Should Military Members Pay Taxes? (The 1% Debate)

Should U.S. military service members have to pay federal taxes?

Less than 1% of Americans serve — deploying, relocating, and taking on risks most will never experience.

So why are they still taxed by the same government they serve?

In this episode of SCIIF International, we break down one of the most controversial questions in today’s military and civilian conversation:

➡️ Should active-duty service members be exempt from federal taxes?
➡️ Is tax exemption fair — or does it create inequality?
➡️ Would it help recruiting and retention?
➡️ Where do we draw the line — active duty, veterans, retirees?

We also bring in devil’s advocate perspectives to challenge both sides of the debate.

This is not a simple answer — and that’s exactly why it matters.

💬 Drop your thoughts in the comments:
Should military members pay taxes… or should they be fully exempt?

—

📌 L.S.S.C.N. — Like, Share, Subscribe, Comment, Notifications

#military  #taxes  #debate  #veterans   #activeduty #usmilitary  #finance  #policy  #sciifpodcast

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

So what if I told you that 1% of Americans willing to actually put their lives on the line, 24-7, 365, foreign or domestic, still have federal taxes taken out of their paycheck? Taxes on home purchases, taxes on groceries, taxes on life, taxes on debt, everything. The same paycheck funded by the government that they serve. Some say that it makes no sense. Others say paying taxes is a part of citizenship, uniform or not. Tonight we are going to be asking the question: should military members past and present pay federal and or state taxes at all? Before we break this down, if you are looking for a channel for service members, past and present and future that dares to inquire and apply critical thinking to some of the most controversial concepts of the armed forces, you are in the correct quadrant of cyberspace because that's how we get down. And we are here to keep you thinking all week long, whether you state side, overseas, deployed in the field, flight line, in the break room, the smoke pit, getting your kids ready for school, driving to work. We will always meet you where you are at. We're gonna open the vault, rattle the cages, and walk down the valley where most fair to tread. If you like what you hear, listen. That's L S S C N to us. That is like, share, subscribe, comment, notifications, activation to continue the inquisition. Who are we? We are the Skiff International Podcast and we are unredacted. And without further ado, go ahead and bring in the intro. Back on the scene. Tonight's debate isn't whether service members pay taxes. We do. We all have the receipts. The real question is whether they should. Should the small percentage of Americans who volunteer to serve be fully exempt from federal or state taxes? The IRS confirms that military pay is generally taxed today, with some exclusions like combat zone pay and certain allowances. Larae, you are the host today. Go ahead, do your thing, and start asking the question so we can deep dive into this.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

Absolutely. So if someone like us, right, risks their life for the countries, you know, even consider everything going on right now. Should the country take part of their paycheck back in Texas? What you got for me, Chief?

SPEAKER_01 2:23

I'm gonna keep it real uncut and raw right now. Hell no. We should not pay our own damn paycheck. Here we go. Let me tell you why. First off, I'm not gonna say we are not getting compensated appropriately. What I will say is that times are rough, inflation is high, gas prices are high. We have a lot of different factors that we have to take in account when we're on this military journey, such as childcare, food, you know, you name it, going back and forth to base. And you mean to tell me that I'm going to pay my own paycheck? Why? I should be exempt from that. It doesn't make sense. Make it make sense. What person you know work at 7-Eleven where they're paying 7-Eleven? You're saying I work for 7-Eleven, but you but I'm paying 7-Eleven too. It don't make no sense. It don't make no sense, Brad. You can't you can't reconcile it for me, right? We are less than 1%, not the 1%. We are less than 1%. So less than 1% serve. Less than 17% of the less than 1% that serve retire. So I don't want to hear all this BS about, oh, you know, we can't afford it. Yes, we can. We can't afford it. We can afford $250, $250 billion with a B for the war in Iran, so we can't afford the money to pay the troops so they don't have to pay their own damn paychecks. You know, people serve in Congress one term, and guess what they're entitled to? They're entitled to retirement. Guess how many years I have to do in order to be to qualify for that retirement? Right. 20. And I can't get in trouble, and I gotta watch out for getting a discharge or admin sep or reduction in rank. There's so many different factors that I have to worry about. I have to do 20 years, walk on water, and pay my own paycheck. Make it make sense.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

Does that make sense to anybody? It don't make sense.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

We should not pay. I should not pay. I get that I have tax-free benefits such as BAH. Thank you. I appreciate that part. BAS, thank you. I appreciate that part. But how in the hell are they coming up with the BAH standards and BAS standards? My went up $4. My went up $4 this past year. I'm keeping it greasy, man. I'm just gonna tell you right now, I don't know how this makes sense because everything costs more from eggs, milk, butter, formula, pampers, you name it, it costs more. And I'm tired of it, man. And the troops are tired of it. Let me tell you why they're so tired of it. The Congress had to come up with a stipulation in the National Defense Authorization Act to ensure that our E1 through E5 get paid more to be on the same level as McDonald's and Walmart. That was in the last three years. No, I shouldn't pay. Check out FICA, guys. Look at your LES. I want you to see the word FICA. That's not a person, that's the government. Be up at like six, five, six hundred dollars.

SPEAKER_02 5:57

If you sky percent.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

So I'm paying FICA, then I gotta pay uh daycare for those of us that have kids, then I gotta pay my rent who's through the roof. Then I gotta pay gas who's through the roof. I mean, what else is there? Can I have a reprieve somewhere? I'm just telling you, I'm very passionate about this topic. I said this a long time ago when me and hype was back in the skiv, the real skiv back in the day. I was like, we why why why am I paying my own check? Do people realize that they're paying their own check because we're paying federal taxes and federal taxes fund the government and the DOD? Make it make sense, dude. It don't make no sense. So that's my two cents on it. Sorry, this is how it is. This is how I really feel.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

All right, Chief. So we hear that the math is not math. And what you got for us, hype?

