Slide Show: 20 Small Towns With Big Millionaire Populations - Note for a discussion, "E Pluribus Unum? What Keeps the United States United."

Dan Burrows, kiplinger.com

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A million bucks might not go as far as it once did, but it still gains you entry into an elite club. Only 5.8% of the country, or about 7.2 million households, qualify as actual millionaires. That’s defined as having investable assets of $1 million or more, excluding the value of real estate, employer-sponsored retirement plans and business partnerships.

Most of these wealthy households can be found in big cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago – just as you would expect. But some millionaires prefer to avoid the hustle and bustle of major metropolises. Indeed, pockets of millionaires can be found in some pretty far-flung places.

Phoenix Marketing International, a firm that tracks the affluent market, recently ranked 934 urban areas, both large and small, based on the percentage of millionaire households in each. The following list of cities is limited to so-called “micropolitan” areas, which the Census Bureau defines as urban clusters with populations between 10,000 and 50,000, plus adjacent territory that has a high degree of social and economic integration with the core as measured by commuting ties.

In some cases, these locations benefit from being recreational areas or havens for wealthy retirees. In others, a particular industry drives local wealth. Either way, these are the 20 smallest cities and towns boasting the highest concentrations of millionaires in the U.S.

The Americans Our Government Won’t Count - Note for a discussion, "E Pluribus Unum? What Keeps the United States United."

Alex Wagner, The New York Times, March 30, 2018

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Racially speaking, the United States is zero percent Hispanic. This is confusing — especially for America’s nearly 58 million Hispanics.

The United States census breaks our country into six general racial categories: White; Black; Asian; Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; American Indian or Alaska Native; and Some Other Race. “Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin” is treated not as a race but as an ethnicity — a question asked separately. So someone may be White (Hispanic) or Black (Hispanic) but not simply Hispanic. As a result, many Hispanics check “White” or, increasingly, “Some Other Race.” This ill-defined category is what mixed-race Americans, like me — half Burmese, half Luxembourgian-Irish — often check. It might just as well be called “Generally Brown.” Today, the third-largest racial group in America is “Some Other Race” — and it is made up overwhelmingly of Hispanics.

Equally obscured are America’s estimated 3.7 million residents of Arab descent. With neither a racial nor an ethnic category to call their own, they most often opt for a racial designation of “White.” But to count Yemenis and Syrians as generically white is a complicated proposition these days, when whiteness confers power, and men and women from the Arab world are instead the subjects of travel bans and national security debates.

Nearly four years ago, the Census Bureau began researching how to more accurately represent these populations and decided to combine the race and ethnicity questions into one, and to add two new categories: one for residents of Middle Eastern/North African origin and one for those of Hispanic origin. Many advocates within those groups celebrated the reforms, and the broad expectation was that the next census, in 2020, would incorporate these changes. After all, the bureau itself concluded that they were necessary to “produce the highest quality statistics about our nation’s diverse population.” 

But in January, the bureau abruptly announced it would not move forward with the reforms after all, saying only that “more research and testing” was needed on the addition of a Middle Eastern/North African category.

While the Census Bureau has shown strange reluctance to enact these vetted changes, it has been unusually aggressive in making others. On Monday, news broke that the 2020 census would include a question asking respondents whether they are United States citizens. The question, requested by the Department of Justice late last year, has not been included on the census since 1950. It has not been tested at all and was first proposed some nine months after the bureau was supposed to have submitted the 2020 questionnaire topics.

These changes matter. Census data is used to determine more than $675 billion in federal funding; it is a demographic Rosetta Stone that is referenced in the drawing of congressional districts, each state’s number of Electoral College votes and the application of civil rights laws, including the Voting Rights Act and the Fair Housing Act. To be counted in the census is to be both seen and supported.

While the Trump administration contends the citizenship question will help the Justice Department more “effectively” enforce the Voting Rights Act, what it will actually do is drive millions of Americans, many of them Hispanic, into the shadows. Undocumented residents and even green-card holders may fear that filling out the census could put them at risk of deportation and decide it’s better not to be counted at all.

At least 12 states have announced they will sue the administration, and others are likely to follow.

