More Spent on Taxes than Necessities

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for 2021 shows that, on average, Americans spent $16,729 to support the government. This topped the $15,495 they spent on food, clothing and health care combined.

Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen insisted that “when you consider all the government does for people they should be happy it costs so little. Without the government people would be set adrift with no sense of meaning. The pointlessness of life for the average person is rescued by the government’s provision of structure and purpose. The selfishness of personal ambition and self gratification is replaced by the comfort of knowing you are part of a unified collective striving for a better world.”

Yellen warned that “given the rising inflation hitting the country, the low cost of government cannot be sustained for much longer. The doubling of the IRS workforce will greatly assist in the extraction of more taxes from the productive members of society. This will divert resources that are largely wasted on private consumption into government coffers where the money can be more efficiently allocated to the greater good of humanity.”

In related news, Department of Labor data show that states with Republican governors and Republican majorities in the legislatures have, on average, recovered more than 107% of the jobs lost during the pandemic. States with Democrat governors and Democrat majorities have, on average, recovered only 94% of the jobs lost during the pandemic. The ten states with the best job recovery records all have Republican majorities in their legislatures.

Yellen called the comparison “unfair. Democrat states are hampered by more burdensome regulations, high tax rates, rising crime, and significant out-migration of their most productive citizens. In an ideal world, regulations, tax rates, and crime would be equalized to reduce the incentive to relocate and save the economy from having to bear the expense out-migration.”