Make The Rich and the Governments atleast Pay Attention!
There is a lot more to the term Death and Taxes than you might expect. Income_Tax or IT, was originally introduced to help our Govenments finance Wars and to kill other people who were usually living in a foreign country.
For instance, Canadians were told that IT was a temporary measure to fight the Kaiser back in 1917...Right!
Americans have been fighting IT since the War of 1812 and got stuck with IT in 1861 during the Civil War. In Britian the great unwashed were hit up in 1798 to get some dough ready for the Napoleonic Wars.
Now you know why Governments keep finding ways and means to get involved in Armed Conflicts.
Aside from that distressing reality, the most irritating aspects of Income Tax are that the uber-riche can afford to weasel out of paying their fair share, and Governments are irresponsible with our money and have seemingly unrestricted powers to enact Legislation to keep it coming in. Last but not least, most of us would prefer to be as rich as both of the aforementioned groups.
Afterall, if it wasn't for us, neither of them would be rich!
It will never happen because fancy schmancy Accountants and Tax Lawyers who suck at the teat of the wealthiest members of society, and the Government, would do everything in their power to combat any attempt to introduce an equitable solution like a Flat_Tax .
Talk about Death and Taxes how about that Inheritance_Tax ..is that the ultimate kick in the groin or what?
In order to eliminate Inheritance Taxes our beloved ex-Prime Minister Brian Baloney introduced the Goods and Services Tax or GST back in the 80s. Many of you also enjoy that beauty.
The situation might be tolerable IF we felt that our hard earned money was not wasted on assinine Government projects, financing Wars, and paying out exhorbitant wages and retirement funds to the egomaniacal scoundrels who are attracted to Public Office and gorge themselves at the public trough.
So here is the thing of it all. If we could eliminate WARS then
theorhetically the Governments would be forced to rescind Income Tax Legislation altogether!
theorhetically the Governments would be forced to rescind Income Tax Legislation altogether!
((pin drops))
Yeah that could happen!
Most of us would probably settle for having a straight universal Flat Tax of let's say around 10% with NO exceptions for any person or corporation. Can any of you, other than Crackhead Economists, Evil Incarnate Taxation Lawyers, and Charismatically Challenged Accountants, effectively argue against atleast trying a Flat Tax.
Imagine if your entire income tax form was the size of a postcard.
You made X number of dollars last year X 10% = _______.
Thank You.
DONE!
We will never see the Death of Taxes because we expect too many frivolous niceties like Hospitals, Roads, and safe drinking Water, so we might as well make the most of it.
What would you do?
What? After cars you talk about taxes? As if I do not have other issues to think about!
ReplyDeleteYou should see the infrastructure in India, that too in Delhi..the capital. Nothing much to write home about.
I would love to pay death taxes for for the powers that are..
*Evil Grin*
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(Do I resemble Frankenstein?)
And here I thought we would just NEVER see eye to eye.
ReplyDeleteWhile the flat tax is already a wonderful (theoretical) improvement over the status-quo, why not go all the way with a VALUE ADDED TAX (as our only means of income tax)? That way, even the criminals (drug dealers, politicians, auto-repair techs, paris hilton's and britney spears' pulicists) would be forced to pay taxes when they bought their Hummers and B'mmers and apricot/rhino horn facial scrub treatments.
become a member of the alternative economy. in other words, just what I'm doing now.
ReplyDeletetaxes suck..I pay heaps on tax n when i get my pay it's looks like death.
ReplyDeleteKeshi.
Tax the churches. Watch all those tax-exempt scam organizations melt like snow.
ReplyDeleteEvery time the US congress actually tries to symplify the tax code, all those bureaucrats at the IRS scurry like little spiders to complicate it again and protect their screwy but lucrative government jobs. Nothing short of a bloodless coup will see the end of these parasites.
first nations: Do you take flax script?
**it looks
ReplyDeletebtw here's an idea.
ReplyDeletetax the moronic drivers. there r alot of em!
Keshi.
I don't mind paying taxes if I can see decent services being provided. It sucks big time when I pay this huge amount and see it spent on politicians luxury cars and vacations. grrrrr!
ReplyDeletedude... take over the world PLEASE!!
ReplyDeletesomeone needs to make sense higher up!!!
Flat tax is a perennially popular idea. Yeah, baby. We Europeans love it (except the UK's Prime Minister and former Chancellor).
ReplyDeleteIt would be a good opportunity for wholesale tax reform: get rid of inheritance tax (who benefits really?) and so on.
Even the Adam Smith Institute
agrees. You're in interesting company!
When I venture into the World of Work, I calculate that I shall be able to get my hands on roughly HALF of my actual salary, what with various taxes AND my enormous student loan to pay back. it's going to be a fun time.
