Anyone else just write a check while swearing at the top of your lungs?

[flatlander420]

I read this article The other day and got really pissed off about where my tax dollars are going.Take it for what it's worth. I am sure all you Bushites will not agree but fuck EVERYONE seems to be getting fucked over by this administration

[Blurred]

I read this article The other day and got really pissed off about where my tax dollars are going.Take it for what it's worth. I am sure all you Bushites will not agree but fuck EVERYONE seems to be getting fucked over by this administration

War or not, you'd still send in a check for the same amount. Get over it.

[Trackhead]

War or not, you'd still send in a check for the same amount. Get over it.

Compared to our neighbors in the north, we are taxed lightly. But we don't have some social programs they have.

Just a thought.

[flatlander420]

War or not, you'd still send in a check for the same amount. Get over it.

See what I mean! Typical, expected response from the Bushites."Get over it" and bow down submersively as our country becomes a facist dictatorship. Pathetic

[Blurred]

Compared to our neighbors in the north, we are taxed lightly. But we don't have some social programs they have.

Just a thought.

So what's your point? I can use the dollars I'm not being taxed for to buy my own health insurance? Well, I'm young, don't smoke, am not obese.... I think communism would be more of a burden on me to carry the pricetag of the health needs of the Fat, Lazy smokers who don't excercise. Just a thought.

[Trackhead]

So what's your point? I can use the dollars I'm not being taxed for to buy my own health insurance? Well, I'm young, don't smoke, am not obese.... I think communism would be more of a burden on me to carry the pricetag of the health needs of the Fat, Lazy smokers who don't excercise. Just a thought.

My point is taxes suck, but they aren't as bad as other countries.

I agree with you on expanding social programs. I work in health care and see the abuse EVERY FUCKING DAY of people on our governments health care programs. Coming to the ER for BULLSHIT.

Don't get me started, I'm at work and dealing with these fucks as we speak.

[Blurred]

See what I mean! Typical, expected response from the Bushites."Get over it" and bow down submersively as our country becomes a facist dictatorship. Pathetic

Yes, just this afternoon, all of Congress fell over and died of a coronary. Bush is all that's left.

Please bow down "submersively". Thanks.

[schuss]

the war pisses me off, but that's been rehashed a million times. What about all the other pork in the budget? That's where the consistent waste is.

[Core Shot]

the war pisses me off, but that's been rehashed a million times. What about all the other pork in the budget? That's where the consistent waste is.

Totally agree, Bro. Iraq costs are huge (but recent) - pork goes on year after year after year.

Most 'mericans are so wooo hoooo happy that they get a refund check at tax time, rather than looking at their total tax bill.
Refund=loser.
Refund= govment stole too much of your money over the year.
If you are getting big refunds, add a few more exemptions to your withholding forms.

Whether you owe or get refunded, look at the total tax you pay this year. Were all the services you got worth it??
Is your government efficient with your money?

www.cagw.org

Some of the more shocking pork projects of the last 14 years include:
$102 million to study screwworms, which were long ago eradicated from American soil
$50 million for an indoor rain forest in Iowa
$2.2 million to renovate the North Pole (lucky for Santa!)
$1 million for ornamental fish research
$273,000 to combat goth culture in Missouri
$50,000 for a tattoo-removal program in California

Here's some highlights of where your tx dollars went this year:

"My favorite this year is the $100,000 for the Punxsatawny Weather Discovery Center Museum. We are now funding groundhogs," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a longtime critic of congressional pork, who attended the release of CAGW's report
The projects targeted include $469,000 for the National Wildlife Turkey Federation (search) in South Carolina. The group supports, among other things, wild turkey hunting as a traditional North American sport.

The state of Alabama received $1.7 million for the International Fertilizer Center.

The Tiger Woods Foundation also received $100,000.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, makes the list for receiving $350,000 for music education programs.
But that is just one of the halls of fame making the Pig Book this year. The Paper Industry Hall of Fame in Appleton, Wis., earned $70,000.

$300,000 to improve public transport at Disneyland in California;

$25,000 to fund the study of Mexican mariachi music in Nevada schools

$75,000 for Onondaga County for the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame.

$10,000,000 for the International Fund for Ireland;

$3,000,000 for the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation;

$250,000 for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tenn

$350,000 for the Inner Harmony Foundation and Wellness Center in Scranton, Penn

$100,000 for the Bach to School Program


Ahhhhhhh, now I feel better about writing out that check!!

[Core Shot]

Wait, theres more coming in the new transportation budget:

· $200 million for a bridge in Alaska that would serve an island with 50 residents

$125 million for a bridge in Anchorage, Alaska

· $15 million to purchase three ferries and establish a ferry system from Rockaway Peninsula to Manhattan, New York

$3 million to renovate and expand the National Packard Museum and adjacent historic Packard facilities in Warren, Ohio

$2.88 million to construct a bike/pedestrian path in Delta Ponds, Oregon

$1.7 million to reconstruct Union Station in North Canaan, Connecticut for a transportation museum

$1.5 million to plan for “The American Road,” at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan

$1.3 million to construct a recreational visitor center on the Mesabi Trail in Virginia, Minnesota, part of which will be used for bike and rollerblade rental.

