Why You Should Avoid the Phrase "Taxpayer Dollars"

• It is simply incorrect

At the federal level, money is created as needed by Congressional appropriations.  When taxes are paid, the collected tax dollars are deleted from the system.

• It obscures the real purpose of taxes

Taxes are needed to cycle dollars back out of the economic system.  The "taxpayer dollars" concept pushes people into thinking that the rich contribute more, when in fact they should be paying more.

• It leads to "scarcity and deficit" mentality

The federal debt is not the frightening specter it is made out to be — it is simply an accounting total.  When wars and bailouts are funded, the "deficit" is forgotten about.  When healthcare and education are proposed, the refrain is, "How are you going to pay for that?"


Why is this important?  Isn't it just semantics?
 - Federal spending and and taxation are massively powerful instruments.  Understanding how they operate and who is benefiting is crucial to achieving positive change.

If not "taxpayer dollars" then what should we say? 
 - Good alternatives are "federal dollars", "our money" and "government spending".


Remember: Those dollars belong to all of us.

And About That "National Debt"

The "national debt" is not really a thing.  It's an accounting gimmick.  As per Stephanie Kelton (author of 'The Deficit Myth'):

"Meanwhile, the so-called national debt remains nothing more than a historical record of US$ that have been spent by government and not taxed away from us over the centuries"

When we're proposing programs that benefit the 99%, they pull out the "national debt" to scare us with big numbers.  When it's time to pay for wars or tax cuts for the billionaires, it is nowhere to be found.

The United States is not "running a deficit."  As the currency issuer, it can never run out of dollars.  What is happening, however, is a constant and massive transfer of dollars, of wealth, upward, from the working class to the billionaire class.  It's up to the 99% to demand a system that works for everyone, not just top 0.1%

See also this Eleven Demands Substack post about taxes:  Who Pays?