Nerd News: One Tax Professor vs. the IRS Scandal

If you're not reading Professor Caron's blog, gentle readers, you are missing out.

Tax Day 2014

This is how I always imagine the IRS and the bloated government as they cast a lustful eye on the populace's paychecks!

Or perhaps this?

 

The Tax Burden of the 1%

I'm sick of the "let's eat the rich!" cries of the self-proclaimed progressives.  Do you know the members of the 1% pay a bigger share of the federal income tax burden than the bottom 90% combined?  Yeah.  Tax Prof Blog has charts and numbers.  But some people are addicted to taxation.  I can't help thinking of the first part of this video - a feckless ruler all but fondling that tax revenue:

I'm just going to say one more thing about the whole idea:

A Cartoon for Tax Day

Plunder?  I don't even know 'er!

A Song for Tax Day

Quote of the Day: Dr. Benjamin Carson

Here's a bit of background about the good doctor, along with his official page at Johns Hopkins and the website for the Carson Scholars.  As for his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast recently, it's full of win.  I can't even decide which snippet to choose, so here's the whole thing: 

Rachel Lucas on the Fiscal Cliff Shenanigans

What do you think? Rachel's also running an impromptu poll, where currently the "let it burn" option is winning by a huge margin. 

An additional thought: everyone's howling about taxes, but the bigger problem is the government spending, and that does include entitlement reform.

Meanwhile, I'm sure we're all delighted that Obama's apparently scheduled a 20-day Hawaiian vacation over Christmas, so if we do go sailing over the fiscal cliff in fine Thelma and Louise fashion, he'll be off sunning himself in Oahu or whatever on $4 million of taxpayer money.  "Let them eat Hawaiian vacations"? 

Yeah, that really demonstrates how much he cares for the little guy, the unemployed guy, the people actually suffering from the toxic effects of this craptastic economy.  Hey!  I thought a bunch of people voted for him because you thought he was more "empathetic" or some touchy-feely nonsense like that.  O RLY?  I bet he'll really be feeling your pain when he's out there surfing for 3 whole weeks.  The optics are horrible, but nobody seems to mind. (No, I don't care if it's a habitual place to go for him. I'm talking about right now.)  Meanwhile, the closest your humble hostess is going to get to Hawaii any time soon is this.

RELATED POST: LOL, though it's not funny, not funny at all.  There's no way you can seriously propose $50 billion for another ill-advised round of stimulus spending, much less - well - any of the rest of it.

Fiscal Cliff LOL

I do mean an actual LOL. At this point, incredulous, derisive, "you have got to be freaking kidding me" laughter does seem a fitting response to this completely unserious administration.

An Open Letter to the GOP Leadership

Vodkapundit Stephen Green has something to say, and I love how he starts out with "Dear Speaker Boehner and Other Assorted Clueless Bozos on Capitol Hill ..." 

The Des Moines Register Endorses ...

Romney.  For the first time in 40 years, this Iowa paper backs a Republican for the Presidency.  Hope and change, folks, because it's about the ECONOMY.  Anyway, add this to the growing list of papers who went for Obama in 2008 and are now endorsing Romney.  I know, I know, newspaper endorsements in themselves don't really sway the undecided reader, but I find them fascinating this time around as an exhibit of a preference cascade among the editorial boards.  As for the Des Moines Register in particular, I think we all kind of saw this coming.  By the way, here's a piece of its official endorsement:

From Florida: It's the Economy, Stupid

That's the overwhelming reasoning behind every single newspaper endorsement for Romney that I've read, and that is the overriding reason why papers that endorsed Obama in 2008 are supporting Romney now. (A little background.) The latest paper is the Sun Sentinel, and these Florida papers I think may be especially interesting because Florida is the perpetual battleground state. Here's a piece of it:

Questions for the Presidential Debate

What do you think?  What would you like to ask Obama and Romney about domestic policy?

Quote of the Day: Thomas Sowell on Choices

This is a long-ish quotation, but it's worth a read as it delineates the difference between what people want to hear and what they need to hear:

This election is a test, not just of the opposing candidates but of the voting public. If what they want are the hard facts about where the country is, and where it is heading, they cannot vote for more of the same for the next four years. 

But, if what they want is emotionally satisfying rhetoric and a promise to give them something for nothing, to be paid for by taxing somebody else, then Obama is their man. This is not to say that the public will in fact get something for nothing or that rich people will just pay higher taxes, when it is easy for them to escape taxation by investing overseas -- creating jobs overseas. 

Even if most Americans do not have their own taxes raised, that means little, if they end up paying other people's taxes in the higher prices of goods and services that pass along the higher taxes imposed on businesses. 

There are no doubt voters who will vote on the basis of believing that Obama "cares" more about them. But that is a faith which passeth all understanding. The political mirage of something for nothing, from leaders who "care," has ruined many a nation.

Here's a related note.

Congrats on Winning a Medal. Now Pay Tax On It.

Oh, come on!  UPDATE: Someone's doing something about it.  Well, good.

6 Policies That Economists Love And Politicians Hate

Hmmmmmm (and on NPR, no less!). Here are two of the policies:

Three: Eliminate the corporate income tax. Completely. If companies reinvest the money into their businesses, that's good. Don't tax companies in an effort to tax rich people. 

Four: Eliminate all income and payroll taxes. All of them. For everyone. Taxes discourage whatever you're taxing, but we like income, so why tax it? Payroll taxes discourage creating jobs. Not such a good idea. Instead, impose a consumption tax, designed to be progressive to protect lower-income households.

Post-SCOTUS Decision: A Thought and a Giggle

In the wake of this morning's announcement, I give you an intriguing thought from the Anchoress (are we ultimately going to figure out that today's victory is actually a Pyrrhic one? hmmm) and a big giggle from the Star Wars-loving Internet:

Quote of the Day: Iowahawk on the Supreme Court Obamacare Decision

The Supreme Court finally announces today, and as usual, the hilarious Iowahawk nails it:

As a longtime connoisseur of overwrought political hysterics, it's CHRISTMAS MORNING.

It's going to be an uproarious day. Time to make a huge tub of popcorn, kick back, and watch the pageant of crazy from all sides.  


UPDATE:  The individual mandate survives ... as a tax.  I still hate it and the coercion of it, just as I oppose an increasingly overweening, overbearing national government that's perfectly happy to run roughshod over ... well, everybody.  How about instead of moaning and wailing, we repeal and replace this monster?

UPDATE 2: Dignified Rant has some thoughts.  Law prof Althouse will soon be doing a full analysis of today's decision (she's reading it now), but for now she notes that it's a huge tax on the middle class.  Well, apparently now ObamaCare can claim to cover both death and taxes, eh?  Law prof Instapundit also has thoughts and links.  Oh, and here are 4 excellent sentences from the dissenting opinion.

What Fresh Hell Is This? Hey, Let's Give the IRS the Power to Confiscate Your Passport, Comrade

WHAT.

Thoughts on Tax Freedom Day 2012

Indeed.

Tax Rant 2012

I rant about taxes every year.  This time I have too much work to do to rant to expectation.  Please read tax rants from previous years.  The only good thing about tax season is the fact that there is e-filing.