 tax which is off the books. For perspective, on the highest minimum wage of $9.32 per hour, that's around 150 hours of work. THAT'S AN EFFECTIVE MONTH OF 40 HOUR WORK WEEKS TO AN ILLEGITIMATE, OFF THE BOOKS, EFFECTIVELY UNREGULATED, AND FOR PROFIT TAX.
Disgusted should not even begin to describe the mood of the American people.
EDIT: My math is bad and I feel bad. Its ~$14 a year which is still an hour but oh my, that was an order of a magnitude error!
- EricBurnett 12y agoYou can't compare an average 'tax' against the lowest working wage. So I did some rough figuring based on annual income. Assuming forfeiture is spread across all income levels evenly, it would be better to compare against mean income. Looks like (based on 2004 numbers) mean household income was 60,528, mean household size 2.57, for a mean income of 23230 per person. That puts forfeiture ballpark 6%, assuming it all comes from on-the-books assets. So for people working one full time job, about 3 weeks equivalently. Actually pretty close to what you got, I'm sad to see. Wouldn't want to be living in the us right now, based on those numbers. That sounds like it adds up to a whole lot of corruption.
- jcampbell1 12y ago$4.3 / .31 ~= $14.00 I think you mean $14.00, not $1400.
- Everlag 12y agoOh no, this is what happens when I take 5 minutes to HN and don't check my math. I put an edit in the bottom as a testament to my eternal shame.
- ceejayoz 12y ago> that was an order of a magnitude error! Two, actually.