It’s official. The Joint Tax Committee informs us that under the terms of the Pelosi health-care bill, “Americans who do not maintain acceptable health insurance coverage and who choose not to pay the bill’s new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to five years.”

“You heard the mantra, ‘Tax the rich, tax the rich,”‘ Paterson said Wednesday at a gathering of newspaper editors at an Associated Press event in Syracuse. “We’ve done that. We’ve probably lost jobs and driven people out of the state.”

The case involved Robert Kahre, a Las Vegas businessman who paid his contract employees in gold and silver U.S. coins. The employees then paid taxes based on the face value of the coins, rather than their much greater worth as bullion. The difference can be considerable. A $50 U.S. gold coin contains one troy ounce of gold, which currently fetches over $900.

The IRS sued Kahre and some of his contract employees, essentially claiming that taxes should be based on the actual value of the coins, rather than their face value. Which tends to raise an obvious question. A $50 bill has a real value of essentially nothing since it’s only good for lining a bird cage, so can I get paid in $50 bills and not owe any taxes?

It’s tax rage day.

Buy a gun day.

And I hear there are some protests going on. Details for the one in Knoxville here.

Sadly, I’ll only be participating in the first one.

If Whoopi Goldberg is getting up in arms about tax increases then this movement is crossing all kinds of lines.

Also, Obama appoints another tax cheat: Ron Kirk.

It’s gone beyond funny to officially pathetic. Taxes are, apparently, just for the little people.

The tax code isn’t all that complicated unless you try to get all the deductions possible.

Yeah, those 6.6 billion hours spent per year on them are because math is hard. And the $194 billion per year in compliance costs is because it’s not all that complicated. And the 117 million times per year that IRS is contacted for answers is not due to complexities in the code. And that code consisting of 693 sections of the Internal Revenue Code that are applicable to individual taxpayers, 1,501 sections applicable to businesses, and 445 sections applicable to tax-exempt organizations, employee plans, and governments. And the Treasury Department had issued almost 20,000 pages of regulations containing over 8 million words.

But, no, it’s not all that complicated. Just ask Daschle, Geithner, Rangle, Solis, and Killefer.

Sources for my tax stats, which are dated and, therefore, understated.

Do you prepare your own taxes?
If not, who does?
Have you or the IRS ever discovered an error on a tax return you’ve filed?
Have you ever paid back taxes?
If the answer to either 3 or 4 is yes, please explain.

I’m not one to generally say There ought to be a law. But there ought to be a law. I think Congressmonkies should be required, by law, to do their own tax returns. And the process should be videotaped. I imagine the tax code would get much simpler.

Is this, like, some kind of karmic payback for all the Joe-the-plumber tax business?

I was sort of thinking that a lot of this has come out since Joe. And I know the press is lazy when it comes to asking hard questions of Obama and I’d bet they’re not the ones discovering this. I wonder, then, if someone learned after the Joe The Plumber incident to just start searching public records for anyone who enters the political arena and then to leak it?

Via AC who says: Now, Don’t Go Doing Anything Stupid Like Dressing Up Like Indians And Pouring A Bunch Into The Cumberland. That is stupid. The steps of the capitol is a much better location.

And Daschle.

Oh, and Geithner doesn’t like to pay taxes either but he’s not rooming under the bus. He makes mistakes and blames Turbo Tax. And others make mistakes too.

And PGP notes that while Obama was vetting gun owners from his cabinet, maybe he should have asked if they were tax cheats.

To All My Valued Employees,

There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of this company, and more specifically, your job. As you know, the economy has changed for the worse and presents many challenges. However, the good news is this: The economy doesn’t pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job however, is the changing political landscape in this country. However, let me tell you some little tidbits of fact which might help you decide what is in your best interests.

First, while it is easy to spew rhetoric that casts employers against employees, you have to understand that for every business owner there is a back story. This back story is often neglected and overshadowed by what you see and hear. Sure, you see me park my Mercedes outside. You’ve seen my big home at last years Christmas party. I’m sure; all these flashy icons of luxury conjure up some idealized thoughts about my life.

However, what you don’t see is the back story.

I started this company 28 years ago. At that time, I lived in a 300 square foot studio apartment for 3 years. My entire living apartment was converted into an office so I could put forth 100% effort into building acompany, which by the way, would eventually employ you.

My diet consisted of Ramen Pride noodles because every dollar I spent went back into this company. I drove a rusty Toyota Corolla with a defective transmission. I didn’t have time to date. Often times, I stayed home on weekends, while my friends went out drinking and partying. In fact, I was married to my business – hard work, discipline, and sacrifice.

Meanwhile, my friends got jobs. They worked 40 hours a week and made a modest $50K a year and spent every dime they earned. They drove flashy cars and lived in expensive homes and wore fancy designer clothes. Instead of hitting the Nordstrom’s for the latest hot fashion item, I was trolling through the discount store extracting any clothing item that didn’t look like it was birthed in the 70’s. My friends refinanced their mortgages and lived a life of luxury. I, however, did not. I put my time, my money, and my life into a business with a vision that eventually, some day, I too, will be able to afford these luxuries my friends supposedly had.