SPEAKER_02 6:48

So I'm on the same page right there. That small percentage of people that serve or who have served uh should have to pay into that, right? It's one of those self-licking ice cream cones that we talk about. We're gonna push into fairness, we're gonna push into a lot of things. What's not fair is the fact that our airmen and soldiers and sailors don't get paid a lot as it is, right? We already know that from the top. Well, there's that fairness, and then you got the E1s to E4s who really suffered through it, and then they still gotta pay taxes. It kind of goes back to them, but some of that, how much do you trust that it actually is going back to them? I don't know, right? That's not that's not our decision to make it. Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

It's not going back. I'm gonna let you know right now. Let me go ahead and answer the question for you right now. If you didn't know, it's not going back. I'm just letting you know now. It's going to Iran and Israel and all these other places, and it's not going back in the pockets of the airmen, the young E5, uh, 01, 02 young people who have young families who are trying to make it. We got people out there driving for DoorDash.

SPEAKER_02 7:49

Yeah, second, second, third jobs, yeah.

unknown 7:52

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

To make ends meet. Hustlin'. So it's not coming back, man. It's not coming back. I'm sorry. I'm sorry to interrupt, man. I'm just, I'm very passionate about this topic. It's just not right.

SPEAKER_02 8:01

Yeah, so I know we're gonna get into it a little bit more, Larrae. Bottom line up front, I'm with Cheap. I don't think that that's the 1%, the past and the present service members should have to pay those taxes. It's not a lot of us, and my stance is that we put our lives on the line for this country. Every day we are expected to do that. That should be one of the things that we should not have to worry about, especially just living our lives, buying a house, buying a car, you know, childcare. There's taxes on everything that could be beneficial if we did not have to do that so that the service members can achieve the American dream that we are trying to secure for everybody else in this country.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

When you join the military and you sacrifice your you're sacrificing a piece of yourself, your life, your livelihood, what you want to do in pursuit of the bigger goal, which is the team. And the least that the military and government can do is ensure that we don't have to worry about financial resources. I'm not talking about paying me a million dollars.

SPEAKER_02 8:58

Right, because we're not getting that.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

I'm not on that. I'm not on that time. I understand what that means. You can't do it. Budgets, inflation. I understand that. I'm well read. I get that piece. Yeah. But you said the quiet part out loud when you said E1 to E5. I have to pay you more because of inflation at the rate of inflation and overall cost. You said the quiet part out loud in the National Defense Authorization Act. So now we know. So now you can't lie. You know, the old heads can't say, well, when I was coming up, it was fine. That's not true. Your money goes less further than it used to. Look at the rate of inflation. When people sit there and say, Oh, well, I did it on this salary. Well, no, you didn't on that salary.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

That's a false argument.

SPEAKER_02 9:54

Houses were $500 back there.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

Thank you. Bro, just in my time in the military, you could go get you a $200,000 house.

SPEAKER_02 10:01

That thing makes a damn mansion. It's a castle. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

Go ahead and go get you $200,000 now.

SPEAKER_02 10:09

Yeah, you got the backyard.

SPEAKER_01 10:10

And guess what your kid's gonna be? Your kid's gonna be up in the ghetto. And nothing against the ghetto because I come from the ghetto. I'm from, I'm of the ghetto. So we're from the ghetto. I'm not trying to poo-poo nothing. But what I'm saying is when you decide to sacrifice and put yourself in a position where you have to go above and beyond what the normal person does, I deserve some of the rewards. I need to reap some of the benefits. Something. American dream style. Do something other than the standard. Everybody thinks that we serve and it's fine and everybody's cool and oh, they have such a good life. And you know, some people get those choice assignments and live in a dream. Some people are in Italy and Germany and Japan living great with cola and all this other good stuff. Some people don't get that opportunity. That's not for everybody. We need to hit everyone. Peanut butter spread across the board. We need to understand that, hey man, young families are struggling. And I just want to let y'all know that it's not just enlisted, senior enlisted. It's not seniors, chiefs, and mass sergeants. They struggle too. Absolutely. No lieutenant colonels that struggle. Because guess what? When you make more, what you try to do? You try to give your family some of those resources more. Other people don't, you know, like, damn, okay, I got I got a promotion. I want to take a vacation with my kids. What?

SPEAKER_02 11:37

And why do I have to pay taxes on that vacation?

SPEAKER_01 11:41

In school, it's not cheap. Give me something to incentivize and say, hey guys, you know what? We appreciate your service. We understand how money doesn't necessarily need ends like it used to. So here's an extra incentive. Maybe we get a two, three-month tax holiday. Do something to counteract the inflation and the fact that childcare and eggs and milk and butter and gas and everything else is up. I get that the other average American is struggling. I get that. But you gotta also realize that we are not the average Americans by by no one else is sorry.

SPEAKER_02 12:20

By no means. By no means. Yeah. Thank you, man.

SPEAKER_00 12:23

So Chief, that's a great segue, right? So we talked about the 1%. We talk about what other Americans are going through, and I've heard struggle and I've heard sacrifice mentioned a couple of times. So a strong counter argument to that would be why should military members be treated any differently from firefighters, police, nurses, other first responders who are also putting their life on the line.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

Okay, here you go. You ready? You you oh open your ears real quick. Let me let you know why we're open. Now, now look, one of my best friends is a county sheriff. I have a firefighter. That's one of my good friends. I'm not poo-pooing their sacrifice as well. Because I don't want to, I don't that's not this.

