Slashdot Mirror

HAHAHAHAHA

That must explain why the Treasury Department lists it as one of its nine bureaus and all of the IRS logos on its website have "Department of the Treasury" right under "Internal Revenue Service." I used to work for the Treasury Department, and had a very good friend who worked at IRS. If it isn't part of Treasury, then there are several thousand federal employees, as well as millions of taxpayers, who were told otherwise in official statements, paperwork, or because they work there.

But no. let's take a group of tax evaders, which is what the people at the link you providedare. At least, they are from a legal POV.

According to this site we also have the following :

The economy created 7.7 million new jobs in the first 34 months of this Administration.

Passed the largest deficit-cutting plan in history -- saving more than $1 trillion over seven years.

On track for three consecutive years of deficit reduction -- for the first time since Harry Truman.

Cut federal spending by $255 billion over 5 years.

Made new tax cuts available to over 90% of small businesses.

Unemployment has fallen from 7% when President Clinton took office to its current rate of 5.6%

Lowest combined rate of unemployment and inflation since 1968.

1994 real GDP growth was the highest in a decade.

I'm sure, though that some folks will claim these are all either an amazing coincidence, or are in fact the fruition of the Reagan/Bush years. Anything bad is of course Bill's fault, or can be blamed on Lyndon Johnson as a failed policy of the Great Society.

Now that deadline is now over, the IRS is now paying rewards for turning in the offshore porn people who are avoiding paying US taxes.

The result came to be known as the IRS Free File Alliance and went live just this year. It lets you choose from about a dozen different online tax preparation products that normally cost about $20-$30 each.

Note that not everyone qualifies for the Free File Alliance because each company sets its own eligibility requirements. H&R Block's program, for instance, is free only if you earned less than $28,000 last year. Also, beware of hidden charges: Many of these companies offer the federal return preparation for free, but the state return costs extra.

[...] if an American company goes to China, they should pay Chinese and American taxes, they shouldnt be able to get out of paying taxes because they go over to China where the taxes arent so high.

Actually, the US is one of the few countries in the world that reserves the right to tax its citizens abroad. Right now, however (and this partially supports what you say), if a US citizen earns below $80,000, she or he qualifies for the so-called Foreign (Earned) Income Exclusion.

I used TaxAct for the 3rd year in a row and had no problems. Federal filing was free and the State was $7.95. Feds deposited my refund 11 days later, state always takes between 2 & 3 weeks (should be deposited Friday). TaxAct pointed out things I would have missed otherwise and saved me about $800.

Helpful hints:
1. Get a federal booklet. It will answer many of your questions.
2. www.irs.gov. It's there, use it. Their FAQ page at http://www.irs.gov/faqs/index.html has lots of good info.
3. Check for a local office in your area. You can meet an IRS rep face-to-face and ask questions.
The IRS may be blood-sucking bastards, but they're HELPFUL, blood-sucking bastards.

Just kidding. I've always found the IRS folks to be courteous and helpful. One year they even found an error in my favor by $85! But then again, I've never tried to avoid paying my taxes, either.

Here my issue with tax software - I would do stuff by hand, I don't mind at all - the only reason I really use tax software is not so much any time savings (I think the savings is rather small overall) but instead that it lets me eFile.

Does anyone remember form 1040PC? It was a fantastic form that provided a sort of compressed-text summary of your whole tax form on one sheet of paper, that was easy for the IRS to parse and was free to mail in, resulting in almost as quick a return as eFiling.

What I want is a return of something as simple as the 1040PC, that would let me either mail or email a condensed version of my whole return.

I believe the IRS was taking comments on a public eFiling system, but the comment period is closed now - there were a lot of comments from the tax preparers forecasting doom if the IRS let just ANYONE eFile without a fee, but there were some good letters of support. Just in case it makes any difference, please everyone write to the IRS and make a case for letting people eFile on their own, which should teach the idiot tax preparation industry a thing or two about treating customers like dirt and taking advantage of the whole US.

A good place to start contacting the IRS would appear to be here, at the Taxpayer Advocate Service.

You do know that you can get every form as a PDF at the IRS website don't you?

A... However, by tax law and by statistical averages, a single person making $50,000 a year is in the top 5-10% range of American incomes.