So, while you physically arrive at the office at 9am, mentally check in at about noon, and then leave at 5pm, I don’t. There is no “off” button for me. When you leave the office, you are done and you have a weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have the freedom. I eat, and breathe this company every minute of the day. There is no rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour. Every day this business is attached to my hip like a 1 year old special-needs child. You, of course, only see the fruits of that garden – the nice house, the Mercedes, the vacations … you never realize the back story and the sacrifices I’ve made.

Now, the economy is falling apart and I, the guy that made all the right decisions and saved his money, have to bail-out all the people who didn’t. The people that overspent their paychecks suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed a decade of my life for.

Yes, business ownership has is benefits but the price I’ve paid is steep and not without wounds.

Unfortunately, the cost of running this business, and employing you, is starting to eclipse the threshold of marginal benefit and let me tell you why:

I am being taxed to death and the government thinks I don’t pay enough. I have state taxes. Federal taxes. Property taxes. Sales and use taxes. Payroll taxes. Workers compensation taxes. Unemployment taxes. Taxes on taxes. I have to hire a tax man to manage all these taxes and then guess what? I have to pay taxes for employing him. Government mandates and regulations and all the accounting that goes with it, now occupy most of my time. On Oct 15th, I wrote a check to the US Treasury for $288,000 for quarterly taxes. You know what my “stimulus” check was? Zero. Nada. Zilch.

The question I have is this: Who is stimulating the economy? Me, the guy who has provided 14 people good paying jobs and serves over 2,200,000 people per year with a flourishing business? Or, the single mother sitting at home pregnant with her fourth child waiting for her next welfare check? Obviously, government feels the latter is the economic stimulus of this country.

The fact is, if I deducted (Read: Stole) 50% of your paycheck you’d quit and you wouldn’t work here. I mean, why should you? That’s nuts. Who wants to get rewarded only 50% of their hard work? Well, I agree which is why your job is in jeopardy.

Here is what many of you don’t understand .. to stimulate the economy you need to stimulate what runs the economy. Had suddenly government mandated to me that I didn’t need to pay taxes, guess what? Instead of depositing that $288,000 into the Washington black-hole, I would have spent it, hired more employees, and generated substantial economic growth. My employees would have enjoyed the wealth of that tax cut in the form of promotions and better salaries. But you can forget it now.

When you have a comatose man on the verge of death, you don’t defibrillate and shock his thumb thinking that will bring him back to life, do you? Or, do you defibrillate his heart? Business is at the heart of America and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate it, not kill it.

Suddenly, the power brokers in Washington believe the poor of America are the essential drivers of the American economic engine. Nothing could be further from the truth and this is the type of change you can keep.

So where am I going with all this? It’s quite simple.

If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, my reaction will be swift and simple. I fire you. I fire your co-workers. You can then plead with the government to pay for your mortgage, your SUV, and your child’s future. Frankly, it isn’t my problem any more.

Then, I will close this company down, move to another country, and retire. You see, I’m done. I’m done with a country that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, will be my citizenship.

So, if you lose your job, it won’t be at the hands of the economy; it will be at the hands of a political hurricane that swept through this country, steamrolled the constitution, and will have changed its landscape forever. If that happens, you can find me sitting on a beach, retired, and with no employees to worry about …

Signed,
Your boss

Incompetent big government, money grubbing pricks: making the world more libertarian one government form filled out in triplicate, shuffled, and stuffed in a bin no one ever reviews at a time.

In other news, regulators have simply given up trying to enforce Bill Frist’s onerous Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

Denmark’s tax agency is called SKAT. Denmark, like the United States, does tax gambling winnings. For casino gambling (which is where I believe this will be classified) the tax rate is 45% on the first 4 million Danish Kroners; it’s 75% on income above that. Today $1 is worth 5.88907 DKK; Mr. Eastgate won 53,899,250.70 DKK before taxes. Mr. Eastgate will owe about 39,224,438 DKK in tax ($6,660,545). Put another way Mr. Eastgate will keep 14,674,813 DKK ($2,491,871) of his winnings—just 27.23% of his prize. Yes, he faces an effective tax rate of 72.77%. Ouch.

Wow.

Meanwhile, former commies have a flat tax:

Russia has a 13% flat tax rate, so Mr. Demidov will owe about $755,247 to the State Taxation Service of Russia.

From reader BWM.

Blount Countians voted strongly against a half-cent sales tax increase Tuesday.

The countywide referendum was defeated by nearly 13,000 votes with 30,871 people voting against it and 18,124 people supporting it, according to unofficial returns.

Good.

Past coverage here.

But wildlife watching in Tennessee – which doesn’t require a license – is on the rise. TWRA is pitching an idea to tax non-hunters through small fees for trailer license plates, new fees to visit managed lands or by taxing products like bird seed.

I can’t find where taxes are lower for anyone under Obama’s plan.