SPEAKER_02 13:10

You know what that smoke.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

What we do, what people try to do is separate the hand so they're all fighting each other instead of us coming together. Here's the deal. The one key difference between me and them is that at any point in time I could get deployed. At any point in time, I can be moved from state to state or overseas. And those reasons alone will give me, like, okay, pause to say, well, I get why they don't have as much resources as everybody else. Let me encapsulate this argument for all you guys. And and it's a quick story, it's really fast. I owned a home in Las Vegas when I was there. My interest rate on my home at that point in time was like 3.2. When I decided to move, not my bad. Oops, I didn't decide to move. When the military told me an orders came back to the house.

SPEAKER_02 14:05

They decided you move in.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

I lost that 3.2%, and then I got locked in at 5.2%. Now for the average person, they might say, oh, that's just 2%. Bro, that's everything. And I had to come up with a new VA funding fee. And instead of 3.2%, I had to now pay 5.2%.

SPEAKER_02 14:24

And your BH changed.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

And the B Oh my God.

SPEAKER_02 14:28

It went down, right?

SPEAKER_01 14:29

And it went, thank you. It went down. So I am not insulated from the problems that exist within our ecosystem being military members. Police, fire, and your first responders, they don't have that. They are locally placed and they are they are there unless they decide to leave.

SPEAKER_03 14:54

Right.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

They decide to leave for better pastures. Me, I don't have a choice. I might want to leave a place, but guess what? You're still gonna be there. So I don't want people to sit there and put pit us against each other.

SPEAKER_03 15:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

I love my first responders. I love police. I love firefighters. I love them to death. But the difference is it's like apples and oranges. When they say it's time to go, it's time to go. And they might draw a parallel line. Yeah, whether you like it or not. They might draw a parallel line and say, Well, when I respond to a call on the radio and I'm trying to save somebody's life, I gotta go regardless of the situation. Like I don't have a choice to respond to a domestic violence event versus a robbery versus a car accident. I get that, but that's performance of duties. I'm talking about where you are living and where you decide to live. I cannot pick where I live unless I am an Air National Guardsman or a National Guardsman or I'm retired. If I'm active duty, it's not up to me. No more. It's up to somebody else.

SPEAKER_02 16:04

So less than 1%, sir. That's the difference. It also depends on who's who's funding this. We said federal taxes. You have your first responders. Most of them are not federal. So this is something we are military U.S. Armed Forces. We respond to the federal government and what its needs are. Like Chief said, we deploy, we move constantly, work long hours. Everybody kind of does that, but we take on risks that most Americans never even have to face. They can turn away and go somewhere else and say, no, no, thanks. I'm not doing that. So they have more choice.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

Chris, Chris, Chris, can they quit? Can that first responder quit?

SPEAKER_02 16:35

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

By the way, can that can that police officer quit?

SPEAKER_02 16:39

Yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

When they don't want to be a police officer anymore, can that paramedic quit? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 16:44

They can quit. Can you quit? No. You want to jail or you want to go home? You want to go to jail or you want to go home?

SPEAKER_01 16:51

Thank you. Do you want to go to jail? Federal Penitentiary. That's the difference. Do you want to go to jail? If I decide not to go to work as a cop, I'm fired. Maybe I might be able to go down the road and get another job. If I don't want to go to work as an airman, hey, prisoner rouser.

SPEAKER_02 17:13

Right. Yeah. Let me see you. Hey, B, and we still taking your paycheck because you're still on the roll. We take your money. You reduce to E1, but I still take your money. Take all your money.

SPEAKER_01 17:24

It's not going to nobody. So it doesn't matter. If you think you're big and bad. Go ahead. Try it. Exactly. Putting it two weeks. Oh, you know what? Go ahead and try. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold up.

SPEAKER_02 17:35

Put it in two-week notice.

SPEAKER_01 17:36

Can't you put in your two-week notice? When's the last time you wanted to put in your two-week notice?

SPEAKER_02 17:40

To the United States Air Force.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

Yeah, tell me the last time you want to put in your two-week notice. Because there's been so many times I wanted to put in my two-week notice that I couldn't even come close to putting in my two-week notice. They looked at me like I was a fool. And they write. Because you can't put in your two-week notice, but as a cop, I can. As a firefighter, I can. And as a paramedic, I can.

SPEAKER_02 18:00

Yep. I need you to go over there to the Middle East. No.

SPEAKER_01 18:03

Oh, okay. No.

SPEAKER_02 18:06

You better stop.

SPEAKER_01 18:07

Come on, man.

SPEAKER_02 18:09

Look, I don't want to go to the Middle East because I don't like what's going on over there and I don't agree.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

Got you, got you. Hey, hey, got you. Sergeant Sledge. Here you go. You said what? Say that one more time. Say it in my good ear. Say it in my good ear.

SPEAKER_02 18:23

Nah, man. I really just don't feel that we should be over there. I don't even know why we do over there in Iran and I refuse to go. I'm not going.

SPEAKER_01 18:30

Hey, man. I'm giving you a direct order. Go pick up your deployment gear at this time and then come see me when you're finished. I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it. Here's my two weeks notice. Oh, thanks. Did you email it to me or did you write it up? I did both, baby. I did both. Okay, okay, okay. All right. I got some for you. I got some for you. You already know. You already know what's gonna happen to you. You're gonna be strung out, boy. You're gonna, they're gonna, they're gonna jailwalk your ass all the way straight up and down, not to county.

SPEAKER_02 19:08

Club, man.

SPEAKER_01 19:09

We ain't talking about county. Bro, we talking about federal penitentiary. Right.

SPEAKER_02 19:17

Good luck. So that's where we stand right there, Lorrae.

