Sherman R. Frederick/Properly Subversive
The unvarnished truth is (as regular readers are no doubt painfully aware) I don’t completely understand every issue facing Americans in 2023. For example, I freely admit that I don’t get gender fluidity. The wisdom behind the idea that a 12-year-old is in any way capable of changing gender – and I don’t mean pretending to be another gender but actually, surgically, changing gender – escapes me.
Yet, it happens with the unblinking consent of people I would otherwise judge to be wise and measured.
I also don’t get the claim that Joe Biden is some big crusader out to soak the rich, while the ‘little guy’ won’t pay a penny more in taxes.
Remember when the president was in Marin last week? Did he visit the poor and downtrodden here? No, he went directly to and from the home of a rich couple for a fundraiser. I guarantee you that the rich political class who threw that fundraiser in Kentfield are feeling no pinch – zero, nada – under this president.
But you know who is getting hammered? Yes, the ‘little guy.’
Aside from killer inflation, here’s the yolk the middle class must bear under Bidenomics.
More and more American commerce is handled in a cashless fashion via apps like Venmo, Zell, PayPal, etc. Under Biden’s new beefed-up IRS staffing and rules on revenue tracking, the tax boom is about to be lowered – not on Elon Musk, but on your babysitter, the kid who mows your lawn every week and other marginal-income service providers.
For example, my son and daughter-in-law pay my grandson to take care of their dogs when they are away. They don’t pay with cash, or a check. They pay via Venmo. I don’t completely understand the infatuation with a cashless society any more than I get gender fluidity. But my grandson likes getting paid through Venmo, so who am I to say otherwise.
Anyway, the kicker is that president Biden’s IRS recently changed the rules for cashless reporting. Until this year, if you paid a person less than $20,000 a year, you didn’t have to file a 1099-K IRS form declaring the payment. This year, however, the rule is reduced to a $600-a-year threshold.
So now, my grandson’s dog-sitting ventures (previously taxless) may be over.
I am sure that the hundreds of tax accountants who work for Elon Musk know what a 1099-K form is and the new rule change will have no impact on his taxes.
Do you know what a 1099-K IRS form is? Better find out.
A BEAUTIFUL SYSTEM
I was jacked to read that the state is giving Marin County $1.6 million to find HUD housing for the homeless gathered on Binford Road.
Then I read the fine print.
The county says it must first hire “permanent supportive housing case managers” before any money goes to getting the homeless into permanent housing.
And how much will that eat into the $1.6 million from the state?
Virtually all of it.
That’s quite a system we’ve carved out for ourselves.
SPOOKY
Facebook’s new head of election policies is Aaron Berman.
Don’t know Mr. Berman?
Well, he’s a former CIA agent who allegedly quit the “spook” business in 2019 to join Meta to oversee “misinformation” at Facebook. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the person who helped write the rules for what is acceptable content on Facebook is ex-CIA and now is overseeing information about the 2024 election.
Spooky, don’t you think?
ICYMI
In case you missed it:
– Bud Light officially fired the two top Anheuser-Busch marketing executives responsible for the hyper-woke Dylan Mulvaney campaign. Google “Dylan Mulvaney” for more on why. Here’s a hint: The No. 1 beer in America post the trans Bud Light campaign is no longer Bud Light. It’s Modelo.
– Figures from the California Department of Justice show hate crimes last year jumped 20.2% in California. I hate it when that happens.
– While California’s homeless population grew by 43%, Texas shrunk its population by nearly a third. CalMatters reports that we spend $10,786 for every unhoused person while Texas only spends $806. Not sayin’, just sayin’.
ONE MORE THING
– My friend got a degree from Cal Berkeley in Egyptology, but can’t find a job. So, she went back to school to get a doctorate to teach Egyptology. It’s literally a pyramid scheme.
Thanks for reading. Until next week, avoid knuckleheads, laugh a little and always question authority.
(“Properly Subversive” is a commentary written by Sherman R. Frederick for Marinscope Community Newspapers, the “mother ship” of the Novato Advance, San Rafael News-Pointer, Mill Valley Herald, Ross Valley Reporter, Twin City Times and the Sausalito Marin Scope. Mr. Frederick is an award-winning journalist and co-founder of Battle Born Media, a news organization dedicated to the preservation of community newspapers. You can reach him by email at shermfrederick@gmail.com.)
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