If that’s true, then he’s not looking or not paying attention. See the non-partisan Tax Policy Center’s report (PDF) on the two candidates tax plans. In particular, note Figure 1 on page 41 — for the bottom four quintiles, both candidates cut taxes, but the average increase in after-tax income as compared to current law is much larger under Obama’s plan than it is under McCain’s:

The top quintile is the only group for which the average after-tax income goes down under Obama, and the detailed numbers (e.g., Table 4, Page 33) show that you’d have to be in the top 1% of taxpayers to see a decrease in after-tax income:

Under the Obama plan, families in the middle quintile would see their taxes go down by an average of $1,035 in 2009 as compared to current law (Table 3, Page 32):

Whereas under McCain’s plan, the average tax savings for that same quintile is only $325 (Table 6, Page 36):

For the middlest of the middle class (for lack of a better description), the average tax savings in 2009 under Obama is more than three times what it would be under McCain. Even for the upper-middle class (the fourth quintile), the increase in after tax income would be half again as large under Obama (+2.4%, Table 4, Page 33) as compared to under McCain (+1.6%, Table 9, Page 39):

Bottom line: If you’re not in the top 10%, your taxes will go down, and if you’re not in the top 1%, your taxes won’t go up. Further, if you’re in the bottom four quintiles, your taxes will be lower under Obama’s plan than they are under currently, and lower than they would be under McCain’s plan.

Now, of course, all of these reports assume that the candidates would actually be able to get their tax plans passed as proposed, and if you believe that of either candidate, I’ve got a bridge in Alaska to sell you, especially in light of the current state of the economy. But the point is that according to their stated plans, taxes would be lower for the overwhelming majority of taxpayers under Obama than they are under current law, and lower than they would be under McCain. You can argue about the fairness or lack thereof — and the fiscal responsibility or lack thereof — of the two plans, but it’s either ignorant or disingenuous to state that “taxes [won't be] lower for anyone under Obama’s plan.”

Crossed at Lean Left

[UPDATED for clarity]

Of course, some just steal it.

This week, it comes from NYT Columnist Thomas Friedman:

Criticizing Sarah Palin is truly shooting fish in a barrel. But given the huge attention she is getting, you can’t just ignore what she has to say. And there was one thing she said in the debate with Joe Biden that really sticks in my craw. It was when she turned to Biden and declared: “You said recently that higher taxes or asking for higher taxes or paying higher taxes is patriotic. In the middle class of America, which is where Todd and I have been all of our lives, that’s not patriotic.”

What an awful statement. Palin defended the government’s $700 billion rescue plan. She defended the surge in Iraq, where her own son is now serving. She defended sending more troops to Afghanistan. And yet, at the same time, she declared that Americans who pay their fair share of taxes to support all those government-led endeavors should not be considered patriotic.

I only wish she had been asked: “Governor Palin, if paying taxes is not considered patriotic in your neighborhood, who is going to pay for the body armor that will protect your son in Iraq? Who is going to pay for the bailout you endorsed? If it isn’t from tax revenues, there are only two ways to pay for those big projects — printing more money or borrowing more money. Do you think borrowing money from China is more patriotic than raising it in taxes from Americans?” That is not putting America first. That is selling America first.

Sorry, I grew up in a very middle-class family in a very middle-class suburb of Minneapolis, and my parents taught me that paying taxes, while certainly no fun, was how we paid for the police and the Army, our public universities and local schools, scientific research and Medicare for the elderly. No one said it better than Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes: “I like paying taxes. With them I buy civilization.”

I can understand someone saying that the government has no business bailing out the financial system, but I can’t understand someone arguing that we should do that but not pay for it with taxes. I can understand someone saying we have no business in Iraq, but I can’t understand someone who advocates staying in Iraq until “victory” declaring that paying taxes to fund that is not patriotic.

How in the world can conservative commentators write with a straight face that this woman should be vice president of the United States? Do these people understand what serious trouble our country is in right now?

H/T: KTK at Lean Left

“Catholic social doctrine as I was taught it is, you take care of people who need the help the most,” he said. “Now it’d be different if you could make the case to me that by giving this tax cut to the very wealthy, everybody else was going to be better off. We saw what happened the last eight years when we gave that tax cut.”

However, Biden doesn’t look to take care of people, according to his tax returns. Money talks.

The IRS has acknowledged that Jamey and Lora Costner of Newport are victims of identity theft and Congress has called on them to testify. Nevertheless, this young couple are being harassed yet again by the IRS for back taxes on income they never earned at a place they never worked (Koch Foods). This time, the feds have already taken $467 from Lora Costner’s $401K fund to pay the debt they don’t owe.

The monkeys push the buttons. It doesn’t matter if you have a valid concern, legitimate reason or other issue. IRS collects. The monkey just pushes the buttons.

“I think it’s short-sighted,” Corker said. “This economic stimulus plan costs over $150 billion and will have a negligible effect on the situation. All it does is create favor for politicians.

Additionally, there will be tax breaks for businessess. Hey, they’re onto something now.

And the .gov backed lenders will have their cap on lending raised.

And they’re gonna extend the amount of time people can draw unemployment.

