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Well, its another April 15th.
Oh happy day! :)

Good day to go visit FAIRTAX.ORG and investigate the better alternative to our present tax system.
More money for everyone, a solution to our economic crisis, and greater growth for the government, SS, and medicare. Not to mention it is truly fair.

Worth the read and consideration.
:)

Sadly the we need to stop pretending we have money when we dont.
Stop using the People's money supply as your credit card.

Sessh... sorry the government upsets me.

It's best if I don't put my thoughts into writing here.

Rubber Eraser Day (http://holidayinsights.com/other/rubbereraserday.htm)
Rubber Eraser Day

When : Always on April 15

Make no mistake, Rubber Eraser Day celebrates the invention of erasers. We all make mistakes. This day is designated to recognize and appreciate the value of that little plug (as manufacturers call them) that sits atop our pencils. When we make a mistake, they are the big "cover-up", make that eraser, of our booboo or faux pax. Just imagine how messy our documents would be without it!

Why not just call it "Eraser Day"? There's two reasons. The first erasers were made of rubber. Today, they are made of rubber, or vinyl. Secondly, in Great Brittain, they are formally called "rubbers".

In the world of erasers, two men are prominent. Joseph Priestley discovered the eraser in 1770, using pieces of rubber imported from Brazil. Then in 1858, Hyman Lipman of Philadelphia, Pa., patented the pencil with an eraser at the end.

Today's Quote: To err is human, an eraser is divine!



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Origin of Rubber Eraser Day
There is a wealth of information about the discovery of the erasers. However, our research failed to discover who established Rubber Eraser Day.

We did discover some discrepancy about when this day is celebrated. Most references point to April 15th as Rubber Eraser Day. However, some sites proclaim April 13th as Rubber Eraser Day.


April 15th is also the day the Titanic went down.
stuck the iceberg April 14, 1912 at 11:40p.m 2 hours later (on the 15th) it went down.
But that is just not as fun to point out as Rubber Eraser Day is.

It's best if I don't put my thoughts into writing here.
I'm with Andrew, I'll refrain from commenting in the intrest of not saying too much.

We will never see anything like the fair tax until we find a way to outlaw lobbyists.

It's best if I don't put my thoughts into writing here.

ibid

Added a poll

Sorry Delta I think we could afford more green products if Tax was Reformed. ;)

Sorry Delta I think we could afford more green products if Tax was Reformed. ;)I put a poll - not a position....where did I say what to do to the income tax?

Open to adding more poll choices on how to tax.

I would offer the current tax system as a third option choice in the polling.

Some people are able to use the present system to limit their taxes below what the other two options would allow.

It's best if I don't put my thoughts into writing here.

+1

I'll jsut say that I think the Fair Tax system looks pretty good to me.

I'm for simple tax.

Enjoyed the brief time I was at a tea party yesterday. :)

Not surprised you did a tea party, Jeff. I considered it, but couldn't afford the time off work.

Not surprised you did a tea party, Jeff. I considered it, but couldn't afford the time off work.

I would have been at one, but...

Military, political gatherings, time off work for such...

Nah, don't work.

I can attend them outside of work and out of uniform, but getting time off of work for something like that and the time to change clothes for it...

I've read everything I possibly can on the FairTax, and can't seem to find any issues.
3 things would have to take place to make this a reality-
The people have to scream loud enough that they're not gonna take it anymore.
The lobbyists and Congress would have to realize that some control would have to return to the people.
The 16th amendment needs to be repealed.

At the very least, set up the FairTax for 1 calendar year and see what happens. If it fails, then it fails. If it succeeds, then WOOPEE!

I'm in the position where even though I own a house the interest is so low that last year and this year I ended up with the Standard Deduction, since I don't have enough deductions.

We used to give generously to a dozen different charities, a different one every month. Last year due to the standard deduction we decided to cut back on our giving.

I voted simplify, but I would like to be able to give charitably with a deduction.:(

With the invention of turbotax, I don't mind tax complexity anymore.

In fact, I secretly enjoy it now. Turbotax helps me better understand exactly and to what degree the federal government encourages/discourages certain taxable events, and I can modify my consumption/investment accordingly.