SPEAKER_00 19:21

Okay. All right. I hear you. I hear you. And you know, and there might be viewers out there that say, well, you did have the option on whether or not to take this oath, right? But I know it's a whole different conversation. And out of can of beans, we're definitely gonna open up here, but just to continue to follow up with that sacrifice and that the 1% should not be taxed. Is tax exemption a fair form of compass compensation for sacrifice?

SPEAKER_02 19:48

Absolutely. That that just begins to give back and thank the truths, in my opinion. That's just the start of it. Granted, we get a paycheck. Well, that's because we work. We work for what we do. But the amount and the the capacity to serve, not a lot of private sector jobs require you to put your life on the line every single day, whether you like to or not, require you to move. When they say move, require you to jump. When they say jump, you say hi, high, and how long. There's a level of sacrifice that we provide to not only the Department of War, whatever, to this country so that everybody else can pursue their right in pursuit of happiness, regardless of what we want to do. We do that as well. So to not be able to have to pay taxes for anything US, that should be just the beginning of the of the compensation for the potential sacrifice that we've had. We just brought back some soldiers who have paid that price. And their families have to eat that for the rest of their lives. And there's no, there's very little compensation compared to what their sacrifice was. That person is gone. B has said that before. Their contribution is gone. It's in the wind. But maybe while that person's alive or past, present, or whatever sacrifices that they're doing, the least we can do is say, you know what, you ain't gotta pay that the house taxes for that. You don't have to pay the car taxes for that. You don't have to pay taxes for BX and commissary. We got little hints of that, but I'm talking about the grand scale of things. I don't think we should have to pay U.S. taxes at all because of the capacity that we have to put our lives on the line every single day. Like B said, whether you're actually out there in the overseas fighting the foreign war or you are just going to work at another state that we were ordered to go to. That's the least we can do for our past and present and future troops that that take the oath and decide they want to uh protect the freedoms that everybody else gets to have so they can turn in their two weeks' notice. That's the least we can do.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

We're not talking about making you rich in this segment.

SPEAKER_03 21:50

Right.

SPEAKER_01 21:51

We're talking about helping you make ends meet from you know, we're talking about groceries, we're talking about child care, we're talking about car notes, we're talking about the Things that you need.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

So we're talking about going beyond the military benefits that we already have. For example, BAH, BAS, items that are already not federally uh taxed, healthcare, retirement, the Service Members Civil Relief Relief Act, excuse me, uh combat pay not being uh taxed as well. So let's get more into that talking about the dollars. So, what would it mean economically if all active duty guard and reserve paid became federally taxed exempt? Because there was recently a bill that was introduced and it is called the Bonus Act. Okay. So the Bonus Act would amend a section of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to explicitly exempt all military bonuses from federal income tax. So I want to hear what you have about that.

SPEAKER_02 22:52

So that's that that's a start. I mean, no, no, that's a start because I mean I'm under a bonus system, but not every airman, soldier, sailor is under a bonus. Like it's a start. You're starting the conversation. Okay, of that less than 1%, what percent of soldier sailors, airmen, marines, etc., have a bonus. That's another way down there. It's way down there. I'm one of the rarities, and that's based on the criticality of the MOS or AFSC that the Department of War needs. Not everybody gets a bonus. I got a bonus, I get taxed. It's ridiculous. I hate it. It's it's a problem. That's money I could be investing in my kids' school systems or something. It's just gone. It's going back to that self-licking ice cream cone. But what I'm trying to say is it's a start to the conversation, but a bonus is, in my opinion, barely scratching the surface. Uh, but but you're we're having the right conversation. But I would say it's not enough. I would say you need to push a little bit harder. A bigger statement, in my opinion, would be like like like Chief said earlier, FICA, let's let's start there. And every soldier sailor airman does not have to pay that. It's not just, oh, you got to be deployed overseas. No, I want that to be like the standard. Let's have that conversation. I I think it's a good start. At least somebody understands that we should not be paying these dollars to this to this extent for this money to bleed out into some other hole that we we may or may not agree with because we can't vote on those policies. It's just one of those things where, like, cool, we're having the conversations. Everybody in in our government leadership is not crazy. Somebody understands and somebody's trying, but I I think we can try a little bit harder and advocate hard so these soldiers, sales, and airline, these E1s, E4s can have a chance and have a stab at having a quality life. Again, they're not rich and baller, they're going to the freaking grocery store and they're buying eggs. Right. You know me? That's all they're trying to do. They're buying diapers, freaking baby food. They're trying to do that. And I personally don't think they should have to pay taxes for that crap. Like, it just doesn't make sense. We got the commissary, but but I think it should be everywhere. And I'm glad that we're starting to have the conversation. But I don't know how far that it's gotten, but I think we could push it a little bit further to the point where everybody has a stab and a chance at the American dream, especially those who serve and or they put their lives on the line for everybody else to do whatever they want. And they they say whatever they want about the military. They sh on us and and they they put us down and you know they don't understand what the things that we have to go through. I think that would that would just be a small thank you as a community to be able to say, you know, we don't understand what y'all going through, but we want y'all to have a solid quality of life because y'all doing stuff that we we would not do, we would say bleep you too, are we just not capable of doing? The least we can do is get is have this conversation.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

Yeah, I agree. That's a starting point. However, let me let me just go ahead and let you know, based off of uh special interest group groups and the congressional budget offices and things like that, uh, the Senate Armed Services Committee, they're not gonna do it, bro. I mean, because it don't matter. Understand, I I want everybody, look, hey guys, write this down, rewind this and play this back when you guys listen to this podcast. When you get a chance, I want you to go to Chat GPT. See, I love AI. And I want you to type in and say, what is the percentage of serving U.S. congressmen that have served in the United States military in any capacity? In any. Right. And I guarantee you, when you get that number, you'll find out why they don't give a damn. Please rewind this tape, look at it, type in a chat GPT, and look at the percentage. And that's why you're not going to see members of Congress say anything about this. That's why it hasn't gotten any traction. As simple as bonuses, which is a fraction. I could easily slide it in. That's nothing. That's nothing. You know what they said? They like, eh, nah, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. They're just gonna take it on the chain and just keep moving anyway.