Whoopie! We are saved.

So, here’s the question: If the government can stimulate the economy and that is allegedly good for the economy, why don’t they do it every day?

Need a hint?

The government can’t control the economy. They’re a player in it, of course, but it’s beyond their control. Period. If they could control it, we’d never have depressions, recessions, inflation, stagnation and all those other -essions and -ations. The .gov also cannot control unemployment, other than to the extent that they hire people. Period.

The only controls over the economy they truly have are tax rates. And the impacts of those are debatable.

Update: I guess they could be chosen by God.

In a year when Senator Kyle says taxpayers should demand lower property taxes AND in a year that Blount County will receive almost $1 million more in State funds, Blount County Commissioners are going to require Blount County taxpayers to take EVEN More money from their family budgets.

I wonder what blogging Blount County Commissioner Wendy will say. She did vote No and hats off to her.

Governor Bredesen on Monday signed into law a measure to extinguish most workplace smoking in Tennessee.

The law will go into effect in July, but the ban will not be enforced until October to give businesses time to comply. The ban would apply to most businesses, including restaurants.

Exclusions include bars or restaurants that prohibit people under 21 years old at all times, businesses employing no more than three workers and retail tobacco stores.

The market has pretty much instituted the same rules and has done a fine job regulating smoking. Where do they allow smoking in Tennessee other than bars? But someone who owns a business should decide what otherwise lawful activities they allow in that business. We don’t need big brother making those decisions.

Additionally, it looks the state can now build toll roads:

A bill to allow the state to build its first modern toll roads passed the state Senate today by a 20-10 vote.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation would be authorized to develop two pilot toll road projects — one road project and one bridge project — under the legislation. The House is scheduled to vote on the bill during its session at 5 p.m. today.

So, in years of record surpluses, our congress monkeys decide to allow the state to build toll roads. And, of course, the increase in cigarette taxes also corresponds to record surpluses. When there’s a shortfall, they need to tax. When there’s a surplus, they need to tax.

To my fellow Tennesseans: vote every one of these morons out.

While charging for highway access has been a common way to fund road building and maintenance in much of the country, most of the South has resisted the trend.

But that could change as federal funding for road projects dries up and states try to ward off gas-tax increases amid spiking fuel costs.

Tennessee has had substantial surpluses. Yet, they’re looking into this, increasing cigarette taxes (while also looking to ban smoking – and that’s just stupid), and taxing your propane for grilling. Even when they’re fat and happy, it’s not enough.

I say no thanks.

It’s a tax on hope.

It’s a tax on people who can’t do math.

It’s a tax people actually stand in line willingly to pay.

Dont BURN it, RETURN it. The Knoxville News Sentinel is reporting that WE, the TAXPAYERS overpaid our taxes by $1.3 billion in this budget year. In their words, the “State will have money to burn.” This is OUR Money and we should get part of this overpayment back!! We have heard rumors that they are talking about giving less than $100 million back to the taxpayers in the form of a temporary reduction in food taxes. This is UNACCEPTABLE. We have overpaid by $1.3 billion. The refund should be AT LEAST $400 million.

Please act TODAY and Click HERE to EMAIL Speaker Naifeh, Speaker Ramsey, and Governor Bredesen. The General Assembly will be making the final decision on the State Budget in the next few weeks. Make sure the taxpayer’s voice is heard. Tell them Don’t Burn it, Return it.

Tennesseans, my constituents, have overpaid taxes by almost $1 billion. I don’t know about everyone else, but I know when I overpay a bill, I expect a refund.

There’s a push now to use the excess collections to offset taxes on food. Giving us our money back? Novel concept.

BTW, AC has a good read on the tax on spanking your monkey. And, speaking of the tax on punching the clown, Terry Frank has more. And since we’re discussing rubbing one out, the story has made the national news.

So, do you beat it like Michael Jackson or like it owes you money?

In other news, I know a lot of euphemisms for choking your chicken.

The porn not corn tax bill came out of the first sub committee but was given a negative recommendation. The sub committee was made up of three people Joe Haynes(D), Douglas Henry(D) and Diane Black(R). The negative vote was given by Haynes and Henry. Diane Black was for the bill.

Good. It’s a really stupid bill.

This bill will tax porn and porn items (things you have to be over 18 years old to view or purchase),strip clubs and escort services. The tax would raise 50 million dollars and would be dedicated to allow the state to drop the sales tax on whole foods (Foods that are more healthy, fruits, vegetables, non processed meats and non processed canned goods,ect.) down to one percent in year one and down to zero in year two. The estimated drop in porn sales is only 3%.

I’m gonna go ahead and call the $50M bogus. Did someone do a porn study? A strip club study? Show me the numbers, man. Estimated drop of 3%? Want to bet?

And, you know, porn is free on Al Gore’s Internets.

SayUncle: Hello

Tax Collector: This is blah-blah-blah from the waivers department calling about your request for a waiver for penalties on your Professional Privilege Tax payment.

SayUncle: You have a waivers department?

Tax Collector: Yes.