ReplyDeleteStill, as you say, one cannot demand top notch health care, roads and drinking water and not be prepared to cough up the cash. means tested IT itself works fine, it just so happens that most rich people are arseholes.
What really gets my goat (someone should bring that saying back into common usage) is the 'them and us' attitude of ministers in my country. One rule for them, another rule for us. Take the trouble brewing at the moment where our (unelected)(SCOTTISH) PM is giving public sector workers below-inflation payrises (ie they are now effectively earning comparatively LESS if you think about it) because he claims that to give them any more money would be INFLATIONARY.
Inflationary my ass. They're more than happy to vote themselves a 20/30/40/50% payrise and stunning pension scheme. But then, of course, they run the country.
And the PUBLIC SECTOR workers don't.
Ah.
"We will never see the Death of Taxes because we expect too many frivolous niceties like Hospitals, Roads, and safe drinking Water, so we might as well make the most of it."
ReplyDeleteOh? Is THIS what the majority of our taxes are being used on? Not $10,000 toilet seats, or $1,000 hammers, or private jets, or paying big bucks to marketing geniuses to make our president appear intelligent?
The pipe dream of a flat tax has always been near and dear to my own heart too and recognized by my brain as a pipe dream for just the reasons you cite...
ReplyDeleteIt appears (once again!) that flat taxers have the numbers, but not the political clout needed to push it through.Sadly, flat earth theories stand a better chance with politicians!
ReplyDelete(But I'll continue to poke this wasp nest anyway.)
Im gonna say DONT pay taxes...but thats not right. Well...some countries do use it for good use...read Nordic countries. The rest of the world just stinks. I hate to see government officials go for a Nile River cruise in the name of fact finding missions. fuckers.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, we're going to get the GST next year the latest. Life gonna suck after that.
Lol, I forgot to say, at first I misread the title of this entry as 'The death of Texas' and immediately began reading.
ReplyDeleteI don't know... a 10% flat tax on a wage earner who makes about $16K a year and supports a family would be quite a hardship.
ReplyDeleteHere in the States, the inheritance tax doesn't affect anyone who inherits less than $2 million. That's why it is SO UNFAIR! Those heirs of millionaires might STARVE, because they obviously don't have any earning power.
gautami,
ReplyDeleteScatterbrain Syndrome at it's finest.
rimshot,
First we have to legalise Drugs, Prostitution, and everything else that the great unwashed apparently refuse to live without.
Have you seen the Stallone movie Judge Dread where people arefined for having a potty mouth? That would pretty f*ckin' lucrative.
((EHHH you have been fined ten credits for using foul language))
What the f%#@ was that?
((EHHH you have been fined ten credits for using..))
Oh for f&#* sake
((EHHH...))
first nations,
I hear ya sister! I have been off the grid for over a decade and lovin' it.
breakerslion,
HERETIC!! I was thinking the other day that even now in the 21st Century that the prospect of even electing a female candidate for President is still a big deal in your country..
imagine the odds of electing a black President?
Multiply that probability by one million and you may get close to the odds of electing an Atheist.
keshi,
You could always quit and become a super model? Or Prime Minister?
Bad driving taxation would empty our highways and Big Oil will never let that happen. There are still 79 years of Oil left and they are going to wring every last penny out of the barrel.
menchie,
The lure of wasting Other People's Money is incurable. Politicians actually believe that they are entitled to their entitlements.
angel,
I am available to begin my tenure as global dictator and look forward to the challenges of world domination. Once ensconced in office my policies may change to suit my every whim but what are ya gonna do?
spentrails,
Well what do you know Adam Smith eh? It is far to logical and that is why it will take another 500 years to be universal. After all of the existing empires crumble the 5 corporations that will own everything on the planet will need to apply a universal flat tax as the last drastic measure to beef up their year end bonus requirements. Yippee!
fathorse,
"most rich people are arseholes"
Hey there Karla Marx we can't start start using this sort of language or the authorities will move in. We have a phrase here in Canuckistan that if you don't like it you can move back to Albania!
What really gets my goat is one of the most delightful sayings in history. It can be traced back 12,000 years before the birth of Civilization in Mesopotamia when goats were a bona fide form of currency...oh yeah and goats are still the national form of currency in Albania.
I am completely onside.
angela,
I presume that you are referring to the infamous '$20,000 manual impact accelerator', also know as a f*%#ing HAMMER, that American Taxpayers purchased for the Armed Forces.
Reminds me of Steve Martin's litany of 'dumb things' that he would buy if he won a million dollars...like a fur-lined-sink.
paul,
To dream, per chance to actually vote for it, ay there is the rub.
Who knows. Maybe when the USA divides into the two polar opposite entities that it actually is..then the smart half will actually try this out.
dinahmow,
Pokin' at wasp's nests can be very rewarding. Last Saturday morning I spray painted a nest while it was still cold and felt an astonishing sense of accomplishment. I have been stung many times and will no doubt receive my karmic comeuppance for this last act of revenge.