SPEAKER_00 26:54

Thank you. That perspective matters, Chief, and we need that. So um, that article that I did reference from the Federal News Network did go on to talk about a bill proposal that would eliminate federal income taxes on military pay, but in that same breath, active duty and reserve personnel will still be paying payroll taxes on their income. So my question to you all is right, if we are advocating for that 1% not to pay federal taxes, who is going to absorb that loss in revenue? Because we still got to think about other taxpayers. We got to think about the spinning cut. So the fit defense budget offset. How is that gonna be impacted? Who absorbs that loss for us not paying?

SPEAKER_01 27:37

It's hard because you got to look at it. Discretionary funding sits in one of what three or four pockets. We have DOW, the the defense budget, we have Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security. And then you gotta pay the taxes on the $39 trillion debt that we have. And that is that's non-discretionary. So who's gonna take a cut? Nobody really can take a cut. I break it down to people in this sense. It's one of two ways, and I'm really simplifying it here, but it's one of two ways you can really change the the structure, the overall, how things are going as far as money is concerned. And in a household and the country, I either have to take in more revenue or I have to cut expenditures. That's that's the only way. That's the only way. So I either gotta cut programs or I gotta tax you more. What politicians are gonna sign up for that? Right. Because that's a death sentence.

SPEAKER_02 28:36

I want to jump in here and I want to help you answer this this question be the loss in revenue. I would say who who I would say who doesn't. I don't want the taxpayers to eat that. They already pay enough taxes as it is. Like the commenter is again the same struggles that the military members are having, the same people in the private sector are having. They're having the same struggles. So it cannot be the taxpayers. I personally think the government should just just absorb it and just be like, just take it as an L. You know what I'm saying? Just take it as that's just my opinion, or somewhere in between. Because if you put it on the taxpayers, they're gonna lose it. They're already at the at their wit's end with this crap, right? So we cannot put it on them. We absolutely cannot put it back from the taxpayers to eat up what we what we don't want to pay.

SPEAKER_01 29:17

Just to tell you, you said put it on the government, but we are the government. You know what I'm saying? So we put it on ourselves. So understand that.

SPEAKER_02 29:24

So you yeah, you're just gonna have a hole. You're not gonna have your your revenue is not gonna be as big, and that's what we have to eat.

SPEAKER_01 29:30

So devil's advocate, they're gonna say, so we're gonna drive up deficits even further to try to try to take care of you even better when we all struggling?

SPEAKER_02 29:39

Or the defense budget goes down? Yeah, yeah, it's it's going to go down. It's going to go down. So again, like you guys have mentioned before, there are some programs that are gonna have to you have to take a look at. Just like, okay. Which ones? Figure that out. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 29:53

Well, I'm I'm asking, give me one right now. Just give me one that needs to cut.

SPEAKER_02 29:58

Oh no, I'm not cutting anything. Why would I limit, why would I, why would I limit my own power? Why would I limit my own power or the power of that airman basic? I'm not doing that.

unknown 30:07

Right.

SPEAKER_02 30:08

Here's who I don't want to end up absorbing this revenue. The common taxpayer. I want the golden taxpayer. No offense.

SPEAKER_01 30:20

Now you lost it. You because soon as you say top 1%, and you say, oh, you're gonna you will put the number.

SPEAKER_02 30:25

They're like army. Who was about to when when the DOW was down, somebody went in and tried to buy the army, right? Somebody in just said, oh, I'll pay the I'll pay the military salary of the military members. Well, come on down, like over there, like the price is great. Well, come on down and bring your friends with you, and bring your friends with you. I don't want you to buy the army because I don't want to do your bidding when it's that time to do it. I want to do the country's bidding. But uh what but but you see, like they have the potential. Somebody has it. I would like the golden taxpayer, not the common taxpayer.

SPEAKER_01 30:57

I got you, I got you. You you you basically saying calling all patriotic Americans who want to chip in on a collection plan. Yeah, no, no, no, the top 1%.

SPEAKER_02 31:05

Because at the end of the day, got it. At the end of the day, who's bidding? We are doing the country's bidding, but who's pulling the strings for the country? It can't be the commoner. It's not the common taxpayer. Well, but the taxpayer would take. That's what I'm saying needs to flip because the more you make, the more they take. But you know that the the the golden taxpayer knows how to work the system so they don't have to do the thing. So who eats it anyway? The common taxpayer, me and you.

SPEAKER_01 31:40

And that's what I'm saying. I'm gonna say the probability is very low.

SPEAKER_02 31:46

It's very low. So what I'm what I'm saying, so that that's Larry, just to answer, in my opinion, that's what I would think. I I would not want the common taxpayer to do it because they're already doing it. Right. But uh but it has to be somewhere between the golden taxpayer and the government absorbing or pulling from another pot. That but the question is which pot do you pull from? And we don't have enough data to be able to figure that out and make that call. We just don't.

SPEAKER_01 32:09

But but hype told me Snap. He said, Go ahead, cut snap, Medicaid, Medicaid. That's what he told me. That's what he told me. No, man. That can't be. He said Snap, Medicaid, Medicaid.