SayUncle: Odd. So, you have an entire department dedicated to the fact you guys make a lot of mistakes.

Tax Collector: Sir?

SayUncle: Nothing. How can I help you, ma’am?

Tax Collector: Well, we show your address as [old address from a number of years back] and I have this letter from you requesting a waiver.

SayUncle: I no longer live there. Like I told the last guy, I let you guys know that via your handy little website that exists expressly for the purpose of letting you know that.

Tax Collector: We need to get your current address.

SayUncle: Well, on that letter that you have, just below the words I can be reached at.

Tax Collector: Yeah.

SayUncle: Well, you’ll notice that the first line ends in the word Road and the second line, oddly enough, ends in a five digit number. We commonly call that a zip-code. It typically indicates that, uh, that would be an address.

Tax Collector: *silence*

SayUncle: It also matches the top left portion of that thing it came in. You know, an envelope?

Tax Collector: So your current address is?

SayUncle: My address is blah-blah-blah.

Tax Collector: Thank you, sir.

SayUncle: Have a good day.

Wow. Just wow.

Update: Wow. First time I’ve gotten a refund in years and years. I was amazed and didn’t know why. Then it occurred to me that I did spend the first half of the year unemployed. Guess that explains it.

Tax Collector: Yeah, we’ve been trying to collect this tax plus penalties and interest for several months now. The new total comes to $539.

SayUncle: Did you send me a bill?

Tax Collector: Yes and a final payment notice.

SayUncle: Where’d you send it?

Tax Collector: [reads old address from two houses ago]

SayUncle: Yeah, I don’t live there any more. Haven’t for a while. I let you guys know that via your handy little website that exists expressly for the purpose of letting you know that.

Tax Collector: Oh.

SayUncle: And I thought the tax was every two years?

Tax Collector: It’s yearly.

SayUncle: So, any way, you’re going to charge me additional money due to your inability to check your own website? Doesn’t seem right. $100 in penalties and $39 interest is awful steep. That’s like, what, 18% interest?

Tax Collector: Err, I just have a computer printout . . .

SayUncle: Isn’t that, like, usury? Or, you know, pretty close? Are there laws against that?

Tax Collector: Well, we need to collect your tax . . .

SayUncle: So, can I request a waiver? After all, you guys seemed to put forth a rather lackluster effort to actually find me. I don’t really think I should have to pay for your error. You got phone books?

Tax Collector: Well, you can request a waiver for the penalties but the state’s policy is that we can’t waive the interest. I’ll need a formal letter requesting the waiver and a check for $439

SayUncle: So, no matter what, I gotta pay for something that is, in fact, beyond my control and through no fault of my own.

Tax Collector: Err . . .

SayUncle: Unbelievable.

We go through this every few years. As with most things government, it’s not the revenue side that’s a problem. It’s the spending.

More from R. Neal here.

So, for the 12 months of Fiscal year 05-06 and the first 5 months of 06-07, $461 million more in Revenue has been collected than was originally appropriated.

…and not one dime has been returned to taxpayers in the form of a lower food tax.

It’s also stupid because I doubt there’s enough volume of porn to compensate for the amount of groceries bought. So, Stacey, here’s an idea: Cut the tax on food and cut spending. Novel concept! Stacey writes:

The items I am considering are magazine’s, videos (online, cable purchase or hard copy) or items that you have to be over the age of 18 to view or purchase due to sexual content. R rated movies will not be included. Strip club fees and purchases of services at strip clubs and Escort services will also be included.

Aren’t escort services illegal if they involve sex? And today’s funny comes from the News Sentinel:

Kristi Dunn, store manager of Inserection Adult Fantasy Store, 501 N. Broadway, does not think the proposed tax will be of much concern to the store’s patrons.

Ha! That’s funny.

On Thursday, the House of Representatives will vote on legislation to increase taxes for the first time since 1993. It took just 15 days of new found power for the Democrats to raise taxes. The first vote of the 110th Congress removed the 3/5 supermajority to raise taxes. The following day was a vote to enact a new rule requiring offsetting tax increases for every tax cut.

Yes, it’s all coming back to me now exactly why I hate those guys.

Drivers could be paying their share of the state’s highway improvements based on how far they’re driving, under an idea being floated by some state legislators.

The system would work something like this: You pull up to a gas station, and a transmitter in your car tells the pump how far you’ve driven since you last filled your tank. The state charges you pennies for each mile you’ve traveled instead of the usual 21.4 cents per gallon you’ve been paying with every fill-up.

Members of the Senate Transportation Committee have been informally discussing the possibility of a “user fee” system, in which a Global Positioning System device would transmit your mileage to a gas pump and charge accordingly.

If you happen to be walking down the street and see a member of the Senate Transportation Committee, please kick him in the balls and tell him Uncle said that was ’cause you’re fucking stupid. If it happens to be a woman, the shin will do. Equal rights, and all. More:

“Gas tax revenues are static, and they don’t necessarily increase with the transportation needs that have to be met,” said Sen. Mark Norris, R-Collierville, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee. “We need to look at more forward-thinking concepts … like doing away with the gas tax and going to a user-driven system.”

