Written by I really am disappointed in hearing about members of congress who failed to pay income tax or self-employment tax. It’s ridiculous that so many of the top members seem to have such tax problems. If these are presumably the people that favor government, that know where the money is going, that are RESPONSIBLE for the spending, and that are behind the system we all pay into…and the people that probably have the most to lose by failing to pay–one would like to think that they are the people who would be the most compliant. What does this mean about tax compliance across the rest of the nation?
I’m beginning to think we could sustain a massive tax cut paid for by the people that have not been paying all their taxes up till now. And maybe it’s time we have a tax auditor look at the records of anyone running for any public office… make their tax compliance an open-book before they run. I don’t think we have heard the end of this.
Here is the latest news.
I won’t excuse the recent spate of Democrats who have ducked out of their responsibility, but we do have a moral hazard: It’s frighteningly easy to find ways of not paying taxes once you have enough money to constructively change your finances.
I know of a lot of tax dodges that I don’t take advantage of out of a sense of “fairness” – BUT It’s way too tempting for a lot of people to resist.
We need to simplify the tax code to make it easier to test for compliance – for example, a simple VAT tax with a refund at the end of the year would be hard to duck out of and still be progressive due to the refund.
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Weird thought of the day:
Strangely…. haveing huge US debt is a huge benefit to global stability. Do you think China would start a proxy ware with us in Asia now that they hold on to billions worth of our paper?
Maybe they will finally simplfy the insane tax codes.
Maybe not.
-H
What makes so cool is the amount they owe is in taxes is about twice the medium national individual income.
How much jail did Westley Snipes get?
I feel ripped off. I voted for President Obama because he said he would change things in Washington DC. I don’t want to stop believing in him but it would appear what he said and what he has done speak very clearly that he said what he needed to get elected. I’m not a lib as TCC puts it, I usually find myself on the fence. Realistically I find my values more in line with some conservative thoughts but I admit I got caught up in the undertow to vote an african american in. The amount of hatred the media portrayed around Bush and the Republicans was more than I could take so swinging to Obama wasn’t a stretch.
No matter which party, or who it is, we should all expect our leaders to act ethically. Heck, police officers have a higher bar to follow when it comes to ethical behavior than our political leaders. How does that strike you? Humpty Dumpty
Jay Leno quipped last night that it is Obama’s plan to balance the federal budget…keep nominating people for his cabinet, forcing them to pay their back taxes, dropping them, and then moving on to the next person.
Seriously, to me the current tax issues are a sign that Washington DC culture really has a long ways to go before it accurately reflects what the majority of Americans expect, whether Republican or Democrat.
Thanks for mentioning me, I appreciate that. I am a conservative and the libs hate that. Why are libs so offended when they are called libs? Are they ashamed of what they believe in? I can’t figure it out. When someone calls me a right winger, a conservative, etc, it doesn’t bother me a bit. I have no problem taking on a lib in an argument. I have argued face to face with liberal friends. They always resort to name calling. At that point, they lose the argument. True liberals are very shallow. They do not do the research to make a good factual argument. They pay more attention to the main stream media talking points. Obama is a serious disappointment. He is going to hurt our country. He doesn’t even look presidential. He reminds me of a partying college guy who bets his buddy. “Hey, just watch, I’ll bet you that I can get elected as president.” “Ok, I got elected, I won the bet, but what the hell do I do now?” He honestly doesn’t have a clue. He is running far to the left. His approval rating went from 80% down too 55%, in 2 weeks. Has anyone noticed that the longer this bill is delayed, the higher the stock market goes up? Americans do not want to see the pork in this bill go through. The approval on this bill from us Americans is 37% and falling quickly. There is so much pork in this that AlQaeda is running! Bring on the defense of this bill, I’m ready for you libs! TCC