SPEAKER_02 32:20

That can't be because literally at the commissary, it says we accept Snap. Commissary on the B at the BX at on base says that. We cannot mess with that. We cannot. And I'm 100% behind that because the fact of the matter is that we have to use Snap at the commissary that is tax-free, and Snap is still accepted over there. It's telling of how much we struggling to make it through. I be damned. I'm just saying, I get what you're saying, Chief, but nah, Snap gotta stay. Because even with tax-free, they still struggling to the point where you need Snap.

SPEAKER_01 32:52

All right, what about what about Medicaid, Medicare?

SPEAKER_02 32:54

No, we need that. We need that. We Mexico just went look, I think we're getting off trail, but Mexico just did something real cool. I'm gonna leave it there. Okay, Social Security. Social Security. Yeah, that's a whole different pot. That's a whole different pot of money. You know, when you're tax exempt, you still gotta pay Social Security. I was telling us uh Larrae that anyway. You still gotta pay that. So you still gotta pay that. But I know Huh? Do we cut it? Do we cut it? I would say no, because what we need, we need that when they do get of age. Now I know they be dipping and dapping, but for between age one, when you get a social security number, and age 60, whatever, 65, they are dipping and dapping in, and that is not going to you. So that part I may or may not agree with because I don't know where it's going. But I need it to be there when I hit 63, or when I hit 65. You were you was using my money for whatever you was using it back then, but I'm here now, and I need my money, it's my money, and I'm letting it now. I know it now. I've been paying since 14 years old. I've been putting it into that pot. It better be there talking about you're gonna try and cut it off. No, you mean no, you're not. You better give, you better run it down. You better kick that 100 years down when I'm cold. You kick that down.

SPEAKER_00 34:12

All right, gents. So we're gonna go ahead and switch gears at this time. We're still talking about the relevancy of whether or not the 1% should be exempt from federal taxes. But now we're gonna talk about it more from a morale and recruiting impact. Would eliminating federal taxes help recruiting and retention? This is huge for our current military climate. We just saw that Space Force and Air Force both met their recruiting goals. So, could this tax exemption potentially be used as an enlistment incentive, retention tool, a family financial relief, a support for the junior enlisted? I want to hear your thoughts.

SPEAKER_01 34:48

All of the above. I'm telling you right now, as far as an incentive, you're gonna have people lined up. You're gonna bust your numbers out the bag. Absolutely out straight up, out the bags of game. You ever see somebody in some fat pants? You know, you know how people got their fat pants. You know what I'm saying? I gotta care fat pants. It's gonna don't try to put the skinny pants on when you're fat right now, right? It's gonna bust recruiting out the back seam of the pants. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Retention, your numbers gonna be sky high. Uh financial relief, yes, it's gonna help. And junior enlisted support, all those things are true. It's just it gets back to you know, when we when we have people that join, we want them to join for being on a better team. We want you to have self-sacrifice. We want you not to be doing it for the money. Because if you are truly rooted in money, then you're doing it.

SPEAKER_02 35:42

Nope.

SPEAKER_01 35:43

You know what I'm saying? That's the wrong reason. So I I don't necessarily agree with the like I want it to be just a byproduct, like a derivative. I don't want it to be the said thing because when you start targeting everything towards money, then you attract the wrong kind of personnel and the wrong kind of people that stay in, that come in the military, and that, you know, they're just like, I'm doing it for the money. And bro, when the money ain't right, I need to know you still gonna show up at old dark 30.

SPEAKER_02 36:11

Got my back, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:12

Right. And I need to know you still got my back, like like hype said. And if you don't, then we got a problem.

SPEAKER_00 36:17

But you can't deny that it is a huge, it is a huge incentive, right? And it makes us more competitive as compares to other industries.

SPEAKER_02 36:25

So check it out, Lorray. Most people join the military for some kind of personal reason. And that's what my TI taught me when I was in basic training 20, 21 years ago. He's like, I don't care why you join, you have a you have some patriotism because you were willing to sign on the dotted line. But you big, what's bigger is something personal to you, whether it was education, whether you were trying to get out the hood, whether you were trying to, you know, escape a predatory freaking parental figure, like you were trying to escape something the military gave you an out. It is very personal. Eventually, in time, it becomes different, it becomes more service than anything else. So, so that's just another additional thing. Not only do we have, you know, uh tuition assistance, that we have housing, but you are tax exempt. That's just another thing that you're adding to help sweeten the deal because what you're about to do, you potentially might lose your life and lose you know your space on this earth here. So we need to be able to sweeten the deal as much as we can. And check this out. Here's another piece of it, right? This is where where I get a lot of my my lessons from you, Larae, is literally, let's say you're bulging, right? You're gonna like like she said, you're gonna hit your numbers, you're gonna get to the point where let's say I'm making it up one million is one million is one million. That's the number, right? You're gonna get one million five hundred thousand because they all want those benefits. But now the DOW gets to choose, they get to choose quality candidates, they get to choose, they get to accept what'd you say, Larae? They get to look for the qualified, it's not this byproduct of this person like we got to accept because we have no choice. No, they're coming through the gate because you're sweetening the deal and then it matches because the economy is going through its thing, but it's like the military is hot right now, and it's able to take care of my kids, able to take care of me in this rough time, and I'm willing to sacrifice my life for this country because it's so sweet. So let me go ahead and do that. Well, I got too many people now. What do I do? I get to choose quality care members of character to do what I need to do. Now you got this heightened morale because everybody, for the most part, is there for the right reasons, and the military at the end got the call to say, this is a quality candidate. Let's go ahead and you know do the thing. So, what like I'm saying, we get to look for the qualified now. It's not the other way around because we are sweetening the deal.