I wonder where you get that data. Doing the math on the tables in this IRS PDF (page 17) strongly suggests that the top 5% earn well over $100,000 a year. The AGI minus deficit of $75,000 and up constituted 15%. Tax returns with an AGI of $50,000 up made it into the top 28.23%.

Did you just walk through a cow pasture?

B... They'll still be paying more (percentage-wise, and dollar-wise) than the poor. Again, is tax relief still unfair?

There are some interesting numbers, on page 29 of the PDF. Again, the math indicates that those earning between $50,000 and $500,000 pay the highest percentage of taxes. While no return category earning over $500,000 paid more than 7.6% on average. I wonder how they managed that? Don't forget all the company perks: company housing, cars, food, business trips (read vacations), etc. that don't get reported as income.

C. Let's examine what the poor are doing for the economy vs. the wealthy.

Interesting logic... in a completely bizarre way. Tax breaks for the rich = more buying stuff = more jobs = more money for the poor. Bogus! Try the opposite: tax breaks for the poor who are guaranteed to spend their money (see social science studies and basic costs of living challenges) = more buying = more jobs = more money for the poor. Those who already have all their needs of life met save a greater percentage of their income (take it out of circulation), they don't spend (circulate) it. How many people earning less than $30,000/yr do you know who have any decent life savings?

D. Which people are using more of the government services generated by the tax revenue -- the rich, or the poor? Now, who pays more for those services, the rich or the poor? Who deserves a tax cut now?

Depends on your definition of government services. If that includes military support for oil drilling, massive corporate subsidies, government research grants, etc.. This is an interesting document. Besides, those filthy poor people can pay for their own damn food and medicine... I'm trying to save up for my third Rolls Royce!

your example is indicitative of the typical Slashdotter mentality.

And yours indicitive of the typical sucker who has bought the right-wing numbers/arguments. How much do you earn? I'm betting it's not enough to qualify for a real tax break under the new tax scheme.

I smell manure... anyone else?

If you insist on using TurboTax, use their web-based vesion; it's alway current and no software gets installed on your PC.

Personally, even though I've been using TurboTax for over 10 years, I will be using a different tax preparerer this year. I find their association with this kind of DRM crap distastful.

> You do get taxe[d]s recursively.

not necessarily.

> You pay income tax on your salary.

If you earn above the salary threshold

>Then when you buy something,

if you buy something

>there is a sales tax.

if you live in a state/ nation with sales tax

> Then the company which got your money pays taxes on it.

if they pay tax on the US

>Then they pay their employees and that gets taxes.

if their employees are taxed in the US

>And it repeats on an on.

no it doesn't.

of course money supply is circular, but to imply that because *some* through-choice spending is taxed again (after the original salary has been taxed) it follows that *all* spending is taxed many times ('recursively') is just wrong.

Some consumer spending (after tax at the point of salary collection) is deemed taxable, and some is not.

RTFM

When 50% of the population pays no income tax

You shouldn't believe everything Rush Limbaugh tells you.
In FY 2001, there were 130 Million "Individual Incom tax returns" filed with the IRS. Wow, this is about half of the U.S. population! Outrageous!!! Those lucky-ducky poor people must not be filing, right???

No. About 70 million Americans (25 %) are under age 18, and so do not pay income tax; another 15% are "severely" disabled (these came from census.gov). So, that means only 10% of the able-bodied workforce did not file income tax in 2001. Sorry to ruin your outrage.

Now that the IRS's e-file program is officially available, Intuit will have to radically change their business model for TurboTax. I completed my federal and MA state taxes online last night through TaxAct. It was quick, easy and without hassle.

There are several other IRS e-file Partners, many of which will allow you to file online for free. And if you don't qualify for free filing, you can file for as little as $4.95 for federal and $7.95 for state taxes, which is much less than the cost of TurboTax Basic Plus State, never mind the additional $9.95 cost of filing each return.
Web filing will beat out packaged tax software because it can be delivered more cheaply and is platform independent.

Now that the IRS's e-file program is officially available, Intuit will have to radically change their business model for TurboTax. I completed my federal and MA state taxes online last night through TaxAct. It was quick, easy and without hassle.

