On Wednesday, April 26, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and National Economic Council director Gary Cohn announced President Trump’s latest tax plan that proposes to cut corporate taxes and lower personal tax rates.

For anybody who has ever made money, you know that paying tax on your income is one of your largest ongoing lifetime expenses. A progressive tax system that taxed my income at a Federal + State marginal rate of over 50% during the Obama years was one of the catalysts for negotiating my severance and leaving the workforce for good in 2012. It didn’t feel worthwhile anymore to work 60-70 hours a week and go through so much stress for the privilege of paying the government more than I kept.

What’s even more amazing is that the vast majority of Americans save LESS than their effective tax rate! Can you imagine being taxed at a 20% effective rate when you can only save 6% of your after tax income? No wonder why so many people can’t escape the Matrix. There are government officials who are laughing behind closed doors at the masses for saving so little and paying so much to the government.

For 2017, so far we’ve got:

* A 0.5% increase in borrowing costs for mortgages, student loans, and consumer loans

* A Federal Reserve that plans to keep on hiking the Fed Funds rate

* Rising rents for renters who voted for more wasteful government spending through higher property taxes

* Rising property taxes for homeowners who don’t have tenants to pay the increase

* A 25% increase in oil prices as OPEC cuts production

* A likely 5% increase in income taxes for individuals/married couples making more than $112,500/$225,000 AGI a year

Why stop there? Let’s tax more people to help pay for our underfunded Social Security system!

I used to despise property taxes because the city would raise them even when property prices were collapsing during the financial crisis. It was/and still is up to property owners to fill out a complicated form, find comparable homes that have dropped in price within a certain radius, make sure the comparable sales fit within a certain timeframe, and pay a $60 fee to do so with no guarantee you’ll win!

If you didn’t spend time contesting your property taxes, the city would gleefully raise them despite the obvious declines. The city counts on meek or ignorant people to fill their coffers and pay themselves handsome salaries. It’s just like how members of Congress continued to get paid even when they shut down the government in 2013. Can you imagine losing your job in the recession and having to pay higher property taxes while knowing your neighbor sold his house for 20% less than the city’s assessment?

I fought my property taxes in 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012 and won for a particular property I bought in the beginning of 2005. I had to fight since the value of my stock and real estate holdings were getting hit and I no longer had a job in 2012. Since 2013, I’ve let the city tax me back to my normal purchase price plus a ~2% a year catch up increase because the economy has thankfully recovered. I don’t mind paying my fair share so long as it’s just.

After paying ~$350,000 in property taxes since 2003, I’ve finally accepted the reality that it’s up to those of us who saved like crazy and took the risk of owning property to pay for our community’s infrastructure, education, public transportation, service men and women, and other public works. We must pay for those who cannot or will not.

What I’ve also realized is that after much debate, my fellow renters absolutely believe they are paying their fair share of property taxes, even if they aren’t cutting a separate check to the city twice a year. With this thought in mind, I now believe it’s logical behavior for renters to keep on voting for increased government spending because they all want better and are willing to pay for it through higher rents.