APRIL NEWSLETTER: A truly progressive relief bill? We’re here for it.
Hi friends,
This month we’re aiming to change the narrative around taxes from onerous to awesome—and share why we’re excited about the American Rescue Act. (Here’s a great primer on the relief bill from the New York Times or check this out to get really geeky about it.)
The American Rescue Act is one of the most progressive relief bills we’ve seen since the New Deal. It’s estimated to reduce childhood poverty by 50%, while funding state, local, and tribal governments, and small businesses as we try to rebuild post-pandemic.
With the arrival of spring, the relief bill, and tax season, we’re sending good vibes to all the tax advisors this year, it’s gonna be a doozy!
Onward,
Georgia + Team Modernist
TAXES: Structure your wealth around your values
It is a radical act to view taxes as a contribution to the greater good.
What would change if we shifted our language from tax burden to collective support?
Retaining our unconscious money stories about taxes maintains a status quo that allows our tax policies to preserve the racial (wealth) inequality that has long defined America.
⚡️ACTION ITEMS⚡️ For More Equitable Tax Policy
There are pragmatic things we can all do to address systemic racism in taxes:
⚡️ Understand the history behind taxes and inequality. Learn from Emory law professor Dorothy A. Brown by reading her book The Whiteness of Wealth or her article in The Atlantic, or listen to her recent interview on NPR’s Marketplace. One of her recommended solutions is from Reagan’s (!) 1986 tax plan.
⚡️ Change the conversation about paying taxes from being an onerous chore to how we pay our share.
⚡️ Vote. And support the organizations fighting for everyone’s right to vote, which can help us build a more equitable (tax) system.
#fundyourheroes by voting with your dollar
PSA: We need everyone, especially folks who don’t usually owe taxes, to file a return.
Recent relief dollars are distributed by the IRS, but many people don't know they need to file to get help.
Consider supporting CASH Oregon, an arm of the excellent nonprofit Metropolitan Family Services, that offers free tax preparation in Oregon by IRS-certified volunteers.
If you're not in Oregon, check out the IRS's free tax filing search engine to find a local non-profit to support.
Please spread the word about filing a return!
We encourage our clients (and everyone else!) to tune out the financial noise in media – no matter how entertaining – which helps us keep a long-term focus as an investor.
On the blog, Georgia shared her thoughts on GameStop and short squeezes, Tulip crazes and 2021 bubbles, and whether any of this is relevant to Modernist's portfolios.
MODERNIST TAKES IT OUTSIDE
Portland Business Journal interviewed Georgia for their new Don’t Count Portland Out series.
She reminds us that Portland has decades of ingenuity to build on, and that we have reason to be hopeful for the future!
Read an excerpt here.
ART BREAK: OCEAN VUONG
The inestimably gorgeous genius that is Ocean Vuong will be lecturing at local PNCA's MFA program on April 15th via PNCA’s Youtube channel.
Celebrate what would have been tax day by hearing the words of one of our greatest living writers as he reflects on poetry, queerness, American history, and the experience of immigration in America. Register here.
a song that is really about DELETING
OLD MONEY STORIES
We can’t get enough of this anthem from artist and activist Madame Gandhi.
It’s simultaneously a look back and a message of hope that we can change for a better future.
What's bothering me / All my bad habits have got to, got to go / Entirely / It's my year to be free / Fela Kuti in the 1970's, inspires me / All he wanted was his people to be free, from the colonies / Like Mahatma Ghandi, in the 1940's / I've been reading about woman's history, in the 1920's / Thinking about how I can be so much better