I won’t keep you in suspense.

According to former U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker, the 4-letter reason taxes will go up – is MATH.

In simple terms, the role of Comptroller General serves as the U.S. government’s accountant, and Walker made some pretty dire predictions about the state of our great country’s finances in his book Comeback America.

Walker called entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid a “fiscal cancer.” Adding the cost of entitlement programs to the other expenses of our nation, Walker believes taxes will have to double, or our national debt will grow by 3 billion per year until it gets to over 50 trillion.

Scary, right?

He has every reason to make these claims.

First, we’re living longer and longer (in 2009, seniors made up under 13% of our population – expected to rise to 19% by 2030). Extended retirements will put a significant strain on entitlement spending.

Second, our country is spending more and more (our expenses were 3.7 trillion in 2019 and 6.5 trillion in 2020).

As it stands, here’s a quick overview of where your tax dollars go:

  • 51% go to entitlements
  • 19% to income security and other benefits
  • 17% is national defense
  • 7% is net interest
  • 3% is transportation
  • 1% for K-12 education
  • 3% for all other expenses

If more and more seniors claim their entitlements and taxes don’t rise, our budget is not sustainable. The fact is, without an increase in taxes, our country will need to borrow more and more if our government’s spending more than we’re taking in. Right now, the national debt is sitting at almost 28.3 trillion – and climbing rapidly.

Something must be done – and it’s very likely going to be raising taxes.

The good news is that you can protect yourself and use the strategies that I know (like the back of my hand) to minimize that tax burden now while our rates are still low.

If you are at all worried about the effect of rising taxes on your retirement, you owe it to yourself to book a quick chat with me to do something about it. Call 513-563-PLAN (7526) or go online to book 15 minutes in my calendar now.

Regards,
Nikki Earley, CFP®