“In the current environment, where there is overt hostility toward immigrants coming from the White House, this does not generate trust in the census,” said Arturo Vargas, the executive director of the Naleo Educational Fund. According to Tomás Jiménez, a sociologist at Stanford specializing in immigration and assimilation, “the intent is incredibly nefarious.” 

How to conclude otherwise? Reforms to the census focused on millions of Hispanics and Middle Easterners, based on years of research, have been tossed aside. It is not a coincidence that these are two groups President Trump has targeted repeatedly. His administration’s decisions will cost those men and women, in both political and concrete ways.

It is also no coincidence that the reforms the administration is resisting would have decreased the number of American “Whites.” Census research showed that when presented with the proposed changes, Hispanics identified as “Hispanic” alone at significantly higher rates than they did as “White (Hispanic)” or “Some Other Race (Hispanic).” The same was true for residents of Middle Eastern origin, who, when given a category of their own, mostly chose it over “White.”

This would have exposed the fact that the category of “Whites” has been artificially inflated, eroding its primacy at a time when whiteness — of the decidedly European strain — has gained new currency. To be white in President Trump’s America is to fundamentally belong. Unlike brownness, which remains at the margins, whiteness is at the center of the American origin story — a powerful narrative about how this country came to be and what made it great (and indeed what might make it great again).

Perhaps this is the reason the administration opted to ignore the advice of its own bureau, to keep America’s demographic destiny at bay and, in so doing, to silence the narrative about who we really are.

Or maybe it was this: In our present moment of marginalization and deportation, scorn and dismissal, to self-identify as Hispanic or Arab-American is a political act. To be counted is to secure a place in the story of this country. It is to will the American narrative to bend in the direction of change.

No wonder this government has taken the tool with which to do so off the table. There is strength in numbers, after all. What better way to undermine that strength than to refuse a count in the first place?

Alex Wagner is a contributing editor at The Atlantic, a co-host of “The Circus” on Showtime and the author of the forthcoming book “Futureface: A Family Mystery, an Epic Quest and the Secret to Belonging.”

States with the highest and lowest sales taxes

Michael B. Sauter, 24/7 Wall Street, USA TODAY

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On or before April 17, millions of Americans will file their income, property, and other taxes. Not included in the filings are sales taxes, but many Americans pay thousands of dollars each year in state and local taxes on goods purchased.

Americans pay between 2.9% and 7.25% of the price of the goods they buy in the majority of states. A few states, however, levy no sales tax whatsoever. On average, across all states, sales taxes actually account for a larger share of total revenue than either property or individual income tax.

The sales tax for many is controversial, because unlike the property tax, income tax, or corporate taxes, it is not taxed on a scale but as a flat percentage of the total assessed figure. This system is referred to as a regressive tax, because its burden is higher on lower-income taxpayers.

Critics of flat sales taxes argue that poor people for whom basic necessities like groceries represent a significantly larger share of their budget are greatly affected by sales taxes than wealthier people who spend less on necessities as a proportion of their income. Proponents of the tax suggest that a flat tax is the most just and least complex.

In addition to state sales taxes, local governments can charge their own sales taxes, which can average as high as an additional 5% in some states, and are nonexistent in others. In some of the states with the lowest statewide sales tax figure, average local taxes are among the highest. Louisiana levies a 5% statewide rate, which is less than that of the majority of states. However, the average combined state and local sales taxes in Louisiana surpass 10%.

Many states balance revenue of a number of taxes, including income, sales, and property taxes. A few states opt out of one or more major types of taxation entirely. In New Hampshire, where there is no sales tax, the state levies the highest per capita corporate taxes of any state.

To determine the states with the highest and lowest sales tax, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed sales tax rates from the Tax Foundation’s State and Local Sales Tax Rates in 2017 report. Combined sales tax figures include statewide sales tax as well as the average local sales tax for residents as of Jan. 1, 2017. Regional price parity data comes from the Bureau of Economic Analysis for 2014. Personal income per capita is also from the BEA for the third quarter of 2016. In New Jersey, the average local tax is -0.03%, because businesses in Salem County are exempt from collecting state sales taxes.

