111–120 of 438 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
How did you give up income?
After a quick glance through their comment history, it appears they figured out this one neat trick called "homelessness".
Earlier quoted context omitted.
How did you give up income?
After a quick glance through their comment history, it appears they figured out this one neat trick called "homelessness".
Reminds me of this video I was watching on tiny homes. This guy converted a school bus into a home for him, his wife, and three children. And he was totally over-selling everything in it. Going on an on about how you can hang stuff here and there to save space. How the counters can be used for this and that and how multipurpose they are (like most flat surfaces). How everything is able to be cleaned. Etc.
And I'm like "Cool, it is a small space and you've managed to fit everyone inside to whatever degree of success you are comfortable with, but your 'dryer' is literally hanging clothes and turning on the heater."
I'm sure you can live like that. I'm sure you can manage living effectively homeless and with the barest of cash to buy whatever you need day to day. But that also requires a level of commitment and hustle I just don't want to deal with. I want to go home, watch Netflix, noodle on my guitar, build some Legos, whatever. Without having to think "Well, where should I sleep tonight that won't get me stabbed or dead from exposure"
I'm not getting why there's a sudden interest in this. The article is over 3 years old, and it's not even close to tax season.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's the worst kind of selective enforcement - random enforcement. Very similar to the way police behave w/ regards to speeding tickets. Set extremely low speeds that don't make sense on highways. Allow most people to go 10-15 above. But then also sometimes choose random people to screw over when it's the end of the month and they need to hit their quotas.
>Set extremely low speeds that don't make sense on highways. Allow most people to go 10-15 above. I doubt people really speed because the limits have been set too low and the people know better what is an ideal speed limit. I think people_think_ they know better what the speed limit is, and/or reason "well if 60mph is okay, 75 mph can't be that bad, I'm barely speeding and I'm in a rush". At least, that's the attitud…
I'm annoyed that there is no simple system for the IRS to tell me what I owe, and let me pay or dispute. Instead, we play this game where the IRS provides a bunch of complicated documents, I guess which ones to fill out and submit, then wait 3 years to see if I was randomly chosen to see if I was correct. So it's very easy to make a mistake for dozens of years, then suddenly be penalized at random. It's the worst kin…
The IRS has actually run trials like this in the past. Very successful, at least for simply W2-based returns, since most people's taxable transactions get reported by companies anyway (i.e., mortgages/interest, other income, etc.) and most people use the standardized deduction. Inuit and Quicken subsequently lobbied to end those programs and even bar the IRS from running similar programs...
They did the same thing in Canada too btw.
I'm annoyed that there is no simple system for the IRS to tell me what I owe, and let me pay or dispute. Instead, we play this game where the IRS provides a bunch of complicated documents, I guess which ones to fill out and submit, then wait 3 years to see if I was randomly chosen to see if I was correct. So it's very easy to make a mistake for dozens of years, then suddenly be penalized at random. It's the worst kin…
This would be nice, but they may not actually have all of the data: itemized deductions being one major missing piece.
Financial institutions and other companies already give the government a copy of the form they give you for self employment income and taxable financial transactions.
The states also report state taxes and property taxes(?).
This would cover most taxpayers. If you have anything more complicated you would have to add it. This would also make enforcement easier, it could for the most part be automated.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not just that, anti-tax zealot Grover Norquist has outsized interest on the right and he gets republicans to sign a pledge to not raise taxes, and if they violate the pledge Norquist raises money and campaigns against them. The problem is, the pledge also requires signees also do not support legislation to make paying taxes easier. The radical anti-tax groups are so anti-tax that they see making it easier to pay…
> The radical anti-tax groups are so anti-tax that they see making it easier to pay taxes as support for taxes. So they want it to be difficult to pay taxes to make it easier for them to argue against taxes entirely. I don't know if getting rid of taxes entirely is really a goal for many of these people, but what you describe doesn't sound that unreasonable. Making paying taxes easier does sound like support for taxe…
How does that fit into their logic?
What happens if all the taxes are abolished and there is no need for that business? Will they start lobbying for more tax or lobbying against the final cut? Or lobbying for an income report system with the tax component stripped out, basically building what would have helped in the first place?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's the worst kind of selective enforcement - random enforcement. Very similar to the way police behave w/ regards to speeding tickets. Set extremely low speeds that don't make sense on highways. Allow most people to go 10-15 above. But then also sometimes choose random people to screw over when it's the end of the month and they need to hit their quotas.
>Set extremely low speeds that don't make sense on highways. Allow most people to go 10-15 above. I doubt people really speed because the limits have been set too low and the people know better what is an ideal speed limit. I think people_think_ they know better what the speed limit is, and/or reason "well if 60mph is okay, 75 mph can't be that bad, I'm barely speeding and I'm in a rush". At least, that's the attitud…
Q. Wouldn’t everyone drive faster if the speed limit was raised? A. No, the majority of drivers will not go faster than what they feel is comfortable and safe regardless of the speed limit. For example, an 18-month study following an increase in the speed limit along the New York Thruway from 55 to 65 mph, determined that the average speed of traffic, 68 mph, remained the same. Even a national study conducted by Federal Highway Administration also concluded that raising or lowering the speed limit had practically no effect on actual travel speeds
https://www.motorists.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/speed-l...
Most of the rest of the world does this. If you only have W-2 or 1099 income, the government already has all of the data necessary to complete your taxes using standard deductions. If you have other income, itemize, or have other circumstances, you can continue doing your taxes as is. It is curious that some proponents (in the US) of lowering taxes intentionally make taxes more complicated so as to make people more o…