It also helps to reveal how little I know. I often will think "the feds should give a tax break for XXX", only to find out later in TurboTax that they are doing exactly that. And the opposite too. "It's outrageous that the Feds are giving me a break for that". And so on.

Because our income & spending patterns do not vary widely from year to year, turbotax only takes about 2 hours now. That's complexity I can live with. Yes, a progressive income tax without the deductions & credits might only take 2 minutes. But I like getting rewarded for giving to charity, buying a house, having a family, and going efficient. So I'm ok with that extra 118 minutes.

I voted simplify, but I would like to be able to give charitably with a deduction.:(

I also voted simplified, because I think then I could afford to give to more charities.

Any Tax system will be exploited.
Complexity breeds loopholes.

Every Tax Structure / every plan - Someone somewhere things they are getting cheated and paying more then they should.

Personally -
I would not mind the current tax structure IF IT WAS CLEAR TO SEE WHERE THE $$ IS GOING. As far as i can tell - My tax dollars are going to help people who do not pay taxes or have knowingly made bad decisions and are being helped by the Government. That hardly seems fair to me.

I would not mind the current tax structure IF IT WAS CLEAR TO SEE WHERE THE $$ IS GOING...

I'm of two miinds on that. Do I really want to know where that money is going?

Or would it piss me off even more?

Personally - I would not mind the current tax structure IF IT WAS CLEAR TO SEE WHERE THE $$ IS GOING.

Happy to help:

Where your federal taxes go (primarily FICA & Income):

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/totaloutlaysfy2008.gif

Where your income taxes go:

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/2008pie_budget.gif

I don’t see where the White House and administration costs are on there anywhere. Such as president pay, security for white house, the presidents transportation, and all the government employees who decide where this money goes and keep an eye on it. All the little things taxes need to pay for. What about National parks, that can’t be in the natural Resources and Environment budget. I have no numbers to back this thought up but just those should add up to a tidy sum.

I don’t see where the White House and administration costs are on there anywhere. Such as president pay, security for white house, the presidents transportation, and all the government employees who decide where this money goes and keep an eye on it. All the little things taxes need to pay for. What about National parks, that can’t be in the natural Resources and Environment budget. I have no numbers to back this thought up but just those should add up to a tidy sum.

The presidential salary is 0.00000003% of the federal budget. Tiny.

National Park Service budget @ $2.4 billion is still pretty small. 0.0002%

http://home.nps.gov/applications/release/Detail.cfm?ID=782

I didn't look up the others, but they are likely inconsequential as a percentage of the federal budget.

When you get serious about taking a hatchet (not a scalpel) to the federal budget, in the end it comes down to 3 things:

(1) Pensions/Disability (SS)
(2) Health (Medicare/Medicaid)
(3) Security (Defense/Intelligence/DHS)

Everything else (including administration) is small potatoes. That's why the Republican Congresses in the 1990s targeted (2), and the Bush administration in the 2000s targeted (1). That's where the money is.

I've read everything I possibly can on the FairTax, and can't seem to find any issues.


Economist Bruce Bartlett raises what I think are very good objections to the FairTax (http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/files/bartlett_fair_tax.pdf). (Warning: pdf.)

And FactCheck.org has good analysis as well (http://www.factcheck.org/taxes/unspinning_the_fairtax.html). (It's a little clearer than Bartlett's.)

Not surprised you did a tea party, Jeff. I considered it, but couldn't afford the time off work.

I was just there long enough to sign the board and petition. Cutting out of work at lunch to take care of stuff is not a big deal here. Doesn't matter what you need or want to do. We as a company work or butts off. Heck the owner is out today watching his daughter play in a tennes tourny. If you have kids that have activitys, or illness in the family or need to take care of other things. By all means please tend to it.

In the last 10 years or so I haven't taken any of the deductions allowed by law other than the children. I would have never taken the fed money if I had bought a hybrid for example. I've never even written off intrest on a home loan.

Now years ago I wrote off everything I could and spent weeks researching and getting my paper in order. Then it hit me. I'm the problem! I'm not paying my FARE share of the tax burden. I'm taking more than mine or whats due me.

Now days I just want to pay my fare share and move on. Keep the tax paper work simple. I like to owe nothing or get anything back come tax day.

The question then is. What is my fare share. And whats it spent on. No two folks will agree. Must do agree that we are taxed to much. From the local to fed level.