50. Delaware
Combined sales tax: 0.0%
State sales tax: 0.0% (tied–the lowest)
Avg. local sales tax: 0.0% (tied–13th lowest)
Cost of living: 0.4% more than nat’l avg. (14th highest)
Personal income per capita: $42,917 (22nd lowest)

49. Montana
Combined sales tax: 0.0%
State sales tax: 0.0% (tied–the lowest)
Avg. local sales tax: 0.0% (tied–13th lowest)
Cost of living: -5.2% less than nat’l avg. (24th lowest)
Personal income per capita: $40,985 (16th lowest)

48. New Hampshire
Combined sales tax: 0.0%
State sales tax: 0.0% (tied–the lowest)
Avg. local sales tax: 0.0% (tied–13th lowest)
Cost of living: 5.0% more than nat’l avg. (9th highest)
Personal income per capita: $47,530 (11th highest)

47. Oregon
Combined sales tax: 0.0%
State sales tax: 0.0% (tied–the lowest)
Avg. local sales tax: 0.0% (tied–13th lowest)
Cost of living: -0.8% less than nat’l avg. (17th highest)
Personal income per capita: $40,881 (15th lowest)

46. Alaska
Combined sales tax: 1.8%
State sales tax: 0.0% (tied–the lowest)
Avg. local sales tax: 1.8% (19th highest)
Cost of living: 5.6% more than nat’l avg. (8th highest)
Personal income per capita: $48,973 (7th highest)

45. Hawaii
Combined sales tax: 4.3%
State sales tax: 4.0% (tied–7th lowest)
Avg. local sales tax: 0.4% (19th lowest)
Cost of living: 18.8% more than nat’l avg. (the highest)
Personal income per capita: $37,634 (5th lowest)

44. Wisconsin
Combined sales tax: 5.4%
State sales tax: 5.0% (tied–16th lowest)
Avg. local sales tax: 0.4% (21st lowest)
Cost of living: -6.9% less than nat’l avg. (20th lowest)
Personal income per capita: $45,151 (21st highest)

43. Wyoming
Combined sales tax: 5.5%
State sales tax: 4.0% (tied–7th lowest)
Avg. local sales tax: 1.5% (20th highest)
Cost of living: -3.8% less than nat’l avg. (25th highest)
Personal income per capita: $53,512 (4th highest)

42. Maine
Combined sales tax: 5.5%
State sales tax: 5.5% (tied–21st lowest)
Avg. local sales tax: 0.0% (tied–13th lowest)
Cost of living: -2.0% less than nat’l avg. (19th highest)
Personal income per capita: $39,998 (10th lowest)

41. Virginia
Combined sales tax: 5.6%
State sales tax: 5.3% (20th lowest)
Avg. local sales tax: 0.3% (17th lowest)
Cost of living: 2.5% more than nat’l avg. (12th highest)
Personal income per capita: $46,582 (14th highest)

40. Kentucky
Combined sales tax: 6.0%
State sales tax: 6.0% (tied–25th highest)
Avg. local sales tax: 0.0% (tied–13th lowest)
Cost of living: -11.4% less than nat’l avg. (5th lowest)
Personal income per capita: $39,743 (9th lowest)
More: U.S. economy: A rundown of the poorest county in every state

39. Maryland
Combined sales tax: 6.0%
State sales tax: 6.0% (tied–25th highest)
Avg. local sales tax: 0.0% (tied–13th lowest)
Cost of living: 9.6% more than nat’l avg. (5th highest)
Personal income per capita: $46,969 (12th highest)

38. Michigan
Combined sales tax: 6.0%
State sales tax: 6.0% (tied–25th highest)
Avg. local sales tax: 0.0% (tied–13th lowest)
Cost of living: -6.5% less than nat’l avg. (22nd lowest)
Personal income per capita: $42,173 (19th lowest)

37. Idaho
Combined sales tax: 6.0%
State sales tax: 6.0% (tied–25th highest)
Avg. local sales tax: 0.0% (14th lowest)
Cost of living: -6.6% less than nat’l avg. (21st lowest)
Personal income per capita: $38,074 (7th lowest)

