Tag: Tax Breaks

Second Amendment Week

Here in Mississippi we have a special tax free week for the buying of guns and ammo…..and we are in the middle of that tax free week.

A sales tax holiday is an annual event during which the Mississippi Department of Revenue allows certain items to be purchased sales-tax-free at any participating retailer within the state.

Mississippi allows you to purchase the following items tax-free during their annual sales tax holidays: $100 worth of clothing and footwear in July; all firearms, ammunition, archery, and certain hunting supplies in September.  (we got started early this year)

The September firearms and hunting supplies sales tax holiday is officially called the Mississippi Second Amendment Weekend (MSAW).

This is not something new….Mississippi has had an annual “Second Amendment” sales tax holiday since 2014. This tax holiday is meant to encourage participation in the upcoming hunting season, and enables sportsmen to purchase guns, ammunition, and other hunting supplies tax-free. 

There you go an incentive for people to buy more guns and ammo….just what this state needs….more idiots packing heat in a time when we have a major problem with gun violence….it all seems so logical (sarcasm)….

I do not know if other states have this benefit for gun lovers….I just know that my state does not need an incentive to sell more guns.

But what can I expect from a deep Red State where logic is a dirty word.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Tale Of The Taxes

This is for all those people that have been working tirelessly to get Trump’s tax returns to made public…..well sports fans your wait is over.

Praise be!

After 3+ years of bitching and whining we all get a chance to look into the taxes of our Dear Loving President…..the returns have been made public…..and now we can go to the tale of the taxes…

The most sought-after documents in America have finally surfaced: President Trump’s tax returns. And what they reveal is sobering. Trump, a self-described master of the deal, appears to be taking in hundreds of millions of dollars a year while suffering huge losses that he uses to pay little or nothing in taxes, the New York Times reports. His properties are struggling, he’s deeply in debt, and he’s facing a battle with the IRS could cost him over $100 million. The 20-plus years of documents “reveal the hollowness, but also the wizardry, behind the self-made-billionaire image,” says the Times. “Ultimately, Mr. Trump has been more successful playing a business mogul than being one in real life.” Among the details:

  • Trump paid no federal income taxes in 10 of the last 15 years, $750 the year he won the election, and $750 the year after that.
  • He’s facing $421 million in loans and other debts for which he’s personally responsible—most of which will come due over the next four years. If he wins in November, lenders will face the unenviable decision of whether to foreclose on a sitting president. But Trump can use that debt to declare future losses and avoid paying taxes.
  • Beginning in 2010, he successfully claimed an income tax refund of $72.9 million due to his vast losses. That refund is at the heart of an IRS audit fight that could force Trump to repay the refund with interest—possibly more than $100 million.
  • Most of Trump’s key ventures, like his golf courses and Washington hotel, are losing millions of dollars annually. The properties are also magnets for foreign officials and lobbyists, which could represent a conflict of interest for a president who refused to divest himself from his enterprises while in office.
  • Trump’s revenue from licensing deals and The Apprentice—over $420 million in all—is running out, and years ago he sold off stocks that might help him shore up his properties.
  • Alan Garten, a Trump Organization lawyer, tells the Times that “most, if not all, of the facts appear to be inaccurate” in its report. He says Trump “has paid tens of millions of dollars in personal taxes” over the past decade, but the Times suggests that Garten is confusing Trump’s income taxes with other federal taxes, like Medicare and Social Security. Garten said Trump paid some taxes with credits, which the Times calls “misleading.”
  • Trump called the Times report “fake news” on Sunday and said he has paid taxes, the AP reports. He didn’t give details but said it “will all be revealed.”

Our fascination even obsession over the Trump taxes has now been satisfied….may we please move on to more pressing issues?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–06Feb18

By now we all know what the GOP thinks of the latest tax cuts, although they like to call their obscenity as tax reform…..whether you are for them or against…the simple truth is that us average worker has cuts lasting 5 years and millionaires will last forever…..equality is a good thing a shame it does not apply to everyone.

Speaker Paul Ryan recently let it be known where his elitist ass stands…..