$580,000 to reconstruct a historic bridge crossing Maxwell Creek in Sodus, New York

$500,000 to establish a transportation museum on the Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois

$300,000 for Yonkers, New York, to buy a trolley

[mr_gyptian]

unfortunately all of this identifiable pork amounts to a frekkin' rounding error in the context of a 2.6 Trillion dollar budget. I hate it as much as anyone, but real change doesn't start with cutting Ted Steven's bridge building desires.

[Twoplanker]

Condemning "pork" (appropriations for special, one-time projects) makes for great, dramatic television or news reports, but over-simplyfying anything sometimes results in incorrect conclusions. Sometimes this money goes towards projects that are a waste of taxpayers money, but more often it does not.

First, pork is paying for jobs. Who do you think is doing all of that work? The actual subject of a $5 million dollar project may seem like a total waste to you, but not to the people whose salaries are paid from that money and not to the companies who products and services are paid for with that money.

Second, pork sometimes funds "basic" research and the media likes to get an easy laugh out of this. We all get a chuckle when the government is "caught" funding basic research on "silly" phenomena like the reproductive processes of penguins. But real, practical science often results. How silly do you think the basic research that lead to things like microwaves cooking food sounded?

Third, do you know anything about these projects, other than their titles? (And I'm sure you do about some) Are you sure that they are all a waste of money, just because their short, two or three word titles does not provide an in-depth explanation of what the project acomplishes? These projects are often very large and complicated, involving many agencies, organizations, and employees

Again, I'm not saying that some pork is a waste, because it is. Pork is a result of a non-competitive process that is supported by crony-ism and the good old boy network.

I just get tired of seeing this "look at this funny list of how the government wastes our money" act when most people (and you may not be one of them) have no idea what they are talking about and have no real information about the projects that are supposedly a waste.

[Twoplanker]

Let me give you an example. I worked this year to get an earmark for an avalanche safety program that would educate thousands of backcountry travellers about how to travel safely in the BC (skiers, snowmobilers, etc.) It did not happen, but if it had, it would have saved lives. I think it is a good idea, the project would employ a few people, and ultimately would save taxpayers money (less SAR for example).

Put a negative spin on this and you got money going to protect rich, white people and their expensive pasttime and their homes built to close to the mountains because their rich. A waste of money, right?

[Core Shot]

I agree somewhat with your comments, but almost everything I posted is hardly necessary, and could be funded at a local or non-profit level.
The $125M bridge in Anchorage is prolly needed, but the $200M bridge for 50 residents on an island???

Here is the definition of "pork" that cagw uses:

In conjunction with the bipartisan Congressional Porkbusters Coalition, CAGW has developed seven criteria for identifying pork-barrel spending. All of the items in the Congressional Pig Book Summary meet at least one of CAGW's seven criteria, but most satisfy at least two:
· Requested by only one chamber of Congress;
· Not specifically authorized;
· Not competitively awarded;
· Not requested by the President;
· Greatly exceeds the President's budget request or the previous year's funding;
· Not the subject of congressional hearings; or
· Serves only a local or special interest.

Just in case anyone thought GW and the GOP were reigning things in, here's some data:

[lemon boy]

A good idea for you snail mailers, especially those who owe: spend the extra coin for certified mail so you have proof of mailing.

I would suggest that for those of you who owe a LOT of money you should either get an accountant or if you have one a new accountant. There is no excuse for having a huge and painful end of year payment. Spread that shit across the quarters, keep on top of your quarterly earnings vs. withholdings. You have nobody to blame but yourself if you get pinched at the end.

Getting a refund is not universally bad as previously suggested. While yes, the govt does get to keep the $ for "free" it is a boon to people who are otherwise not good at saving money. Honestly, you know who you are and if you're one of those people it is a good thing to be able to trigger this automatic savings mechanism. Plus in relatively few cases will it amount to "real" money on the difference.

There is also a host of benefits to doing your returns as soon as humanly possible. Chiefly, if you owe you'll know the amount and have some time to gather the coin. If they owe you can get it back quickly (wait times for refund are directly correlated to when you file, if you're done by mid Feb you may only wait 1 week).

Tip: for sched A'ers, if you buy a car during the year (or are planning to) that has a value anywhere approaching your annual income then it very well may work well for you to track your sales tax over the year, while a huge PITA to do, it may well end up exceeding your state income tax.

[/None of the preceeding should be construed as professional advice, please see a tax accountant in your area. Income taxes are not my specialialilaility]

[Below Zero]

That's what's missing! ^^^^^^

The board needs more graphs!

Thanks, Jibij and Core Shot!

$1100 return here fuckers! Too bad I already spent it on ski gear!

[Core Shot]

Let me give you an example. I worked this year to get an earmark for an avalanche safety program that would educate thousands of backcountry travellers about how to travel safely in the BC (skiers, snowmobilers, etc.) It did not happen, but if it had, it would have saved lives. I think it is a good idea, the project would employ a few people, and ultimately would save taxpayers money (less SAR for example).