36. Vermont
Combined sales tax: 6.2%
State sales tax: 6.0% (tied–25th highest)
Avg. local sales tax: 0.2% (16th lowest)
Cost of living: 1.6% more than nat’l avg. (13th highest)
Personal income per capita: $44,019 (25th lowest)

35. Massachusetts
Combined sales tax: 6.3%
State sales tax: 6.3% (tied–15th highest)
Avg. local sales tax: 0.0% (tied–13th lowest)
Cost of living: 6.9% more than nat’l avg. (7th highest)
Personal income per capita: $53,782 (3rd highest)
More: Economic climate: The best (and worst) states for business

34. Pennsylvania
Combined sales tax: 6.3%
State sales tax: 6.0% (tied–25th highest)
Avg. local sales tax: 0.3% (18th lowest)
Cost of living: -2.1% less than nat’l avg. (21st highest)
Personal income per capita: $46,537 (15th highest)

33. Connecticut
Combined sales tax: 6.4%
State sales tax: 6.4% (12th highest)
Avg. local sales tax: 0.0% (tied–13th lowest)
Cost of living: 8.7% more than nat’l avg. (6th highest)
Personal income per capita: $57,520 (the highest)

32. West Virginia
Combined sales tax: 6.4%
State sales tax: 6.0% (tied–25th highest)
Avg. local sales tax: 0.4% (20th lowest)
Cost of living: -11.1% less than nat’l avg. (6th lowest)
Personal income per capita: $37,622 (4th lowest)

31. South Dakota
Combined sales tax: 6.4%
State sales tax: 4.5% (tied–13th lowest)
Avg. local sales tax: 1.9% (17th highest)
Cost of living: -11.8% less than nat’l avg. (4th lowest)
Personal income per capita: $49,463 (6th highest)

30. New Jersey
Combined sales tax: 6.6%
State sales tax: 6.6% (8th highest)
Avg. local sales tax: 0.0% (the lowest)
Cost of living: 13.4% more than nat’l avg. (3rd highest)
Personal income per capita: $48,590 (8th highest)

29. Utah
Combined sales tax: 6.8%
State sales tax: 6.0% (25th lowest)
Avg. local sales tax: 0.8% (25th lowest)
Cost of living: -3.0% less than nat’l avg. (23rd highest)
Personal income per capita: $37,435 (3rd lowest)

28. Florida
Combined sales tax: 6.8%
State sales tax: 6.0% (tied–25th highest)
Avg. local sales tax: 0.8% (24th lowest)
Cost of living: -0.5% less than nat’l avg. (16th highest)
Personal income per capita: $41,781 (18th lowest)

27. Iowa
Combined sales tax: 6.8%
State sales tax: 6.0% (tied–25th highest)
Avg. local sales tax: 0.8% (24th lowest)
Cost of living: -9.7% less than nat’l avg. (12th lowest)
Personal income per capita: $46,359 (17th highest)

26. North Dakota
Combined sales tax: 6.8%
State sales tax: 5.0% (tied–16th lowest)
Avg. local sales tax: 1.8% (18th highest)
Cost of living: -7.7% less than nat’l avg. (18th lowest)
Personal income per capita: $54,997 (2nd highest)

25. Nebraska
Combined sales tax: 6.9%
State sales tax: 5.5% (tied–21st lowest)
Avg. local sales tax: 1.4% (22nd highest)
Cost of living: -9.4% less than nat’l avg. (15th lowest)
Personal income per capita: $50,054 (5th highest)
More: Economic disparity: 10 States where the middle class is being left behind

24. North Carolina
Combined sales tax: 7.0%
State sales tax: 4.8% (15th lowest)
Avg. local sales tax: 2.2% (14th highest)
Cost of living: -8.8% less than nat’l avg. (17th lowest)
Personal income per capita: $41,532 (17th lowest)

23. Indiana
Combined sales tax: 7.0%
State sales tax: 7.0% (tied–5th highest)
Avg. local sales tax: 0.0% (tied–13th lowest)
Cost of living: -9.3% less than nat’l avg. (16th lowest)
Personal income per capita: $42,197 (20th lowest)