There are several other IRS e-file Partners, many of which will allow you to file online for free. And if you don't qualify for free filing, you can file for as little as $4.95 for federal and $7.95 for state taxes, which is much less than the cost of TurboTax Basic Plus State, never mind the additional $9.95 cost of filing each return.
Web filing will beat out packaged tax software because it can be delivered more cheaply and is platform independent.

The damn gov't can't even get eFiling straightened out. Why should they venture into more eCrap. I tried to eFile yesterday and it is all crap. Why can't they just buy one of the software vendors and GIVE the software away for FREE? Whoops... that might take away some valuable tax revenue.

Does anyone know of a good country to which I should move? I'm getting married soon and my wife-to-be and I have made the conscious decision that children are out of the question unless we find a legitimate country to live in.

This sucks.

Caught me. My source is the WSJ, sometime in the last two months. But, like you, I have heard various numbers and various metrics--generally depending on the affiliation of the quoted congressperson. But if said congresspeople don't have to footnote references, why do I? :-)

Looking, quickly, at the tax stats at the IRS site I can't find the link between people and taxes owed. The best I can do is find that tax returns with more than $100,000 in adjusted gross income account for 48.4% of taxable income and 61.5% of income tax after credits. This is for 1999, the latest year readily available. I understand that this is not the same thing as people, but it is directionally correct. I believe the average household income is below $100,000 (somewhere in the $60k range?)

I believe the numbers I quoted in my prior post were 50% of the absolute population, which is the most aggressive way to count (which is to be expected of the WSJ.) But, aside from minors, who can't vote, this supports my point (also note that the rich half have children too--whether thay have more or fewer than the poor half is difficult to say, especially since the poor half includes many people just starting in the work force who may not have children yet while the rich half is overrepresented by older people who will have had the children they are going to have.)

There was a quote in the NYT in the past couple of weeks from a Democrat who quoted number of taxpayers versus most of the tax paid and it was much more than 50%, which makes sense since there were 127 million returns filed in a nation of 281 million people.

Sorry for the scattered response, I wish I was more conversant with the actual stats, but it's hard to fit that into my job description :-). Note that all these numbers are for individual returns (ie. not corporate, partnerships, etc.) Anyway, my whole argument might be mooted by my definition of rich as more adjusted gross income than average: clearly wealth has a fixed asset component, not just a cash flow component. Also, the argument is mightily skewed by including just income tax and not sales tax, property tax, tariffs and all the other governmental fees. Which way it is skewed is anybody's guess. My wish would be to see an overall comparison of who pays for our government and who benefits. At least then we could have a real argument about our priorities.

Strangly these 60% of taxpayers have not yet been identified.

Apparently, the Americans most likely to get to file their taxes online for free are "taxpayers below certain income levels" (the poor) and "different groups of taxpayers" (i.e. minorities).

According to the IRS website EFile will be free for about 60% of taxpayers. Strangly these 60% of taxpayers have not yet been identified. Here's the link...IRS Free EFile

Send me your information and I'll e-file for ya, or to locate other authorized e-file providers go to this page.

In fact, some people have suggested to the company that they work for, that in view of how i makes the vast percentage of its revenue charging for configuring, setting up and maintaining the software they develop, that it might be worth it to open source the product and give the software away, but charge for everything else. So if you're really broke you can get it for free, or if you want to look at it before putting it on your machines, you can do that. But if you want anything else, even instructions on how to install or use it, you have to pay something.

Why is this such a problem for you? Is it that you think they should give everything away? They have to eat, too. If you don't like it, don't agree to their terms. Since the source code is available without restrictions, take the time and effort to study the code and learn how it works, pay someone else to do that, or pay them and/or agree to their restrictions.

Has anyone noticed there are no open-source tax preparation or payroll software programs? (If I am wrong, someone e-mail me). Because those aren't very sexy for programmers to work with - which means that people aren't volunteering to do them for free - and because they require constant maintenance. (Not [merely] because of bugs, but because the tax laws and payroll processing rules change every year.)

Someone has to pay for the maintenance since this is not something your average programmer either wants to do for free (in the case of a payroll product) or has the resources to do on his own (in the case of a tax preparation program.)

