How To Fix A Federal Deficit? Steal From The People!

[PsychicWarVeteran]

So Bush cuts taxes for the rich while at the same time starting a costly war, driving the country further into debt than it has ever been. And how do you think he plans to get the money back? Well, among other things, he's going to blatantly rip off American citizens:

Phone customers are due $9 billion in tax refunds and a 3% cut in wireless phone and long-distance bills, according to a series of federal court decisions.

But the federal government continues to collect the tax and requires so much paperwork for refunds that only big corporations are likely to benefit.

Well, well. How interesting that the process for obtaining a refund is so convoluted that only corporations (who can pay employees to do the paperwork) will likely benefit. If the federal government was due money from me, they only need to seize my bank account, but when they owe me money, I have to sift through hours of paperwork:

The average consumer would be entitled to a refund about the size of the average $49.52 monthly bill paid by the USA's 195 million wireless subscribers. However, consumers would be required to seek refunds individually, documenting how much they paid each quarter in separate claims.

The time limit for refunds is three years. A person entitled to a $50 refund would have to fill out forms a dozen times to get the three years' worth of refunds permitted under tax law. Collecting records and preparing the form would take about seven hours.

Right. I can get my refund if I'm willing to work for it at a rate of $7.07 an hour. Incidentally, that's less than the Washington state minimum wage.

"It sounds absurd, but the law is written so that the government can keep collecting a tax even though it's been ruled unlawful," says Hank Levine, a lawyer representing businesses that challenged the tax. Federal law makes it nearly impossible to get an injunction to stop the government from collecting a tax, he says.

WTF!? Let's look at that last statement again: Federal law makes it nearly impossible to get an injunction to stop the government from collecting a tax. So... the government made a law that makes it nearly impossible to stop them from breaking the law? Really? How does that happen? There's a conflict of interest in there somewhere, isn't there? Am I just stupid and not seeing the logic?

Anyway, there you have it, kids. The grand Republican fiscal strategy is to steal from those who can least spare it and give to those who already have more than they can use. Then pay back debts with someone else's money. See how that works? The rich stay rich, the poor stay poor, and the whole deal is sealed by middle-class idiots who vote Republican even though they will never be rich enough to reap the spoils.

SOURCE: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/20...hone-tax_x.htm

[Doc]

I feel beaten-down by recent legislative activity. I feel even more beaten-down by the people who are fine with having no future, so long as homosexuals can't get married, a woman's right to choose is being eroded, and people are working to keep the ten commandments in courthouses and "under God" in the Pledge of Allegience. (Feel free to fill in any other smokescreen issue.)

It sickens me that the recent extensions in the cuts on investor taxes comes on the heels of cutting basic safety net programs. We wonder why the gap between the haves and the have-nots is increasing in the US. Part of the rationale of both pieces of legislation is that they increase incentives to accumulate wealth. Such rationales show how out of touch these people are with life outside of the beltway.

Let's see... a hypothetical person works two jobs in retail, but can't get health insurance. This person barely makes rent each month. He gets sick, can't work, and has little assistance in treating sickness. Buying stock will make all of that better! Oh, wait, he can't afford any stock because he has no money. That's OK, he can declare bankruptsy. No, he can't, because new legislation has made that much more difficult.

Who is being protected? Who is being served?

What infuriates me are the people who don't care about their own interests. Especially those who are falling for the bait-and-switch of "values." It seems to me that taking care of other people is the most fundamental value of all. Where is all of the Christian charity from all of the people who use the Congress as their pulpit. Give me a break.

Ahem...

[Talisant]

I keep seeing the same documentary on Dr. Guillotin in heavy rotation on the history channels, is there something in the air?