415: Tax and Return: Judge Glock

"I'm from the government and I'm here to help." Ronald Reagan described those as the most dangerous words in the English language. I generally agree with the Gipper who I have fond memories of extending back to the 1980 presidential election that I watched with interest as a kindergartener. When the government gets too big, it gets dangerous and sloppy, and it costs too much. And like other monsters, it's got to eat. It does this through taxation. Now if that monster was lean, mean and efficient, it would be less scary. But this one is fat and keeps growing. Government begets more government which creates more cost and inefficiency. What's a better answer? Well, ideally, you would break the whole thing apart and put it back together in a way that makes sense. Instead, a lot of the benefits that we get from those taxes are taxed themselves making you wonder what the point was in the first place. When you take a step back and see what's going on, it's pure insanity. And to make you crazy, this week's guest on the Wealth Formula Podcast exposes this problem with gory details. Show Notes: 08:03 Robbing Peter to pay Peter 12:33 Where is the inefficiency coming from? 15:54 The origin of the tax and return scheme 17:51 How does this affect behavior? 19:48 How can we fix it? 21:45 The origin of the mortgage market