Now, I know that there is GNU Cash as a workalike for Quicken but I know of no open-source software for mundane apps like payroll or tax preparation, and if there were, I can't see how we could expect them to be kept up to date without significant resources to handle the average of 10,000 tax law changes yearly. And that's just the U.S.

Every country has its own rules and thus a tax package to handle the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules would be worthless for Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (CCRA) or for the UK's Inland Revenue (IR). Or the other tax authorities in the other 160+ jurisdictions around the world, almost all collecting some form of income tax. Then there's the 30+ states in the U.S. that also impose taxes on income, provinces in Canada (if they do, I'm not sure) and other subdivisions of governments elsewhere.

Now, some of these agencies are providing on-line tax preparation over their websites, but the method to do this is not open source, and would you expect to pay the lowest possible tax by using, or would you really want to trust, a tax package developed by the taxing authority? :)

Historical note: the typical quote "The power to tax is the power to destroy" was originally written by U.S. Chief Justice John Marshall as "That the power of taxing by the States may be exercised so as to destroy..." McCulloch v. Maryland 4 Wheat. 316 (1819), the first case declaring a statute void for violating the constitution.

Paul Robinson <Postmaster@paul.washington.dc.us>
http://paul.washington.dc.us

Seeing as the previous admin had been relieved of his duties for using our systems against the Treasury Dept and the IRS (there were FBI agents hanging around during my interview), this was the first item on my list of things to do. And yes, I backed it up and removed a few trojans from the system first.

Whom is the audience for this post? Those who believe in "Fair Use" as defined under the law. Not Fair Use as "I want everything to be free, and damn the consequences to everyone else".
First a clear explanation of copyright

CAFE at the EFF
Note what it doesn't say as well as what it does.

Here as well is a "balanced" look at what's being fought for, for both sides.

A summation of positions

Note in all the above the author isn't being denied his rights, and the consumer isn't his.

Personal Computer Software Copyright Violation: An Unobtrusive Analysis of Internet Software Piracy

Looking at the "piracy" phenomena from the sociologist perspective.

White collar crime increasing

Of which copyright theft is.

The Digital Challenge to Intellectual Property Rights

Note this part of the above "To an economist, assets are valuable not because they merely exist, but because they can be bought and sold and traded.". Note to people who argue that the copyright holder has the original even if you make an exact copy are missing the point. Existance isn't enough.

. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Technology, Intellectual Property,and the Operation of Information Markets

There is more for such a complicated topic with far reaching consequences. Which I intend to expand upon latter.

I don't expect anyone to read this, partically because the battle lines have already been drawn. US vs THEM, and when that's done. Proper discussion is very hard.

Also remember that on BOTH sides there are those factions that seek only their own ends and "Fair Use" really isn't one of them.

Residents of those places don't pay money to the IRS. (Well, the Virgin Islands at least; I imagine the others are handled in a similar fashion.) They have to meet certain qualifications to be considered residents, of course, such as actually living there, and they do pay taxes, but not to the US Federal Government. See for example here.

IF people were paying their fair share, they'd all pay the same PERCENTAGE of their income to taxes-- and thus the richer you are, the more you'd pay.

This isn't really fair either, actually, because EVERYONE gets the same benefit from the government and has the same cost to the government.

Truely fair would be for everyone to pay the same DOLLAR AMOUNT in taxes to the government.

But you'd never stand for that, screaming about how "unfair" it is based on bullshit assumptions (like the rich get more from government-- often made, never backed up. Fucking idiot statement, that.)

But no, you want to tax a higher percentage from the more wealthy-- which is pure bigotry.

You might as well be advocating that gay people and black people pay more taxes than straight or white people-- cause its just as bigoted an idea.


EOD

It's going into the defense budget.

For a reference of federal government spending just look on page 2 of the 1040a instructions. You'll note that SS+Medical+other retirement problems eats up 36% of fed spending. Quite big, eh?

You must have forgotten that we live in a Republic, not a Democracy. The people have no real power whatsoever. Even if the people voted to repeal internet taxation, the politicians are under no obligation whatsoever to obey the vote. It's not really any different than a presidential election in which the Electors are under no obligation to cast their votes for the candidate that wins the popular election in a given state.

The *real* reason that internet taxation is wrong goes Way Way Back(TM) to our childhood in which we were usually taught that if we didn't have money to buy something, we couldn't buy it. The government has tried several ways to increase revenue.