SPEAKER_01 38:36

I was just saying, height, it's just the tax part. I love that. I I look, man, if we have a situation like that, bro, oh my God. You're gonna get the best, the brightest out the gate. Now, I'm not saying you're gonna be able to keep them forever because you know the best and the brightest are gonna reinvent themselves. You can't hold up. They're gonna look at different things, they're gonna say, no, this this cost-benefit exchange does not match. They're gonna change, they're gonna change up. They're gonna say, uh, yeah, that's good right now, but you hold up, wait, wait for about four years, and I have that degree finished, I have some training, I'm out, and we're gonna have to re-incentivize you a different kind of way. But I that's where the bonuses come in. Right. Yep. The accessions, the accessions part. Yeah, the accessions part, but I don't want it to be all about money. I want you to at least come in with some. But you know what? I I need to look at it from a point from a standpoint of that's where my training instructors come into play. That's not my job. My job is to get you through the door. Qualified candidates. You turn them into a team and they understand what they need to prioritize, they will get that. And what they need to value while they're in our Air Force. Yes. I'm just gonna give you as much as you can, and then you whittle the thing down. You know what I'm saying? Oh, you can't you can't run two miles, you ain't gonna get this benefit. I guarantee. They're gonna run. They're gonna be track, they're gonna be on that track. That track will be full, bruh. Yeah, two miles? Yeah. Hey, why you say three? Why you say four? I'm running. I'm still gonna be running. They're gonna be like, hey, sir, your your test is over. I'm still running. Tax-free, baby.

SPEAKER_02 40:18

I can't free.

SPEAKER_01 40:19

I'm still running.

SPEAKER_02 40:20

I can't go back home to this. I can't go back home. So I love it. So I think Lorray, I think you understand that. We as ROTC instructors back in the day, where we got to screen, got to screen quality candidates. That's a good feeling. Like, dude, do that. Like you are a perfectly qualified person. You got the right attitude, you got the right motivation. You are it. It's not this, you know, other way around where it's like, man, we're we're scraping to hit the quota. We've never scraped to hit the quota. We've always hit it because they come to us and we get to we turn them some of the not qualified away. That'd be something, a problem recruiters would never have to face again if we had that as an incentive, because they wouldn't have to face the economy. They would be like, no, I'm gonna try and bust through this.

SPEAKER_00 41:02

So we talked about and we've addressed the future, but let's step a little bit into the past. Let's take an even deeper step. We've talked about the application to active duty, reserves, uh, potential airmen. What about veterans? Should this tax exemption apply to honorably discharged veterans and retirees?

SPEAKER_02 41:25

Well, the vets already get that. The vets already tax exempt uh their disabilities are tax exempt. So they got they get a little bit of flavor, like we get a little bit of flavor. I personally think they should be it needs to be considered, right?

SPEAKER_01 41:37

You're talking about federal tax, right? Right. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 41:41

Yeah, I mean, exactly. So they don't they don't pay on their disability, they don't pay federal taxes, they're tax exempt. So they already kind of pay you due. Your retirement pay you do dependent. It's already exists, it does exist to some extent. But I mean, if you go, if a V a veteran uses the VA home loan, they don't have to pay like the the VA fees. Like there, there's some things that exist so that the veteran gets a thank you for their service. But should they be entitled to the same thing? Let's say if active duty says we don't have to pay taxes for for anything. Well, I think the veterans, they don't have to either. I I don't think so. I I don't think they should. That's just me. I know it's it's it's way out there, but the veterans have done, especially these, you know, folks who have served 20, you know, 20, 30 years and all this other stuff like that. Maybe that's a method of control. Maybe that's a method of control. How do we control that? What kind of veteran? Is it a medal of honor? Well, if you got a medal of honor freaking medal, you're not paying taxes. You're not paying any taxes, you're not paying nothing. That's what I'm saying. You gotta have methods of control. What kind of veteran are we talking? Maybe we can have that conversation, but it needs to be considered. Absolutely, 100%. If you were disabled, if you took a bullet for this country, absolutely 100%, you need to be at least considered. And you live, you still with us? That's what I'm saying. So, yes, big blanket, yes. But I know that you're gonna talk about some methods of control uh later on, but I'd say big big blanket, big picture, yes, it needs to be considered.

SPEAKER_01 43:02

Big picture, I'ma say devil's advocate, no. And this is why because active duty is usually at a disadvantage compared to their veteran 20-year counterparts, 20-year plus. Okay. So you have an active duty member and you have a veteran that has over 20 years of service and they're pulling a retirement check, possibly some VA disability, and then they're starting a new career. Ugh, I'm kind of like, all right, so now you just made it 1020 fold that the veteran is going to be outpacing the active duty service member. Okay. And I don't know if I necessarily agree with that. I I'm not I'm not saying like straight up no.

SPEAKER_02 43:50

I'm just like, uh, dude. And and that's where the filters come in, right? I say blanket yes if. So I get what you're saying too, because You know, some veterans are disabled and they cannot work anymore. Okay. Some people are medal of honor recipients. I don't give a damn if you go to work at Lockheed Martin after you got you got a medal of honor. Like you you deserve to walk through this bad boy and go ahead and get go to the lot and say, I don't want to pay taxes on that. Let me get that. You know what I mean? Okay, so there there are certain kinds of veterans that I believe should be considered. It depends on the disability and all that. It's screened. It is screened. But I think most taxpayers would be like, you know what? This person did what I, you know, what I wouldn't or could not do. They would probably let the common taxpayer would let that go.

SPEAKER_01 44:36

Probably let that go. Yeah, and and I agree with you on that piece. And now that you break it down like that, yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and go with blanket too, because you know, none of this is easy. It's not. You know, to just come up out the military after four years with an honorable discharge ain't easy. You know what I'm saying? Everybody has something. You have lost something. We would not have any need for characterization of discharge if it was just everybody was getting it. Right. Exactly. Everybody ain't getting it. So I just want to just go ahead and say that. So yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and go with hype blanket. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 45:11

Yo, it could be controlled by what kind of exemptions you get.