But man it felt good!
ghosty,
GST! Ha! It is an amazing mechanism for Governments..we accumulate surplus funds with ours!
River cruises on the Nile?
Your politicians go 'Tut'ing down the Nile do they?
Tut, Tut, Tut.
fathorse,
The vernacular pronunciation of Texas is pronounced TAXASS so you weren't that far off of the mark.
Dubya's favorite song:
"The stars at night,
are big and bright
((clap,clap,clap,clap))
deep in the haaart uv TAXASS!"
miss cellania,
ReplyDeleteI can empathise. $1000 dollars is WAY more important to someone making $10,000 a year than $100,000 is to a person making $1 Million...or is it?
One NEEDS the money to live and the other needs the money to MAINTAIN an elevated level of comfort above the demands of existance.
I sure hope fathorse doesn't see this she is really miffed at the behavior of the upper class twits...anyway..
Having spent several decades working alongside of wealthy people and understanding that they have leverage, equity, and goodwill to squander and they rarely use any of their own funds if at all possible.
Even though their monthly bills reflect those of average incomes..for instance they pay $6,000 a month for their mortgage vs $600 and buy $2,500 suits as opposed to $250 suits...people with more money still put their pants on one leg at a time..
their pants are more expensive and they have a lot more of them.
There would still be a benchmark level of income.
Donn, now who has the scatterbrain syndrom? You or I?
ReplyDelete^&**&%^$#$%&^**&^%$$
You do!
ReplyDeleteNO.
I do!!
what were we talking about?
Pardon my lack of being "in the know", but what do ya'll mean about "off the grid" and "alternative economy"?
ReplyDeleteAnd we wouldn't have to legalize all the vices, when the dealers and getters of ill gotten gains spend their money (assuming a VAT is implemeneted) they would be paying into the system with every purchase of a new Mercedes, 162" flat screen, surround sound, and gold plated bologna bought.
My head hurts, can't you just post some funny blog about cartoons?
rimshot,
ReplyDeleteI live in Canada. It is a gigantic empty place just north of the United States. In fact we will probably be annexed by Minnesota in the next few years. Why not?
All 33 million of us live within a one hour drive of the US border in case rogue nations such as Albania, Malta, Liberia, or any other countries that end in an A (pronounced eh)decide to invade us.
We have colourful money, a bilingual Federal Government, and universal healthcare.
If that ain't living in an imaginary world then what is?
Dude! Pimps and Dealers don't buy from Car Dealers, they know somebody who knows somebody that coincidentally just happens to have recently 'acquired' the exact make and model that they wanted.
Taxes?
They don't pay no steenking taxes!
I long for the day when we get simply a basic flat tax.
ReplyDeleteUnfortuneatley that day will come, when the banks where we keep all our money to spend have one basic fee.
Actually the major banks control our economy, so maybe if we revolt against the banks, withdraw all our savings from them,and transform them to accounts over in the good old Swiss Alps, our economy will crash to a halt, and the government will have to listen to our demands for tax reform,if they want the banks to be in business again, and the economy to start moving again.
Some people may call this,"burning down the house, in order to save it," but I like to think of it as burning down the condemned house and rebuilding a modern safe one.
By the way, the GST was introduced in 1991 I believe, at around the same time as the outbreak of the worst recession of the 20th century.
Hmmmm.....
ReplyDeleteUntil we have a global tax system, the rich will always, being internationally mobile, be able to avoid tax at any level - whether or not it is 10%
I know a little whereof I speak.
scott,
ReplyDeleteMy bad. The Tories introduced the National Sales Tax in 89 as a precursor to the much hated GST.
Well done.
If we could find a way to actually bring the Banks to their knees we would do it..BUT..all of those numbers are just floating in the ether now and they can be whisked away at the click of a mouse.
We should have never stopped the time honored tradition of hiding money under the mattress.
007 and a half,
So you have a little 'play' money stashed away in Switzerland and the Caymans do you? You are absolutely right the uber riche do have access to clandestine operations and are unaffected the trivial squabbling of the great unwashed.
Those who live off of the interest on their interest don't ever need to see monthly bills or statements...it's all taken care of.
Unfortunately I still summer where I winter.
"...Canada. It is a gigantic empty place just north of the United States."
ReplyDeleteI'd heard rumors about such a place, but dismissed it along with Narnia, the Shire and Euro-Disney.
You're welcome to come visit Chicago (land of gansters and Michael Jordan, if you ask those who've never been) and I'll show you the great wonders of suburbia.
There was me thinking IT had something to do with computers......
ReplyDeleteFlat Tax, I like that idea. Make it happen, will ya?
ReplyDelete