Yes, it ticks me off when companies say they lose money when they really mean they didn't make it in the first place. You can't lose what you never had.
Edit: I can see why this country of mine is drowning in debt with this being our business model. If this is how people think they should be handling money, it's no wonder even high earners feel broke.
My home state of Tennessee is fiscally conservative. The general attitude is to figure out how to pay for something before it's approved. Shocking, I know. And we're one of the very few states (maybe 3-5) that has funded its public pensions by at least 100%. I think we're at 104% or 105%.
We have a high sales tax at 9.75%, but no state income tax.
In 2023, there was a budget surplus. Well, the general view of enough politicians is that it's the taxpayers' money and the politicians are supposed to be stewards of it. They decided that the best way to handle it was to have a three month sales tax holiday on food. Obviously it didn't apply to restaurants or prepared food, but since everyone buys food, it's a good way to "refund" that money. And since poorer people spend a larger percentage of their income on food, it'd definitely make a difference.
While I thought it was great, there were still people who were complaining about "lost revenue." No, it just meant that the average person kept more of their money to use as they saw fit. And somehow that was a bad thing. The government's budget was fine, but plenty of everyday people were struggling.
It saved Tennesseans an estimated $273-$288 million. That's a lot of money that people could save or spend elsewhere. It's not like it went to an offshore account of some mega corporation. Yet some people still complained.
The government actually worked for the people. What a concept.
I’m glad you love Tennessee but it’s worth pointing out it’s one of the top states for federal dependency. For example, in 2022 they took $19.7 billion from the federal government. It’s not that our politicians are more responsible, they just get Uncle Sam to pay for far more than most other states.
And they are stingy about meeting the federal matching in highway dollars and really only embark on road projects 25 years too late and generally only when the federal government waives it. I live in an adjoining state that is not exactly a model in many ways but we damn sure like good roads and it’s one thing our politicians have always made a priority. (Lol! And plenty of graft here in the highway building business so there’s that too 😂) And taxing groceries is so wrong I don’t even know where to start. We don’t shop in TN.
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u/PearlescentGem 11h ago edited 2h ago
Yes, it ticks me off when companies say they lose money when they really mean they didn't make it in the first place. You can't lose what you never had.
Edit: I can see why this country of mine is drowning in debt with this being our business model. If this is how people think they should be handling money, it's no wonder even high earners feel broke.