22. Rhode Island
Combined sales tax: 7.0%
State sales tax: 7.0% (tied–5th highest)
Avg. local sales tax: 0.0% (tied–13th lowest)
Cost of living: -1.3% less than nat’l avg. (18th highest)
Personal income per capita: $46,119 (19th highest)

21. Mississippi
Combined sales tax: 7.1%
State sales tax: 7.0% (tied–5th highest)
Avg. local sales tax: 0.1% (15th lowest)
Cost of living: -13.8% less than nat’l avg. (the lowest)
Personal income per capita: $36,889 (2nd lowest)

20. Georgia
Combined sales tax: 7.2%
State sales tax: 4.0% (tied–7th lowest)
Avg. local sales tax: 3.2% (7th highest)
Cost of living: -7.4% less than nat’l avg. (19th lowest)
Personal income per capita: $40,540 (13th lowest)
More: Skyscrapers across the U.S.: Tallest building in every state

19. Ohio
Combined sales tax: 7.2%
State sales tax: 5.8% (24th lowest)
Avg. local sales tax: 1.4% (21st highest)
Cost of living: -10.8% less than nat’l avg. (7th lowest)
Personal income per capita: $44,943 (22nd highest)

18. South Carolina
Combined sales tax: 7.4%
State sales tax: 6.0% (tied–25th highest)
Avg. local sales tax: 1.4% (23rd highest)
Cost of living: -9.7% less than nat’l avg. (12th lowest)
Personal income per capita: $39,308 (8th lowest)

17. Minnesota
Combined sales tax: 7.4%
State sales tax: 6.9% (6th highest)
Avg. local sales tax: 0.6% (22nd lowest)
Cost of living: -2.6% less than nat’l avg. (22nd highest)
Personal income per capita: $48,052 (9th highest)

16. Colorado
Combined sales tax: 7.5%
State sales tax: 2.9% (6th lowest)
Avg. local sales tax: 4.6% (3rd highest)
Cost of living: 3.2% more than nat’l avg. (11th highest)
Personal income per capita: $46,016 (20th highest)

15. New Mexico
Combined sales tax: 7.7%
State sales tax: 5.1% (19th lowest)
Avg. local sales tax: 2.5% (11th highest)
Cost of living: -5.6% less than nat’l avg. (23rd lowest)
Personal income per capita: $36,814 (the lowest)
More: These are America’s drunkest states

14. Missouri
Combined sales tax: 8.0%
State sales tax: 4.2% (12th lowest)
Avg. local sales tax: 3.8% (6th highest)
Cost of living: -10.7% less than nat’l avg. (8th lowest)
Personal income per capita: $43,444 (24th lowest)

13. Nevada
Combined sales tax: 8.1%
State sales tax: 6.9% (7th highest)
Avg. local sales tax: 1.3% (tied–24th highest)
Cost of living: -2.0% less than nat’l avg. (19th highest)
Personal income per capita: $40,242 (11th lowest)

12. Texas
Combined sales tax: 8.2%
State sales tax: 6.3% (tied–15th highest)
Avg. local sales tax: 1.9% (16th highest)
Cost of living: -3.2% less than nat’l avg. (24th highest)
Personal income per capita: $44,269 (24th highest)

11. Arizona
Combined sales tax: 8.3%
State sales tax: 5.6% (23rd lowest)
Avg. local sales tax: 2.7% (9th highest)
Cost of living: -3.8% less than nat’l avg. (25th highest)
Personal income per capita: $37,694 (6th lowest)

10. New York
Combined sales tax: 8.5%
State sales tax: 4.0% (tied–7th lowest)
Avg. local sales tax: 4.5% (4th highest)
Cost of living: 15.3% more than nat’l avg. (2nd highest)
Personal income per capita: $46,445 (16th highest)

9. California
Combined sales tax: 8.5%
State sales tax: 7.3% (the highest)
Avg. local sales tax: 1.3% (tied–24th highest)
Cost of living: 13.4% more than nat’l avg. (3rd highest)
Personal income per capita: $44,173 (25th highest)