First, during the Civil War, the government enacted the Bureau of Internal Revenue. This was a very small amount compared to excise taxes and tariff duties (the old way of doing it). The first self-expanding perpetual bureaucracy is born. Read more about the Civil War Bureau of Internal Revenue Here... And a way-way-cool tax history museum...

During the Johnson administration, the gubment took money off the gold standard and just printed as much as it needed to cover its spending programs. This ridiculous endeavor led to the hyper-inflation of the 70's and the 99.9% top incremental income tax bracket during the Carter administration, and the double-digit interest rates going into the 80's. It's amazing to me that the government didn't learn during this time that raising taxes does not increase revenue for the gubment - IT LOWERS IT because of the burden it places on the economy. People have less money to spend, so there are fewer sales, fewer profits, lower salaries, and LESS INCOME TO TAX. But, I digress...

Enter Reaganomics - now, whatever you learned in your left-wing democratic union-controlled public school about Reagan and his economic policies was blatantly incorrect. When Reagan took office in 1981, the government's purse had 18 bullet holes in it and was leaking money like a sieve. Our great country was spiraling almost inexorably toward bankruptcy, and we came very close to defaulting on a round or two of long term bonds. The fact is that after the gigantic tax cuts in the early 80's, IRS revenue INCREASED. That's right, cutting taxes INCREASED revenue for the government. *shock*

"but, but, but, what about the deficit?" - okay, the deficit was caused by Harry Truman. Yes, the deficit spending in the 80's was mainly due to the Truman Doctrine, which required the US to fight the spread of communism throughout the world. There was this little country east of Europe, called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, that had at some point in history developed nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons and was on the rampage. Since WWII, they had already installed their communist regimes in most of eastern Europe and were pushing west. The Arms Race was a very necessary evil, and as much as I hate to say it, we had to win the cold war no matter what. Combine that with an unchecked social welfare program that was often corrupt and abused, and we were suddenly saddled with mind boggling debt.

Here's a little perspective on the debt: if you were to pave a 12' wide road with one billion one dollar bills, you would have a road long enough to drive 252,000 miles, about the distance to the moon. If you were to pave a road with the national debt's worth of one dollar bills, you could drive 1.5 million miles. However, there isn't enough cotton on earth to make that many one dollar bills. (FYI all US currency bills are 6.14" x 2.61" and weigh approximately one gram per note, regardless of denomination).

The point here is in agreement with yours that the government is stupid when it comes to fiscal management. When their budget runs over, they just raise more taxes to pay for it. They don't care about the long term effects because there's no accountability. The worst that can happen is that they'll either get "voted" out of office or hit their term limit. But, nothing they do while in office will usually have a negative effect until they're long gone..

We need a balanced budget LAW, just just some sissy amendment that can be changed and re-written to suit the convenience of the politicians, but something that is irrevokable, unmodifiable, and carries the status of a high crime. IN fact, I can write it right now, and IANEAL:

"It shall be a high crime against the United States for any individual or group of individuals to cause a government agency to spend more money than it receives."

"It shall be a high crime against the United States for any individual or group of individuals to cause the amount of money a government agency receives to increase at an annual rate that is higher than the sum of the rate of inflation and the rate of growth of the Gross Domestic Product."

We owe it to ourselves (literally!) to pay down the national debt. Every bond you buy from the government represents money borrowed by the government, from you, to spend on $4000 toilet seats, private jets, politicians' vacations around the world, and let's not forget the $58,000 486 machines that the government is probably still buying.

Some other interesting government links:
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing
All About our Tax System
All About our Tax System, the government's version of the truth
The United States Mint
The Social "Security" Administration