Put a negative spin on this and you got money going to protect rich, white people and their expensive pasttime and their homes built to close to the mountains because their rich. A waste of money, right?

sounds like a good project, but I still dont think that or a lot of shit needs to be funded at the public trough. OTOH, you might as well try for the trough since it is there, so I dont blame you at all - at least its ski related! Way better than hundreds of thousands to combat the spread of "Goth" .

Tiger woods foundation is a fine non-profit, but it already has tens of millions in contributions - did it really need another $100k handout?
I used to live in Chicago - Navy Pier does not need $500k for a transpo museum. Not to mention, they will be back in future years to keep it funded.
Was there really a demand for a ferry from Rockaway to Manhattan??
cal Ripkin was a great player, but why are we collectively giving $3M for his honor?


I am a fan of government being as small as possible.
Protect the public health and welfare.
Basic science and applied science can fit in that schema, but why not have it be for the best or most popular or most needed research, rather than the shit that is in Senator Porkfat's district.

[Core Shot]

Tip: for sched A'ers, if you buy a car during the year (or are planning to) that has a value anywhere approaching your annual income then it very well may work well for you to track your sales tax over the year, while a huge PITA to do, it may well end up exceeding your state income tax.

Yea, I saw that shit in TurboTax - WTF??? Like I am supposed to save all my receipts for everything I bought?

But, turbotax lets you create an assumed base level of salestax paid (based on your income and state tax rate) and then you get to add large ticket items on top of that. Saves some PITA, but is that really an accurate method???

This whole tax system is fucked up.
Bring on the flat tax.
close the loopholes and deductions.

[Tippster]

Wait, spending went DOWN between 1997 and 2000? Who was that President again?

[lemon boy]

coreshot- Not dealing with the income tax side really I would tell you that as a general rule of thumb, shit you can't prove you will get fucked on. I haven't read all the in depth rules on the sales tax Schd A though nor do I have access to the IRS audit manual for Schd A.

Please don't get me started on the flat tax and why it is a bad idea (or at least do it in a new thread). I will ownerize you.

[lemon boy]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4444679.stm

[Core Shot]

coreshot- Not dealing with the income tax side really I would tell you that as a general rule of thumb, shit you can't prove you will get fucked on. I haven't read all the in depth rules on the sales tax Schd A though nor do I have access to the IRS audit manual for Schd A.

Please don't get me started on the flat tax and why it is a bad idea (or at least do it in a new thread). I will ownerize you.

I dont know how turbotax can make those assumptions, but I would hope that it was based on some IRS guidelines or regs somewhere.
I'm just curious who asked for this new deduction and why did it get passed into law?

I dont need absolute flat tax (admittedly some problems) but trying to get there might at least simplify this ridculously complicated system we have now.
Guess whats on the horizon instead of a flat tax? A NATIONAL SALES TAX in addition to this hopelessly complicated income tax!! Yea! Whoopee!

[Core Shot]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4444679.stm

Tax the Whores!!

nice link, but your link led to this one which is better:

Free sex offer for US troops
The first 50 soldiers to arrive will receive a free sex pack
A US brothel is offering free sex to US troops who took part in the war against Iraq to thank them for their endeavours abroad.
The Moonlight Bunnyranch in Carson City, Nevada, where brothels are legal, has produced a more erotic version of the standard TA-50 army kits issued to troops headed into battle.

Instead of a compass, toothbrush and soap, the pack handed to soldiers who turn up at the brothel includes condoms, lubricant and a free sex session - with a value of up to $1,000.

"We wanted to show our appreciation for everything they've done," Dennis Hof, the proprietor, told BBC News Online. "We wanted to give these guys some special care and attention."

Mr Hof said the idea had been put to him by one of his female employees, who had served in the war.

The TA-50 offer is open to the first 50 soldiers who turn up at the brothel.

But all is not lost for those who arrive late. The Moonlight Bunnyranch is offering a 50% discount on all its services to servicemen and women for 50 days after the first offer expires.

Mr Hof said he was also considering a special offer for British troops who took part in the war against Iraq.

"It would be really great to get those guys to come over to the Bunnyranch," he said.

[watersnowdirt]

goddamn - we can't even maintain a straightforward ranting thread without arguing.

Back to the ranting!

[UTdave]

Tip: for sched A'ers, if you buy a car during the year (or are planning to) that has a value anywhere approaching your annual income then it very well may work well for you to track your sales tax over the year, while a huge PITA to do, it may well end up exceeding your state income tax.

It may be but the way the sales tax deduction works is from a table based on income. You can then add in sales tax for a specific item such as an automobile. It is still better for most to take income taxes unless you live in WY, NV, TX, FL, WA where there is no state income tax. My best advice for people is to hire a good CPA with experience to help you plan and do your taxes.
Core shot- it doesn't matter if it's accurate if Congress said you can do it. And Buzz I've actually cut back this week. And I'm sleeping in until 7:30 on Saturday.