My tuxedo cat Lacy was absent when I came home from work. I searched the house for her and found her hiding in a closet. I asked why she was hiding.

“I’m ashamed,” she replied.

“Ashamed of what?”

“Ashamed that I don’t pay income taxes.”

Oh, no, I thought. She was watching TV again or reading The Washington Post. She learned that Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney complained about 47% of Americans not paying taxes.

Last week I had to teach her about political hyperbole and convince her that Ohio Congressman Steve Stivers doesn’t make the sun rise. Now I had to explain income taxes.

It’s going to be a long October.

“Don’t worry,” I said. To make it simple for her I added, “We do pay income taxes. I pay for the both of us the way Mitt Romney pays for both himself and Ann Romney.”

Lacy looked relieved.

“Moreover,” I added, “We pay more as a percent of income than the Romneys. There’s no reason to feel ashamed.”

Lacy crawled slowly out of the closet, looking left and right before finally exiting. She then asked:

“So who are the 47% that don’t pay?”

“I’m not sure,” I answered truthfully, “but I’m wondering if this isn’t another Romney subliminal suggestion. He was born in 1947 so maybe the 47% is a way to make us think of his birth year. Hopefully his wife won’t wear her Pisces fish shirt again.”

Income Taxes

The 16th Amendment to the US Constitution, ratified on February 3, 1913, allows Congress to levy an income tax.

In that same year, 1913, the Federal Reserve Act was passed. I’m wondering if 1913 wasn’t the most important year in financial history, more important even than 1929 and the stock market crash.

The income tax amendment was ratified as Uranus, Mercury and sun were in Aquarius and Jupiter, moon and Mars were in Capricorn. Saturn was in Taurus, Venus was in Aries, Pluto was in Gemini and Neptune was in Cancer.

The Jupiter/moon/Mars placement in Capricorn says it all. If you want to know what I mean, find a moon in Capricorn person and try to borrow some cash (or get a hug). Good luck.

If that person has a generous sun in Leo, they will give you the cash but there will still be a mental register of what is owed at some point in time.

No surprise that the income tax is a stingy entity constantly trying to acquire more money and status while feeling the Saturn in Taurus lack of material stability (“I don’t have enough”).

The Aquarius energy, on the other hand, should make the income tax more equitable. I did find on Wikipedia that the first income tax was to fund the Civil War and, if the article is correct, very few paid the income tax (around 10%). It’s Aquarian only in that most of the population didn’t pay taxes.

Pluto in Capricorn

Are you back from trying to borrow money from your moon in Capricorn friend? Do you wish you hadn’t wasted the money on the gas?

If you felt slighted that your moon in Capricorn friend offered only sound advice but no cash, don’t worry. In the next 15-20 years, all the stability that has been built up by your friend will be razed by Mr. Pluto, who is transiting Capricorn right now.

The income tax may very well go through a transformation through a break or crack in the foundation. Will it change form? Be destroyed? Be rendered inoperative because there is no money with which to pay income taxes?

Capricorn is a stubborn and rigid sign which usually sides with authority. Pluto trying to change the mind and mode of Capricorn has to inflict some tough love. Pluto is not subtle regardless of the sign it is visiting.

The Cat Connects the Dots

As I explained all this, Lacy began to form a look of understanding. She still wondered about Mitt Romney.

“Will Pluto in Capricorn affect the Romney’s wealth?” she asked.

“Maybe,” I answered. “But the incipient transit of Saturn into Scorpio is what he needs to fear most with his moon in Scorpio. Whatever wealth he has that relies on the efforts of others or is “residual” will go through a Saturnian contraction.”

“Will something happen to his Swiss wealth?” Lacy asked?

“Since Scorpio is water,” I pondered, “maybe the Cayman Island assets will be first to contract.”