SPEAKER_01 45:14

What kind of exemption, how long, and you gotta remember, people really don't understand this. Just I want to frame it for our audience because our audience is largely military. But for those few people that come over to the dark side and just come check us out and see, you know, hey, I won't hear what these military people are talking about. Realize this.

SPEAKER_00 45:32

You are serving during a part of your life, the probably most people are in the prime of their lives.

SPEAKER_01 45:42

You are sacrificing your youth. This is what I tell my young airmen in the unit. You 21, 22, 23 year old, you're sacrificing your youth while your contemporaries are going to college, doing experimenting, doing the things that they do. You're waking up, fighting the fight, hole in the wall.

SPEAKER_03 46:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:05

So to that end, I'm like, well, you should get some additional benefits because you're sacrificing your youth. So everybody. I say everybody.

SPEAKER_00 46:15

Everybody. Okay. All right. Well, now let's pressure test the other side. Some people believe taxes are a part of citizenship, that no one, regardless of their profession, should be exempt from them. So does exempting military members create somewhat of a two-tier citizenship system?

SPEAKER_01 46:38

Well, here's the deal ultimate sacrifice. We have paid for this country through blood.

SPEAKER_02 46:45

Yep, we paid our freaking bill. So missing birthdays. I get it.

SPEAKER_01 46:49

Citizenship is like taxation, it's a part of citizenship. Absolutely. But there also is that higher echelon payment that you make in the world. Our souls. The life. Souls. Our souls. My life. So I don't want to hear nothing about that. That argument, don't hold no water. Just go ahead and cut through that. I don't want to hear shit about it.

SPEAKER_02 47:06

Because when you say money, you think about money. My life. My soul. Pieces of my soul. I go, I go to Iraq and I come back and I'm a different person. I've lost something. I've lost comrades. I've lost a piece of my soul. About to do it again. I'm about to leave out there. Who knows what I'm bringing back with me? Oh, yeah. We paid the price. It's not in the form of Benjamin's. It's in the form of my soul, my heart, my blood, my soul, my sacrifice, my family. They gotta eat that too. We pay.

SPEAKER_01 47:36

Oh, let me give you this. Let me give you this. Not only are we paying with blood, sweat, tears, all that other stuff, you also paying Benjamin's too. Because let me tell you, we're paying five. We gotta pay for that too. So now I'm now now you give me double. Now you wait, wait. Now you now you make me pay double? Hold on. Double. You charging me double. You better run this back. Let me look at my receipt.

SPEAKER_03 48:01

That's how I am.

SPEAKER_01 48:02

You know, you know you somebody ring your ass up in the line and you'd be like, I gave you a 20. I gave you a 20, dog.

SPEAKER_02 48:09

Nah, no, you gave me you gave me a 10. No, you know you didn't.

SPEAKER_00 48:12

MC said $30, my bill, $100? $20? But Chief, but Chief, isn't your deployment pay tax exempt?

SPEAKER_01 48:22

Oh my God. Yes, it is. Here's the deal, though. Here's the deal. Here's the deal. Here's the deal. When it comes time for that tax return, I'm only getting a piece. I still gotta pay taxes over that entire year. So if I'm only deployed six months out the year, half of the other way I'm gonna owe you. I need that full year in order to be completely tax free. Got you. I mean, yeah. But still, you're paying, I'm paying you twice. I'm paying you twice. I'm paying you through blood, and then I'm tax exempt for the time that I'm over there. Okay, cool. I I guess. But guess what? My wife is my wife with my kids are paying taxes on everything.

SPEAKER_02 49:01

So what is it? What if it mat what does it matter if I come back in a casket? It doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_01 49:07

Nope. And they're paying taxes. My wife is paying taxes. She's paying taxes on pampers, formula, come on, food.

SPEAKER_00 49:16

Right.

SPEAKER_01 49:17

The lights stay on. Taxes is in everything. That's nothing compared to my life, man.

SPEAKER_00 49:21

That's nothing.

SPEAKER_01 49:22

Delivery charge, everything. She's paying taxes on everything. Okay. So Fica, okay, you might not get a little bit of my extra, my check. I might get that back, but she's still paying taxes on everything. And what if you're in a single income home? Wow. All right, that works. So now I'm really being, I'm still being taxed. I'm being charged twice. Right. Thanks. Yep. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you for thank you for going ahead and giving it to me twice instead of one time.

SPEAKER_02 49:50

Appreciate it. Thank you, sir. May I please have another?

SPEAKER_01 49:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:54

Thank you. Thanks. Thanks. Appreciate it. So for those out there who went back and forth, had a little bit of fun, but let us know what you guys think. Should the 1% who serve this country be exempt from all federal and state taxes? But I want to leave this here because we're going to talk about this later, too. Some people would argue that mandatory service in the military is a part of citizenship, and some people could tell you go kick that down the road. So we go back and forth with this, but let us know what you guys think. Drop your comments and your thoughts below. The skip wants to hear both sides, and at the end of the day, you guys make the call. Our opinions are our own and don't reflect any government agency. So we don't want to hear this is me. This is all me, baby. This is all me, baby. So we know your time is precious out there. We appreciate all our viewers and followers, and we're always looking for new views. So make sure the word, make sure it's a reminder to listen. L S S S C N that's like, subscribe, share, comment, and notification activation. We're trying to get it. RO YouTube, Facebook, IG, TikTok, Buzz Sprout, and whatever you get your podcast. Let's go ahead and open the vault. Let's bring in the outro. Later, see ya later. Peace.