Mr. Norris, I propose instead we place a transmitter on legislators to measure how much time their head spends up their ass. Then, we tax them based on that amount of time. It seems you can just go ahead and sign over your wealth to the state. Here’s the deal, sparky:

People don’t like taxes. And people damn sure don’t like transmitters telling big brother where they are or how much they drive. It’s not forward-thinking, it’s creepy big-brother nonsense and it cannot stand. More still:

The state Department of Transportation faces a projected shortfall of about $2 billion in the next 10 years. Meanwhile, its take from the gas tax — 21.4 cents per gallon on regular and 18.4 cents on diesel — has been the same since 1989.

With that and the fed tax, Tennessee drivers pay about $0.40 per gallon in taxes. Remember that next time some lame politician is attacking big oil for jacking up gas prices.

Via MKS.

Update: Terry points out Mr. Norris, despite my prior complaint, is actually not retarded.

Future property tax rate increases would have to go to the voters under a Metro Nashville referendum on Tuesday’s ballot.

Supporters of the ballot measure outnumbered opponents by a strong margin.

Not so with the .gov. I’m trying to pay taxes. Actually, I’m trying to pay estimated taxes. The won’t take my money. We’ve never paid these particular taxes to this particular bureaucracy before. They’re due Monday. Early last month, I filled out their form to authorize wire transfers. Due to a snafu on their end (i.e., Sorry sir, we, err, lost it) that didn’t go through and we’re looking at another 2 weeks. If I write them a check, they want to charge me a 10% penalty as opposed to if it’s just late and the penalty is interest, which is substantially less than 10%. I’m trying to pay you money. Jebus.

Idiots.

Congress is debating altering mortgage interest deductions, putting your homeownership at risk. Under U.S. tax code, mortgage interest on your home is currently deductible. If Congress changes or removes mortgage interest deductions you could be paying many thousands of dollars more each year.

Update: In comments, sailorcourt is unimpressed.

Last week, a federal appeals court ruled that certain types of court awards are NOT income…..so what? Well, the implications could be far reaching. The IRS has, like all bureaucracies with broad powers, assumed that they are pretty much in charge of determining what is “income.” The IRS has always pretty much taken the stance that if it shows up in your bank account, they get a piece of it. The court said, in effect, back off.

Specifically:

Murphy argued that just as compensation for physical injuries only makes one whole after a loss, the same is true of awards for emotional distress. In short, it is not income within the meaning of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution. The appeals court agreed, ruling that Murphy’s award for emotional distress is not income and therefore not taxable.

“The quality of life is going down about as fast as taxes are going up,” said Kuendel, 50, of Atlantic Highlands (New Jersey). He and his wife are looking at houses in Delaware, where there is no sales tax, no income tax and property taxes are relatively low.

Wonder what the correlation between tax rate and U-Haul rentals is?

Via Terry.

STOP the Internet Access TAX

Senator Alexander is THE KEY vote in the Senate and needs to hear from us NOW or he will very likely vote against extending the Internet Tax Freedom Act. Every state will then be free to tax our internet access. We rarely have the opportunity to have this kind of leverage but we can actually stop internet access taxes if we call Senator Alexander TODAY. PLEASE HELP.

The Internet Tax Freedom Act is keeping our Internet Access Tax Free but it will EXPIRE next year. The Senate is considering a permanent extension THIS WEEK and Senator Alexander will vote to increase these taxes if he doesn’t hear from us.

PLEASE take just a moment to call Senator Alexander’s office:

Just tell the Senator’s staff, “My name is _name_ and I live in _city_ and I want my Internet access to be tax free. Please tell the Senator to vote YES on permanently extending the Internet Tax Freedom Act.”

You can reach him at:

Washington Office
302 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-4944
Fax: (202) 228-3398

The state legislature first says you can’t practice without getting a license, which of course is provided by the state and not an independent party. But the license isn’t free. You have to pay annually or semi-annually to keep it. But not only do you have to pay for your license, you have to pay an annual tax on it. Essentially the legislature found out that they had a list of people that are hostage to them because they work in their chosen profession at the discretion of the state. So they decided to pick their pockets for an extra little something. They make you get a license, then they make you pay tax on the license to keep it.

I’ve bitched about it before. Seems I don’t have a right to work.

Via AC.

A Tennessee judge has ruled that a state law requiring drug dealers to pay taxes on their cocaine, marijuana and other illicit drugs is unconstitutional.

The ruling by Davidson County Chancellor Richard Dinkins bars the state from collecting $1.1 million from Jeremy Robbins, an East Tennessee man who was arrested on federal drug conspiracy charges and ordered to pay taxes on marijuana he is accused of illegally possessing.

But it could potentially cost the state much more if the decision is upheld by higher courts and interpreted as applying to the entire state.

Good. It was a stupid idea and now it’s just stupider. The purpose of the tax was to provide a means for law enforcement to enhance its coffers and this law allowed that by making it a tax issue. It also had the added benefit of completely disregarding due process of law before seizing assets. Sadly:

Last night, state officials said they would continue to enforce the tax, which has brought more than $2.7 million into state coffers since it went into effect in January 2005.