House Speaker Paul Ryan used Twitter to highlight a school secretary benefiting from the Republican tax overhaul, then deleted the tweet after online criticism that he is cheering an increase of $1.50 a week. The AP reported on Thursday that changes in tax withholding were sparking bigger paychecks, citing as one example Julia Ketchum of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, whose check went up $1.50 a week. She told the AP that the $78 a year would more than cover her Costco membership.

Ryan on Saturday posted a Tweet noting the secretary’s increase and linking to the AP story—which was quickly met with mockery, notes the Washington Post, particularly among those comparing the size of Ketchum’s windfall with that the nation’s wealthy. Typical was Rep. Joe Kennedy III, who tweeted that, “Meanwhile the wealthiest 0.1% of Americans receive an extra ~ $3,000 per week,” while a Post reporter notes that Ketchum’s $78 a year is less than Ryan makes in an hour as speaker. Ryan has posted several other examples of worker pay increases and bonuses since the overhaul, some as much as $1,000. Ryan’s spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Gee….a whole $1.50 per week…..I mean really who could bitch about that?

Ryan quickly tried to rid himself of that unfeeling embarrassment….but people like me will not let it go….

It was an incredibly patronizing remark that drew immediate backlash and caused him to delete the tweet in humiliation.

But the internet is forever, and activists promptly made the $1.50 pay raise a rallying cry in favor of his Democratic opponent, Racine ironworker and union leader Randy Bryce.

According to a spokesperson from Bryce’s office, speaking to Shareblue Media, “From Saturday through 1 p.m. on Sunday, we raised $130,000 from 10,600 contributions.” Furthermore, 5,100 of those contributions were $1.50.

It is clear that Ryan’s laughable attempt to pretend the tax scam would benefit the middle class has completely backfired.

Who said the GOP was all about the rich….look at what they gave this secretary…..

I must take my leave…be well, be safe and see you guys tomorrow….chuq

Charter Schools: The Perfect Con

Since the announcement of the great idea for solving the problem of education in the US, the Charter Schools, I have been telling my readers the news that the media will not tell them about this con job on the American public.

The media has taken it upon itself to use the issue to brain wash the public into accepting the perfect con….originally I called it “education by lotto”……thanx to the media the idea of this con had grown into a major solution for public education….the problem is the MSM only reports on the successes that they can isolate and seldom mentions all the failures and snags in the program.

Charter schools pretend to be public and non-profit while pocketing big bucks and paying no taxes.

Charter schools are big business, even when they are run by “non-profits” that pay no taxes on the revenue they receive from public taxes or other sources.

Take KIPP, which describes itself as a “national network of public schools.”

KIPP (an acronym for the phrase “knowledge is power program”) operates like a franchise with the KIPP Foundation as the franchisor and the individual charters as franchisees that are all separate non-profits that describe themselves as “public schools.”

Source: Big Business Charter School Chains Seek Millions in Taxpayer Dollars With No Accountability | Alternet

So they get a states tax revenue to operate?  But these same states cannot find the cash for public education……now are you not glad you voted GOP?

This is the perfect con on the voters…..propaganda and indoctrination works and works well.

Education is too important to allow it to be a profit making enterprise……the US educational system has been suffering for decades thanx to the idiots that slash budgets in an attempt to make it fail so privatization will be the only answer……but will this solve all the problems with education……like why our math scores suck?

For years now, America’s elementary and middle school students have been showing steady gains in test scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. This has happened even as the underlying demographics of the public school population have shifted to include a larger mix of poor kids, nonwhites, and kids whose parents don’t speak English.

High school test scores, by contrast, stagnated during the early years of this process. But optimists hoped and assumed that when the higher-scoring elementary school kids got older and moved into the high school population, we would start seeing results. It’s now become clear that’s not happening. On the contrary, even as America’s ninth-graders keep doing better and better, its 12th-graders are doing worse and worse.

Source: The biggest mystery in American education, in one chart – Vox

This is just one problem……but turning it into a corporate enterprise is NOT the answer.

Panama Papers: A media disinformation campaign?

Since the release I have been reading everything I can find on the so-called Panama Papers.  I do not think that the western MSM is being totally forthcoming with the facts in their reporting.