Sorry. According to the 2000 Census, in 1999 the median salary for Americans was 41,944 Dollars per year. Not 15,000. This link has a lot of Economic info collected during the census. Also, did you know that 96% of taxes are paid by the top 50 % of Americans? Also, if you make over 50,000 a year you are in the top 25 % of wage earners in America. Here are several pages of statistical info on taxes. The point as it pertains to your arguement, the average american has not earned 15,000 a year for a long time. You can make that with no college education what so ever. If you get paid 8 an hour, you make 16,000 a year (roughly). If you get paid just 2 more an hour, around 20 a year. (all before taxes). Add 2 more to that an dyou make 24,000 a year. Point is, even fast food jobs can net you 15,000 a year and that's if you work fast food. You can get a job stocking groceries that pays more then that. You could also get a job as a package handler at UPS and that pays more. It's increasingly easier to make money in this country believe it or not. Those dot commers who are waiting for something can get a job at those type of places with their eyes closed. Don't laugh. It's money. While I agree that congressmen (let's not bash them shall we?...it would only bring us to their level) make too much cash and it's a crock that they vote for their own salaries (do I want more money? sure I will vote for that spending bill), I don't agree that alot of congressmen are not putting the best interests of the taxpayers first. Sometimes the voting public doesn't know what is best for themselves (not often but sometimes they don't have a clue). If you think your congressmen is not doing the job, you can vote him out. You do vote don't you? If more people voted, then the politicos would have to think of better ways to get into office and they might actually have to do what their voters say they should do.

And whereas, the endeavors of the legislature to obviate objections to the said laws by lowering the duties and by other alterations conducive to the convenience of those whom they immediately affect (though they have given satisfaction in other quarters), and the endeavors of the executive officers to conciliate a compliance with the laws by explanations, by forbearance, and even by particular accommodations founded on the suggestion of local considerations, have been disappointed of their effect by the machinations of persons whose industry to excite resistance has increased with every appearance of a disposition among the people to relax in their opposition and to acquiesce in the laws, insomuch that many persons in the said western parts of Pennsylvania have at length been hardy enough to perpetrate acts, which I am advised amount to treason, being overt acts of levying war against the United States, the said persons having on the 16th and 17th of July last past proceeded in arms (on the second day amounting to several hundreds) to the house of John Neville, inspector of the revenue for the fourth survey of the district of Pennsylvania; having repeatedly attacked the said house with the persons therein, wounding some of them; having seized David Lenox, marshal of the district of Pennsylvania, who previous thereto had been fired upon while in the execution of his duty by a party of armed men, detaining him for some time prisoner, till, for the preservation of his life and the obtaining of his liberty, he found it necessary to enter into stipulations to forbear the execution of certain official duties touching processes issuing out of a court of the United States; and having finally obliged the said inspector of the revenue and the said marshal from considerations of personal safety to fly from that part of the country, in order, by a circuitous route, to proceed to the seat of government, avowing as the motives of these outrageous proceedings an intention to prevent by force of arms the execution of the said laws, to oblige the said inspector of the revenue to renounce his said office, to withstand by open violence the lawful authority of the government of the United States, and to compel thereby an alteration in the measures of the legislature and a repeal of the laws aforesaid;

The US already has some IRS services online:

refund status
efile

More things are coming soon. None of it requires a digital certificate. They are going with a "private information" approach. For example, to change your address and things like that in the future you will need to know the exact AGI filed for a given year, etc.

Not sure if this is better or worse, but that is where it is going in the USA.

The US already has some IRS services online:

refund status
efile

More things are coming soon. None of it requires a digital certificate. They are going with a "private information" approach. For example, to change your address and things like that in the future you will need to know the exact AGI filed for a given year, etc.

Not sure if this is better or worse, but that is where it is going in the USA.

The KDE League bylaws clearly state that it is a nonprofit, and the article makes the case that it is not a 501(c)(3) organization. Is it, then, a 501(c)(6) organization (a business league)?

If so, there are, indeed, public disclosure requirements imposed by the IRS. See this page and read the last paragraph. Yes, this page applies to all nonprofits, including business leagues, as this page makes clear. If, in fact, the KDE League is a "business league", Dennis Powell (no matter how much of a jerk you or I might think he is, and believe me, I'm not a fan) was within his legal rights to ask for disclosures. He is not be entitled to the full books, but he is entitled to "the last three annual information returns".

If the KDE league is not a 501(c)(6) either, then I don't see how it can be a legal nonprofit at all, in which case they owe Delaware filing fees that haven't been paid.

You can't just say that you're an ordinary corporation that doesn't expect to make money. With such a status you have to pay filing fees to the state of Delaware, and Delaware is now saying that the league doesn't owe them. So which is it? Either KDE League has to pay Delaware or they have to give Dennis Powell their annual information report. One or the other.