“They’re just turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to the opinion,” said James A. H. Bell, one of the Knoxville lawyers who brought the case on behalf of Robbins. He described the state’s attitude as “cavalier.”

The chancellor’s decision, handed down Monday, applies only to Robbins and, in any case, the state plans to appeal, said Sharon Curtis-Flair, spokeswoman for the state attorney general’s office.

If it’s unconstitutional, why does it apply only in one case? And this bit is scary:

Since 2005, state Department of Revenue officials have assessed $51 million in drug taxes owed, with the vast majority of the money going uncollected.

Very few people have actually bought the stamps. During the law’s first year, taxpayers spent $1,492 in stamps for illegal drugs.

That’s a lot of money. And people didn’t buy the stamps because 1) it’s fucking stupid and 2) the state made it unnecessarily difficult to do.

The court agreed with SayUncle’s due process findings:

“The court concludes that the manner in which the tax is assessed deprives taxpayers of due process and, to that extent, the statute is unconstitutional on its face,” the chancellor wrote.

He also found that levying the tax and charging someone with a crime was equivalent to double jeopardy because it punished the dealer twice for the same crime.

“(The) statute violates the double jeopardy provisions of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and … the Tennessee Constitution to the extent it may be employed against a dealer otherwise subject to state prosecution relating to the unauthorized substances subject to the tax proceeding.”

SayUncle: Like the courts, only faster.

Update: In comments, Xrlq says not so fast. Read it.

Please act TODAY and Click HERE to EMAIL Governor Bredesen, Speaker Naifeh, Speaker Wilder, Senator Ramsey and Representative McMillan to tell them this is a Golden opportunity to reduce the Sales Tax on Groceries.

Urgent: PLEASE Email Governor Bredesen with the link below. Governor Bredesen and the Tennessee General Assembly will decide next week how to spend an unexpected $266.5 million surplus (Tennessee Taxpayer Overpayment). A very small part of this surplus can be used to make a huge difference by reducing the sales tax on groceries.

Nobody’s asking that you fall into the false dichotomy Uncle falsely attributes to us. That is to say, nobody says you must favor all taxes and spending, or that you must oppose all taxes and spending. What you must do, however, is at least make an effort to bring taxes and spending into balance, and you cannot put the cart before the horse in doing this.

Err, no. Actually, there is no requirement I do that. End of story. I can say something sucks and not offer an alternative. For example, abortion sucks but I have no better alternative. And neither do you. Period. Game over.

See, here’s the problem: the anti-tax crowd knows that it’s easy to get sympathy from people by railing against the “evils” of taxation and, at least in the general sense, of “excessive government.” The problem is, as soon as these folks start drilling down into the particulars (e.g., what specific programs would be cut in order to bring down spending and thus lower taxes), they lose. And they know this, so they expressly avoid drilling into the particulars. When pushed, they’ll gladly give a laundry list of those spending programs they oppose, and these programs generally fall into either of two categories: programs that are too small to make a noticeable difference (e.g., some half-million dollar local pork program), or programs that are wildly popular (e.g. Social Security and Medicare). But they never explain how they’re actually going to get the voting public to agree to such program cuts (because they can’t), much less how they’d actually implement them.

I was pretty particular when I said killing social security and almost any agency that starts with Department of. Tom apparently thinks I’m a politician. I am not and have no desire to become so. Therefore, there is no need for me to pander to any demographic to score votes. I’m not trying to convince the voting public. Just because something is popular, that doesn’t make it right or wrong.

When taxes and the programs they pay for are directly tied together, most people prefer to pay the tax and keep the program, rather than to lose the program and be spared the tax.

I think that depends on the program. The military budget would get more support than, say, international assistance.

Getting the types of tax cuts that they favor would require either cutting these large-but-popular programs, which simply isn’t going to happen

On that, I agree. But I’m not pandering to voters or popularity contests. Our politicians are and that is why the .gov is the leviathan it is today. They can take on person’s money and give it to someone else.

Bringing this back around to Uncle, this is why we find his position so frustrating and so irresponsible. It’s not that he supports reducing taxes but doesn’t support reducing spending. It’s that he (apparently, at least) supports reducing and eliminating various taxes even if spending isn’t cut to match, and even if doing so wrecks the budget and/or explodes the debt. In other words, it may be an overstatement to say that he doesn’t care at all whether or not the government is fiscally responsible, but it’s certainly fair to say that his aversion to taxation is more important to him than any sort of budget discipline or financial responsibility. If he can’t get the spending cuts he wants, he still advocates cutting taxes anyway. Maybe he’ll close his eyes, clap three times, and hope it all works out.

Well, that shit’s just made up. I support cutting all kinds of taxes and all kinds of spending. But to kill the leviathan, you have to cut off it’s food not it’s fingernails.

