So let's say that, with adjustments as needed, each "family" of freed slaves was entitled to "40 acres and a mule" with the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment (December 1865). Obviously, they didn't get it, and they are owed something. And let's say that the 2019 cash equivalent of the aforesaid acreage and livestock could be ascertained as a number agreeable to all. Call it a quarter-million dollars.
Clearly, for this extraordinary payout to succeed, it will have to be funded by a dedicated tax, which I shall call the Reparations Tax.
It occurred to me as I scanned my DNA report that I do not have a single ancestor who was even ON THIS CONTINENT on December 6th, 1865. They were in England, Ireland, and what is now Germany. So I claim an exclusion from having to pay the Reparations Tax. And everyone like me, whose ancestors were not in the dis-United States in 1865 gets an exclusion from the Tax.
But not just me and the relative newcomers. I say that every American who can trace their roots sufficiently to conclude that their ancestors did not own slaves should also get an exclusion. So if you can show that your ancestors lived in a non-slave state, or if they lived in a slave state but did not own slaves, you should also get an exclusion from the Tax.
On the other side of the coin, the Reparations should only be paid out to people whose ancestors were slaves. So Barack Obama would get nothing, Kamala Harris nothing, African Americans whose ancestors came here voluntarily or after 1865, nothing.
And I wonder about people who are what used to be called "mulattoes." Halle Berry, Tiger Woods, Colin K, and people like that. They could conceivably have one set of ancestors entitling them to Reparations, and another set of ancestors requiring them to pay the Reparations Tax. It could be confusing.
What about credits? A previous President named "Johnson" declared a War on Poverty many years ago, under which millions upon millions of descendants of slaves were, at the expense of the taxpayers GIVEN (through no work or merit on their own) cash stipends, housing and food vouchers, free medical care, and other tangible and intangible benefits, which should surely go toward the Reparation of $250k. The total of these expenditures is in the TRILLIONS, and a significant part - less than half, but still a significant part - went to the descendants of American slaves. SURELY, there should be a deduction from the quarter-mil for those beneficiaries of taxpayer largesse.
And on the PAYER side, there is one major factor that is almost always overlooked. When Great Britain abolished slavery, they paid Reparations to the SLAVE OWNERS whose human chattel was emancipated. Clearly, the government edict caused them a great financial loss. In this country, we have the Fifth Amendment, which requires that when government takes away something of value it must pay for it. So the payers of the Reparations Tax must get some credit for the value of the slaves that the Thirteenth Amendment freed. How do you calculate that and bring it down to present value? It is a puzzle and a conundrum.
But I don't give a shit; I'm excluded from the Reparations Tax. You other fukkers have a real problem on your hands.
Clearly, for this extraordinary payout to succeed, it will have to be funded by a dedicated tax, which I shall call the Reparations Tax.
It occurred to me as I scanned my DNA report that I do not have a single ancestor who was even ON THIS CONTINENT on December 6th, 1865. They were in England, Ireland, and what is now Germany. So I claim an exclusion from having to pay the Reparations Tax. And everyone like me, whose ancestors were not in the dis-United States in 1865 gets an exclusion from the Tax.
But not just me and the relative newcomers. I say that every American who can trace their roots sufficiently to conclude that their ancestors did not own slaves should also get an exclusion. So if you can show that your ancestors lived in a non-slave state, or if they lived in a slave state but did not own slaves, you should also get an exclusion from the Tax.
On the other side of the coin, the Reparations should only be paid out to people whose ancestors were slaves. So Barack Obama would get nothing, Kamala Harris nothing, African Americans whose ancestors came here voluntarily or after 1865, nothing.
And I wonder about people who are what used to be called "mulattoes." Halle Berry, Tiger Woods, Colin K, and people like that. They could conceivably have one set of ancestors entitling them to Reparations, and another set of ancestors requiring them to pay the Reparations Tax. It could be confusing.
What about credits? A previous President named "Johnson" declared a War on Poverty many years ago, under which millions upon millions of descendants of slaves were, at the expense of the taxpayers GIVEN (through no work or merit on their own) cash stipends, housing and food vouchers, free medical care, and other tangible and intangible benefits, which should surely go toward the Reparation of $250k. The total of these expenditures is in the TRILLIONS, and a significant part - less than half, but still a significant part - went to the descendants of American slaves. SURELY, there should be a deduction from the quarter-mil for those beneficiaries of taxpayer largesse.
And on the PAYER side, there is one major factor that is almost always overlooked. When Great Britain abolished slavery, they paid Reparations to the SLAVE OWNERS whose human chattel was emancipated. Clearly, the government edict caused them a great financial loss. In this country, we have the Fifth Amendment, which requires that when government takes away something of value it must pay for it. So the payers of the Reparations Tax must get some credit for the value of the slaves that the Thirteenth Amendment freed. How do you calculate that and bring it down to present value? It is a puzzle and a conundrum.
But I don't give a shit; I'm excluded from the Reparations Tax. You other fukkers have a real problem on your hands.