If I'm wrong, then it must be the case that the KDE League has some alternate legal status that I'm not familiar with. If so, what is it?

I'm not saying this to attack KDE. KDE and the KDE League are distinct entities, and I'm not seeing any evidence that the KDE League is serving the interests of KDE's developers or users. Any responses should leave the personality or beliefs of Dennis Powell out, as they are irrelevant.

The KDE League bylaws clearly state that it is a nonprofit, and the article makes the case that it is not a 501(c)(3) organization. Is it, then, a 501(c)(6) organization (a business league)?

If so, there are, indeed, public disclosure requirements imposed by the IRS. See this page and read the last paragraph. Yes, this page applies to all nonprofits, including business leagues, as this page makes clear. If, in fact, the KDE League is a "business league", Dennis Powell (no matter how much of a jerk you or I might think he is, and believe me, I'm not a fan) was within his legal rights to ask for disclosures. He is not be entitled to the full books, but he is entitled to "the last three annual information returns".

If the KDE league is not a 501(c)(6) either, then I don't see how it can be a legal nonprofit at all, in which case they owe Delaware filing fees that haven't been paid.

You can't just say that you're an ordinary corporation that doesn't expect to make money. With such a status you have to pay filing fees to the state of Delaware, and Delaware is now saying that the league doesn't owe them. So which is it? Either KDE League has to pay Delaware or they have to give Dennis Powell their annual information report. One or the other.

If I'm wrong, then it must be the case that the KDE League has some alternate legal status that I'm not familiar with. If so, what is it?

I'm not saying this to attack KDE. KDE and the KDE League are distinct entities, and I'm not seeing any evidence that the KDE League is serving the interests of KDE's developers or users. Any responses should leave the personality or beliefs of Dennis Powell out, as they are irrelevant.

There is no IRS not-for-profit database.

The database the OFB article refered to is the IRS Search for Charities web page.

If the KDE league is not a 501(c)3 then what the heck is the KDE league?

As the KDE league is not a 501(c) organization, it is one of the many other types of not-for-profit organizations recognized by the state of Delaware. See the The Nonprofit FAQ for more information about what type of not-for-profit organizations exist.

There is no IRS not-for-profit database.

The database the OFB article refered to is the IRS Search for Charities web page.

If the KDE league is not a 501(c)3 then what the heck is the KDE league?

As the KDE league is not a 501(c) organization, it is one of the many other types of not-for-profit organizations recognized by the state of Delaware. See the The Nonprofit FAQ for more information about what type of not-for-profit organizations exist.

Sorry. Not true

I too will question the very advisability of single sign on. There are good reasons I keep multiple banking, credit card and merchant accounts. I specifically * don't want* one single authority to be tracking my every move. I * don't want* all my finacial and personal assets and records piled up in one location.

Well, fortunately for you, there isn't one single authority tracking your every move.

There's four.

Equifax.
Experian.
Trans Union.
IRS.

Oh, and if you live outside the US, trust me, the same info is available. Just change the last one to the appropriate regional authority, and maybe change one or two of the first three names to someone else.

Obviously others disagree but I think that single access is just plain dumb

Well, oddly, the entities listed above disagree. They very much prefer to track you by a single method of access.

And just how secure do you think that is?

The argument is, of course, that there is less risk with a well protected central account, but that account is an all or nothing sort of deal

As it is with the current system. And the current system has essentially no safe guards. Once I have the magic number I can get every other account number you have. And through the wonders of Automated Clearing House and Electronic Funds Transfer I don't need any other information to get every penny out of the accounts. Nifty, huh?

The only thing protecting you from having this happen is that nobody gives a crap about you. Which is pretty much the same thing that will protect you in any future system.

• 1. only deductible to a point.
• 2. DEDUCTIONS, not CREDITS.

Do you work at Microsoft?

According to the IRS You can deduct Objects of Art and Collection, including electronic media such as Records. While archaic - art certainly includes books about softwae, and even software itself.

What you cannot deduct is The Value of Time and Services

In other words you cannot list the value of your work in terms of the hours spent, but you can list the value as determined by an independant appraiser.

AIK

Do you work at Microsoft?

