Open Thread – Flattened
From CNN Money:
The choice between the current tax system and the Perry plan will be a no-brainer for the very rich, who would do much better under his system. And it will be easy for most low-income working-class families, especially if they have kids. They’d be far happier under a system that preserves refundable credits such as the earned income and child credits than under Perry’s plan.
But for everyone else, picking between the two tax laws will a huge pain in the butt. The only way to get the right answer will be to do your taxes twice.
And if you happen to be among the millions at risk for paying the dreaded Alternative Minimum Tax, you’ll have the pleasure of doing your returns three times each year.
We’ve created a special section of the Mudflats Forum for tracking the Occupy Movement and posting about what is happening in our local communties. You can join it here: https://themudflats.net/forum/index.php?board=37.0
News: The State of Alaska is suing to invalidate the results of the Lake and Peninsula Borough voter initiative which protects salmon streams.
http://www.adn.com/2011/10/28/2143836/alaska-sues-over-pebble-mine-initiative.html
This from the governor who “would never trade one resource for another.” Yeah, right.
He seriously wants to take the “worst governor ever” title away from the quitter.
Is it fair to call a liar a liar?
Speaking of which, catch this over at the Washington Post site — it’s a hoot.
Republicans are the real guardians of the safety net
By Greg Sargent
Matthew Yglesias and Steve Benen point us to a new RNC fundraising letter, authored by none other than Paul Ryan, that makes this bleeding heart pitch to donors:
America is at a tipping point. 14 million Americans are unemployed and 9.3 million are underemployed. Our debt has grown over $4 trillion in less than three years and will be above $16 trillion before the end of 2012. The safety net for the poor is coming apart at the seams and no one in Washington seems to care
I wonder if TurboTax will reprogram so as to be able to do both sets of calculations and then tell me which is better for us? That would be awesome.
I also noticed how expensive it is getting to be to be burden on taxpayers and a deadbeat,non-taxpaying leech to boot. Matter of fact,with Medicare,prescription drugs and supplemental insurance to cover the 20% Medicare does not cover,I can’t afford to be a leech and a non-taxpaying deadbeat, Those necessary items eat up half my disability check and I still have to pay rent,utilities,one hospital bill and food for the next month. Fortunately I plan on being laid up for about six weeks so I won’t have to worry about gas for the jeeps of Christmas for the grandkids. Now its time to battle the rwnj beasties over on Yahoo News,where thankfully they finally stopped censoring apostrophies. Have a nice day.
Rethuglicans are working hard to eliminate the EIC because it isn’t right that people that don’t pay income taxes to begin with,should get a government refund…….unless you are the 1% and then it is okay for the government to subsidize your extravagant lifestyle.
Elaborate if you would Mike, how the government “subsidizes” the lifestyle of the 1%? You do understand that by definition (of those who don’t like the 1% anyway) to be in the top 1% you earn more money than the remaining 99% of the country don’t you? Is the government paying their checks? Furthermore who, exactly, do you think pays the taxes to cover the rebate checks mailed to those who get back more than they paid?
On a side note: The way this 99% org is arranged is somewhat moronic. There will always be a 1% that makes more money than the remaining 99%, just like there will always be a 25% that makes more money than the 75%, or an 80% that makes more money than the 20%…it’s semantics and the fact of the matter is that people would rather sit around in the street bemoaning their misfortune rather than walk across the park and get a job at the construction site. You’ll also notice these people all have cellphones (made by big companies, unless you happen to know of one operated out of your neighbor’s garage), cameras (made by big [foreign] companies), name-brand designer clothing (purchased from expensive, selective stores and made by small companies [maybe even in a garage] that pay their workers little, but sell their products at exhorbitant prices), yet they don’t have jobs to pay for anything…where is that money coming from Mike?
So now individual citizens will be allowed to choose between a flat tax and a ‘regular’ tax; between investing their social security money privately or keeping it as it is; and will be allowed to purchase the ever-less government-regulated health insurance policy of their choice. Yup; the GOTP really is ‘looking out’ for all citizens by giving them a ‘say’ in social/safety net matters. Unless, of course, that citizen happens to be female, in which case she is *not* allowed –ever!– to have any say over her own reproductive health. Do I have that about right? beth.
Almost.
Don’t forget, it’s not just reproductive health the GOTP wants to control, it’s also access to those silly little health services like mammograms and other cancer screenings provided by those evil heathens at PPH. The GOTP wants the ENTIRE woman to suffer, get sick and die, preferably after popping out a dozen or so little offspring. Why focus only on the lady bits when you can condemn the entire body to pain and misery?
Jimmy Fallon and Brian Williams Slow Jam the Latest Occupy Wall Street News
http://gawker.com/5854138/jimmy-fallon-and-brian-williams-slow-jam-the-latest-occupy-wall-street-news
Very cool – thanks for the link. It’s always nice to start the day with a smile.
Wouldn’t that be a job’s bill then? For CPAs? Because the thought of doing my taxes 2 or 3 times just doesn’t sound like fun.