HJAR Sep/Oct 2023

Dear Generation X, (In case you were not keeping track, if you were born between 1965 and 1980, this is you.) Know this: The “good old days” are a myth. We have been told or like to tell ourselves they did exist; but when exactly were they? Was it the era of the ’70s when gas lines were long, and inflation was through the roof? The ’60s when our young men were being drafted into a senseless war where nearly 50% of those who saw combat were wounded or killed, and American political leaders were being shot in broad daylight? The ’50s where racism was so commonplace in America that our drinking water and bathrooms were designated “colored” and “whites only”? The ’40s where we were fighting a second world war? The late 1920s and ’30s when the great depression hit? The early 1910s when the War to End all Wars was fought? Reconstruction? The Civil War? The Indian Wars? The Revolution? Perhaps we, as children born in the ’60s and ’70s, think it was the ’80s when we had no bills to pay or the ’90’s before TSA lines. But that was a time when AIDs emerged, Columbine shattered our innocence, and sexual harassment of women was common in the workplace. So, here we are. The baby boomers before us are retiring, our generation is coming into power, and Thomas Jefferson’s quote to the right is resounding in my head. The author of the Declaration of Independence wrote these words to his friend James Madison while on French soil, watching the French Revolution begin to unfold. Jefferson knew in his heart that what one generation did was not particularly what another would need and argued that it was ridiculous to hold a current generation to the debt of the past one. He argued all debts should be paid off in 19 years. And if they couldn’t be, they shouldn’t be taken on. He thought this would make those in power think twice about going to war — which, of course, is a huge drain on a society — or strapping debt on those unable to have a say in the matter. Take federal income taxes, for example. We just grew up paying them, part of the privilege of living in our great country. I have never questioned it until I noticed my tax rate went up 84% from last year because my husband died, and I am now in a “single” tax category. So, the federal government now arbitrarily charges me more in federal taxes as a widow than when my husband was alive because … why? Because I am living alone and my partner is dead, now you need a higher percentage of my revenue? Who came up with that bright idea? I kinda thought it might actually be the reverse. So, I looked up historical tax rates: Congress enacted an income tax in 1913, levying a 1% tax on net personal incomes above $3,000 ($91,582 in today’s dollars), with a 6% surtax on incomes above $500,000 ($15,263,775 today). To finance World War I, the top rate of the income tax was increased to 77% on income over $1,000,000 ($21,369,285 today) and 15% for $8,000 ($170,954 EDITOR’S DESK