According to the IRS You can deduct Objects of Art and Collection, including electronic media such as Records. While archaic - art certainly includes books about softwae, and even software itself.

What you cannot deduct is The Value of Time and Services

In other words you cannot list the value of your work in terms of the hours spent, but you can list the value as determined by an independant appraiser.

AIK

Since I already fucking paid for it!

You get a tax deduction of 10% of the vehicle's cost (a maximum of $4000) for an EV, hybrid EV, or fuel cell powered vehicle

If you create a "work of art", have it appraised by an expert, print it on paper, and donate it to a non-profit organization. That org can issue you a tax deduction.

Tax Deductions are worth n+n^2 face value where n is your income tax rate. Say you were at the 50% rate - the Tax Deduction you receive for your artistic contribution to AmigaOS would be 75% of the Appraised Value. I doubt many programmers get 75% of the selling price of their software - so it's really a generous deal.

See IRS Document 561 for official details on donating "Works of Art".

Its true the document doesn't break down "Works of Art" into Books, vs Photographs, vs Original Van Gough vs, Compiled works of highly mathmatical precision, but Art is a big tent, and Software is as like art as anything else.

IANAL/CPA But what an easy place to find the money you need to complete that OS! And We the People will both benefit and pay.

AIK

According to IRS Publication 561 (Fair Market Value) Donated works of art can be Tax Deducted. If the value is less that $5,000 (per charity) you need trivial documentation. For Values >$20K and >$50K there are additional requirements such as the opinion of an Appraiser or Expert and an 8x10 Photo.

So for example - if every charity or government office which uses Open Source software were to validate a Site License donation of a Work of Art in the appraised amount - Uncle Sam would pay for Open Source by allowing programmers to work part-time Open Source and part-time Tax-Free!

Obviously we would want some test cases - but if tested and proved legal - Open Source would be generously funded by the Government - which I think is best for everyone.

A Friend of mine points out that simply publishing source code in paper format has in the past converted contraband cryptography to Free Speech. Perhaps donating Open Source in bound volumes is enought to convey material value to the Charity and satisfy the requirments of IRS #561.

Is there something outside the marketability of political orientation that is a factor in this difference in success? Does political orientation give a business an advantage in a Capitalistic society? Or is it that Republicans are just looser with their wallets?

Take another look at the chart on p. 60 of the 1040 instructions from the IRS. Note that Social Security spending is 33% of federal spending today before the Boomers retire. That will only grow. Net interest on debt cannot be tapped, and all other categories are dwarfed by entitlement spending. There simply is not ``plenty of discretionary spending'' to re-assign to save SS.

I also have to ask if you have any clue just how enormous the unfunded liability of our entitlement programs is -- $20 Trillion. We aren't going to come up with that shortfall by saving dimes and pennies on other programs. The orders of magnitude simply do not compare.

Well, it's more likely they've found a loophole. The way I read it (very briefly) Microsoft likely doesn't fall under the category of "Personal Holding Company", because 50% of the corporation's stock is not held by fewer than 5 individuals. Microsoft also can argue that they're actually going to use all that cash - someday. IAAPTP, but this is not legal or tax advice.

Actually, the article says "the Internal Revenue Service's 1040 EZ form was simpler to read"

The 1040 EZ isn't exactly college-level reading material. It's one fscking page for Chrissake!

or you could telefile an extension, if you do it by phone it's free (though you're supposed to estimate how much tax you'll owe and pay it, which you can do via credit card for some nominal fee. I think it's a buck. If that's significant digits to the amount you think you owe less the amount you've already paid then you can probably get away with saying you estimated lower, but hey, IANA(T)L)

Info on irs.gov

I actually just did this... quite painless. Note, however, that if you end up owing taxes, you will at least have to pay interest on them, if you don't pay them now. Kinda weird: "I don't know how much I'll finally need to pay, but here is what I owe." At any rate, for those who need to do so, go here and grab form 4868.

So Brilliant Digital is providing me with a service, the Kazaa network, in return for another service, use of my computer's storage and spare CPU cycles... First of all, it's a great idea. But I wonder whether or not users of this service will be legally required to pay taxes on their barter income, and more importantly, whether Brilliant will have to mail out 10,000,000 1099-Bs (along with collecting 10,000,000 social security numbers).