As I find articles that explain the situation elsewhere I will press them on IST to help my readers understand what is going on with this situation.

I found another article that makes some sound and thought provoking points…..

We look at coverage of the scandal and ask whether corporate-owned media have been agenda-driven in their reporting.

Called the “biggest leak in the history of data journalism” by Edward Snowden, the Panama Papers story has rocked the world in the past few days exposing how the rich and powerful use tax havens to hide their wealth.

The papers – some 11.5 million documents  – have revealed how Mossack Fonseca, a Panama-based law firm, allegedly helped current and former world leaders, as well as businessmen, criminals, celebrities and sports stars, evade or avoid tax via anonymously-owned shell companies and offshore accounts.

In terms of the size of the leak and the scale of the journalistic collaboration, the story has garnered wall-to-wall coverage and dominated the front pages of newspapers across the world.

Source: Panama Papers: A media disinformation campaign? – Al Jazeera English

There is more to this story than what we are getting from the media…..I will be watching and reported all the stuff that I find….maybe this way we can know at least some of the truth…..not necessarily all.

Tax Cuts For All!

How many times have you heard that promise?  My guess is just about every damn election.

Let’s do a wee bit of economics…..(I can hear those heavy sighs and the eyes glazing over)…….

But let’s look at that promise realistically……if tax cuts go through then that will mean less revenue for the state/city and that will mean cuts will have to be made to fill the gap of the lost revenues……and that means that the cuts will come from the services that is for the population while all the programs for business remain in place.

To me it sounds like a master plan to kill ALL social programs….especially from a GOP controlled entity whether city or state…..

But do not take my word for it…..read this piece about the state of Kansas and its great programs of tax cuts……

The state of Kansas, where Gov. Sam Brownback’s right-wing economic program and handling of the state finances have reached comedic levels of absurdity, is now also failing at a key economic test: Keeping up with the neighboring state.

In his latest column, Kansas City Star opinion writer Yael Abouhalkah, a strong critic of Brownback’s who has made a regular beat of busting the governor and his advocates, highlights the newest data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, which show the disparity in j

Source: New data from Sam Brownback’s Kansas destroys the GOP myth that tax cuts create jobs

Keep these types of problems in mind before you vote for some “promised” benefits from massive tax cuts……tax cuts screw everyone but those in the circles of power…..your benefits are at jeopardy and you want to give them the keys to the family car….tsk….tsk…..tsk!

But what should I expect from a culture that thinks Reality TV is good and informative TV?

Shining Example On The Hill

Today the guys and gals should be returning from their much needed summer vacation (that is sarcasm) and the debate and the finger pointing and the lies will once again be leveled at us normal mortals…..and of course, there will be much to do about nothing (no offense to Shakespeare) we will hear all about the jobs that will be created….and to that I say CRAP!  And then the inevitable….TAX CUTS!  You want a real example of what tax cuts do to a people, a state or a country?  (Read on, McDuff)…..

Mississippi is that shining example of how NOT TO GOVERN!

As part of the spending debate I have heard a couple of pundits use Connecticut as an example of what happens when a state raises taxes…..apparently the state’s economy went into the crapper after they were raised…of course most of those making that argument are conservatives and I would expect NO less from them…..but why has not the Dems jumped on the dismal state of affairs in Mississippi as an example of what constant tax cuts do to a state?

After 20+ years of constant tax cuts and breaks the state is NO better off than it was 50 years ago….It is perpetually at the bottom of every “best” list and at the top of every “worse” list….that means education sucks, health care sucks, income sucks, more poverty and a horrible standard of living….just to mention a few.    For instance, poverty has declined by about 2% in 20 years……income has risen less than 1% in the same time…..the median income for the state is $26,000 a year….that is well below the national average……tax cuts have done NOTHING to better the living conditions of the people…..maybe the wealthy, but the regular working stiff has NOT gained anything.