8. Kansas
Combined sales tax: 8.7%
State sales tax: 6.5% (tied–11th highest)
Avg. local sales tax: 2.2% (15th highest)
Cost of living: -9.6% less than nat’l avg. (13th lowest)
Personal income per capita: $47,547 (10th highest)

7. Illinois
Combined sales tax: 8.7%
State sales tax: 6.3% (tied–15th highest)
Avg. local sales tax: 2.5% (13th highest)
Cost of living: -0.3% less than nat’l avg. (15th highest)
Personal income per capita: $46,657 (13th highest)

6. Oklahoma
Combined sales tax: 8.9%
State sales tax: 4.5% (tied–13th lowest)
Avg. local sales tax: 4.4% (5th highest)
Cost of living: -10.1% less than nat’l avg. (10th lowest)
Personal income per capita: $44,757 (23rd highest)

5. Alabama
Combined sales tax: 9.1%
State sales tax: 4.0% (tied–7th lowest)
Avg. local sales tax: 5.1% (the highest)
Cost of living: -13.2% less than nat’l avg. (2nd lowest)
Personal income per capita: $40,267 (12th lowest)
More: Women in the workforce: 20 jobs that have become dominated by women

4. Washington
Combined sales tax: 9.2%
State sales tax: 6.5% (tied–11th highest)
Avg. local sales tax: 2.7% (10th highest)
Cost of living: 4.8% more than nat’l avg. (10th highest)
Personal income per capita: $46,330 (18th highest)

3. Arkansas
Combined sales tax: 9.4%
State sales tax: 6.5% (tied–11th highest)
Avg. local sales tax: 2.9% (8th highest)
Cost of living: -12.6% less than nat’l avg. (3rd lowest)
Personal income per capita: $40,858 (14th lowest)

2. Tennessee
Combined sales tax: 9.5%
State sales tax: 7.0% (tied–5th highest)
Avg. local sales tax: 2.5% (12th highest)
Cost of living: -10.1% less than nat’l avg. (10th lowest)
Personal income per capita: $42,902 (21st lowest)

Louisiana's combined sales taxes top out at 10%, the highest in the country.


1. Louisiana
Combined sales tax: 10.0%
State sales tax: 5.0% (tied–16th lowest)
Avg. local sales tax: 5.0% (2nd highest)
Cost of living: -9.4% less than nat’l avg. (15th lowest)
Personal income per capita: $43,277 (23rd lowest)

Full-sanity America; or, welcome to the madhouse?

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John Brown

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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/…/fl-reg-nikolas-cruz-prison-lo…

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Crazed girls flood Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz with fan mail

Nikolas Cruz, the confessed Parkland school shooter, is getting piles of fan mail with suggestive photos at the Broward County Jail, many are from teenage girls.

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John Brown

1 min · 

“I’m not going to talk about the 2016 election,” Bush joked on Tuesday in a talk sponsored by the The William F. Buckley, Jr. Program at Yale. “I’m still in therapy.”

Jeb fires Trump barbs at Yale talk

University | Jeb fires Trump barbs at Yale talk Skakel McCooey Jeb fires Trump barbs at Yale talk Skakel McCooey & Carly Wanna Staff Reporters Kai Nip Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s psychiatrist wants him to move past the 2016…

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“I’ve found no reason whatsoever to think the president has any issues whatsoever with his thought processes,” Dr. Jackson said.

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Veterans Affairs Secretary Is Latest to Go as Trump Shakes Up Cabinet

The move punctuated what has been a sharp fall from favor for David J. Shulkin, who delivered President Trump a string of bipartisan legislative victories.

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***

Sean Penn, Satirist, Swings at America in a Wild Debut Novel

By Jeff Giles, New York Times, March 29

Review of: BOB HONEY WHO JUST DO STUFF

By Sean Penn

To be fair, “Bob Honey” is perplexing and unquantifiable by design. Penn has clearly ingested the Beats, as well as Hunter S. Thompson and Chuck Palahniuk, and he evokes their trippiness to advance a sincere argument: that right now, America is enough to drive any rational, empathetic person nuts.