At the same time, the .gov does provide valuable services, such as roads and the fact I don’t currently speak Russian. Those items, I don’t mind paying for though some scrutiny is needed in those areas (particularly defense spending which is always very high). But telling me that taxes are all groovy and shit because they only waste a little bit when compared to the total they waste isn’t very convincing.

Ed note: This started out as a comment over there but since my blogging is light, I thought I’d put it here for you to read.

He also states a real boner, that taxes are flat.

The Internal Revenue Service is quietly moving to loosen the once-inviolable privacy of federal income-tax returns.

If it succeeds, accountants and other tax-return preparers for the first time would be able to sell information from individual returns — or even entire returns — to marketers and data brokers.

Via PTH.

Businesses shouldn’t have to pay property tax on their computer software, an administrative law judge ruled.

The order came last week from administrative judge Pete Loesch in a case filed by Nashville-based American Healthways Inc., challenging an attempt by the Davidson County assessor to include computer applications on a personal property tax schedule.

There was a push recently to get a law that taxed software into effect. Last I heard, it was stopped.

Seriously. Hell, if my privacy can be violated like that, why not get some benefit from it?

Tennessee’s tax on unauthorized substances such as cocaine and marijuana and some alcoholic beverages brought in more than $1.7 million in its first year, according to revenue officials.

The tax, which is modeled after a 13-year-old North Carolina tax aimed at fighting illegal drugs, has resulted in $1,714,565 in collections and nearly $32 million in assessments.

“Our effective implementation of this tax aids in fulfilling the law’s primary purpose to channel funds collected into local law enforcement agencies to help combat, prevent and reduce drug crimes in Tennessee,” said Tennessee Department of Revenue Commissioner Loren L. Chumley.

Boy, is my face red. See, I predicted the tax would make no money. More:

With the tax, people in possession of illegal drugs must purchase stamps marked with a number to be affixed to packages containing the drugs.

When drugs without the stamp are found, the Tennessee Department of Revenue taxes the alleged drug possessor and gives them an opportunity to pay the tax. If it is not paid, agents may seize and auction anything of value the person owns.

No criminal conviction is needed for the state to enforce the tax, and information obtained from the sale of the drug stamps cannot be used in criminal prosecutions, according to the Revenue Department. At the same time, buying drug stamps does not provide immunity from criminal prosecution.

Oh, never mind. My face isn’t red at all. The purpose of the law was to get rid of due process in drug cases and it did just that, like I said.

When Julie Abel goes grocery shopping each week, she drives more than 25 miles to Georgia to avoid paying the nation’s highest average tax on food: 8.4 percent in Tennessee.

“If you can save $5 it is worth driving down the road,” Abel said after traveling from her rural home in Hamilton County, which collects 2.22 percent sales tax on food on top of the 6 percent for the state. Georgia does not tax food sales.

Abel is not alone in her frustration. Rep. Michael Kernell, D-Memphis, said he regularly hears complaints about the state’s almost 60-year-old food tax and he predicted it would change.

I don’t know that the numbers are accurate as our sales tax is 9.5% but 8.5% on some food and not others but the breakdown is arbitrary and the new sales tax laws have not been in effect for 60 years. Still, driving across a state line to buy food isn’t a bad idea. More:

An “average family of four could eat for free from Thanksgiving to Christmas on the tax they pay on food in a year,” Daly said.

A recent report from Daly’s group shows Tennessee leads the nation with the highest average sales tax on food, 8.4 percent, and a 9.4 percent sales tax.

Tennessee is among nine states that either have no state income tax, or collect it on dividend and interest income. Some say a state income tax could help ease the burden of the tax on food.

And there’s the pitch. Bredesen says he won’t support it and that’s why I voted for him.

The Tennessee Department of Revenue is encouraging online retailers to begin collecting sales tax for the state two years ahead of the deadline for them to do so.

The state delayed implementation of the streamlined sales tax initiative until 2007 after retailers complained about increased paperwork. Nevertheless, a multistate agreement to move to the system took effect in October, and retailers are being reminded of that.

Encouraging? Unless you’re mandating it, it’s not going to happen. No one wants to pay the tax (well, I’m sure some folks do but smart people don’t). No one wants to do the additional bookkeeping for the tax. And wasn’t there some sort of congressional deal that put a moratorium on taxing internet sales? More:

The Streamlined Sales Tax Project is an agreement by 18 states to simplify sales tax laws by establishing a uniform system to administer and collect the taxes on nearly $3.5 trillion in retail transactions annually. The idea is to collect sales taxes based on where the buyer lives, rather than on the place of sale.

Always with the hands in the pockets. Feh. And, since I’m known to pick a nit or two, this is a stupid statement that I see all the time:

University of Tennessee economist William Fox issued a recent study estimating that state and local governments will lose $18 billion in sales tax revenues this year because of online purchases.

Stupid economists. If expense is greater than revenue, that is a loss. Not collecting money that you’re not entitled to is not a loss. It’s called not collecting money you’re not entitled to.

Apparently, major retailers aren’t gearing up for it because most states haven’t agreed yet. I think a good plan of attack would be opposition to states contemplating signing the agreement.

The internet wants to be free and we should let it.