In the North of the state an industry is building a plant…..to come here they demanded and got tax breaks and economic development money and in the end will create 50 jobs….in essence the state is paying companies to re-locate……

And now all the candidates are thumping their chests about tax cuts to gain supporters and one of them will win…..no one is mentioning the fact that the state is REVENUE….not more give-a-ways to big business.  Those corporate benefits are creating few jobs for the money lost….the math does NOT add up……and the people as stupid as they are, keep falling for the lies and promises and they NEVER see them for what they are….total bullsh*t!

Yes…Mississippi is a shining example of how NOT to govern…….an example of how special interests are destroying an otherwise beautiful state ……it is true for Mississippi and it is true of the United States…..the federal government is doing all it can to destroy a once proud nation into a pile of poverty stricken areas…..good job!

Tax cuts and tax breaks are just a ducky way to drive the state or the country into the crapper……take a look at Mississippi…..is that the future you want for America?  If you listen to the a/holes in Washington, that you sent there to do the country’s business, then YOU have doomed this country to mediocrity.  You can be proud of your vote!  I know I am proud of you!  (that is sarcasm in case you went to school in Mississippi)…….

The Truth Will Piss You Off!

From the VOMITORIUM

BTW….every one have a Good Friday and a pleasant Easter…..

We hear everyday about the debt and the deficit and the plans…cut taxes….raise taxes…..kill Social Security…..Kill Medicare…..but the biggest lie of all is the no taxes on the rich because they will create jobs if they pay less taxes….to me that is a lie…..why?……..they have been paying less taxes for years and how many jobs are they creating….especially NOW?

But put all that aside for now…..put your conserv ideas and your lib inclinations and try to wrap your head around these figures……

The US Commerce Department released a report today throwing into sharp relief just how drastically US multinational corporations are shifting jobs overseas. During the 2000s, US companies cut 2.9 million jobs in the US, while hiring 2.4 million abroad—including an increasing number of highly-skilled workers, the Wall Street Journal reports. That’s a big reversal from the 1990s, when they hired 4.4 million at home and 2.7 million abroad. These big companies employ roughly a fifth of all US workers. “It’s definitely something to worry about,” says one former George W. Bush adviser. Companies generally defend the trend by saying that productivity has increased in their US factories, and that they are chasing sales abroad. “We’ve globalized around markets, not cheap labor,” says GE CEO Jeff Immelt. “Today we go to Brazil, we go to China, we go to India, because that’s where the customers are.”

Does that piss you off just a bit?  Corporations that have taken billions in taxpayer money and they repay our generosity like that…..it s a bitch, huh?

Now people….what are you willing to do to change all this misuse of your trust?

Taxes Not Collected

Daily Agitator

I know we all have had a WTF moment and find ourselves scratching our heads…..one of mine came this morning watching a talk show……there is a conversation between a couple of people and one of them was obviously pro-business…..Gov. Rendell brought that Exxon paid NO taxes in the US in 2010….but paid $56 billion (I believe) in taxes to other countries…..there was my WTF!

You are telling me that a company that is protected by the US does not have to pay its way in the country?  And then this pro-corporate dude said that they keep taxes low in this country so that business will create jobs and that would mean more people would be paying taxes and the nation’s income will go up…..WAIT!  Another WTF moment!

You are telling me that that is the plan?  Hire more people and get massive taxes breaks and the revenue will go up?  In other words it is still on the backs of working stiffs to keep the country going. right?  So it is all about the working class, middle class, whatever you would like to call it to pay all the bills?  And business gets the usual free ride?

Let’s keep with that line of thinking……corporations have just gotten a massive tax break thanx to Obama and the Repubs….we all know this…..then where has the rush to create jobs been?  It is NOT the tax code that is preventing the creation of jobs……it is greed!

People keep trying the old tired and lame theory of trickle down economics….they only re-package it every decade or so to fool the voter with unbelievable promises of prosperity…..and they BUY IT!

You guys really want an idea?….here is one……everybody, personal and corporations,  pays 10%…no breaks, cuts or deductions….working stiffs will have more on their checks…corporations will be paying the lowest corporate tax rate…and the country will once again have a revenue…..ya like it?!

Oh yeah…..and stop making plans that will go economic NOWHERE!  The truth is the best this country can ever do is a 2 year plan that coincides with elections….that is REALITY!