President Donald Trump is stretching the limits of his executive authority during his first weeks on the job. An executive order issued Jan. 20 says federal employees must return to the office full-time. A follow-up email said federal workers could remain on the government payroll through September if they agreed to resign by Thursday. The Times Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Mark Ballard reports on how this could affect Louisiana’s 19,442 federal workers:
For the most part, the Louisiana federal workforce includes law enforcement officers for various agencies. … [House Speaker Mike] Johnson has the most federal civilian employees among his constituency because they live near and support the two military bases in his district, according to the Congressional Research Service. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, is a close second, largely because of NASA’s Stennis Space Center on Louisiana’s border with Mississippi between Picayune and Bay St. Louis.
Ballard notes the legal questions surrounding Trump’s move:
The golden parachute is far from a done deal by any stretch, as opponents already are raising legal issues. In particular, the Antideficiency Act forbids the federal government from spending outside the authorized budget, which the buyout would have to do. “There’s no budget line item to pay people who are not showing up for work,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, during a Tuesday night speech on the Senate floor. But Sen. John N. Kennedy, R-Madisonville, told Politico E&E Wednesday he thought that current spending laws were flexible enough.
Louisiana needs FEMA
House Speaker Mike Johnson recently suggested that the federal government should place conditions on – or withhold completely – disaster aid for the deadly California wildfires. President Donald Trump has floated the idea of shutting down the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is a familiar presence in disaster-prone Louisiana. A Times Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate editorial provides a reality check for state leaders who want to play politics with disaster aid:
With all the disasters that Louisiana has suffered, ranging from hurricanes to floods to oil spills, both ideas should be anathema. From FEMA specifically, Louisiana is one of the top three recipient states since 2015. More broadly, Louisiana is a net recipient of federal money, receiving $1.25 for every dollar it sends to Washington, while California is the fifth most generous “donor state,” receiving back only 65 cents for each tax dollar it gives the feds. Louisiana politicians should also think hard before opening the door to official punishment for its own pro-oil and gas policies, which a different administration could say has made its coast more vulnerable to extreme weather.
Taxing wealth
While most Americans agree that the rich should be paying more in taxes, the idea of a tax on accrued wealth is much less popular than taxes on income. This sentiment reigns despite the fact that the vast majority of people would not pay a wealth tax and the policy would generate much-needed revenue for state governments. Governing’s Alan Ehrenhalt explains the details of a wealth tax and the behavioral reasons that drive its unpopularity:
When Texas voted by more than 2 to 1 against wealth taxes in 2023, it wasn’t billionaires who made that decision. It was Texans who drove trucks, worked in convenience stores and taught in schools for relatively low pay. The fact is that to most of us, wealth isn’t just something we ourselves have accumulated. It’s also something other people have accumulated, and taking even a small portion of it away from them seems less fair than increasing the levy on income as they receive it. Someday we may decide that given the revenue government needs to operate effectively, a wealth tax isn’t such a bad idea. But the idea doesn’t seem to be on the horizon just yet.
The impossible math of philanthropy
Charities and non-profit organizations have spent billions of dollars helping to fight hunger and poverty and improve health outcomes and education levels. But poverty remains stubbornly high and wage inequality is at pre-Great Depression levels. Hans Taparia and Bruce Buchanan of New York University’s Stern School of Business, in a guest column for the New York Times, explain why charitable efforts aren’t having a greater impact:
More often than not, charities work to mitigate harms caused by business. Every year, corporations externalize trillions in costs to society and the planet. Nonprofits form to absorb those costs, but have at their disposal only a tiny portion of the profits that corporations were able to generate by externalizing those costs in the first place. This is what makes charity such a good deal for businesses and their owners: They can earn moral credit for donating a penny to a problem they made a dollar creating.
Number of the Day
$0 – Amount of federal income taxes that Tesla paid in 2024. Elon Musk’s company was able to avoid paying federal income taxes despite generating $2.3 billion in income. (Source: Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy)