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Hardly, by capita is proportional to the population. One of the biggest myth's in north america is the fud your spewing

You have no idea what you are talking about. According to the IRS, 96% of all the taxes paid in the US are paid by the richest 50%. In simple terms, that means that half of this country doesn't pay any taxes and are supported by the other (richer) half.

Is it just me or does it seem like almost everything Dubya does is intended to lower the quality of life for the average American?

What do you consider the "average American". I believe the median income in the US is a little over $27k/year (according to this. According to the article, the proposed changes would increase the minimum non-exempt income from $8k/year to $22k/year. This will guarantee that a lot more "average" Americans will earn overtime pay.

On the other hand, many people earning over $65k/year will be excluded from overtime pay, but this group is usually considered the average.

When you have more money to spend you can find more tax loopholes, so you pay less tax per dollar earned.

You are talking out of your ass. Lets look at the real numbers, ok?

In 2001, the average tax burdon as a % of income for all tax returns was 16.1%. Here are some examples to see how that breaks down:

- People that made between $19k-$22k/year paid 7.6% in taxes
- People that made between $40k-$50k/year paid 10% in taxes
- People that made between $100k-$200k/year paid 17.3% in taxes
- People that made between $1.0M-$1.5M/year paid 29.2% in taxes

What do you know- the more money you make, the higher your tax burdon is. In fact, the richest 1% of taxpayers account for about 20% of all income, but they pay over 37% of all income taxes in this country (Source).

In fact, most people who make really excessive amounts of money per year pay less taxes per dollar than those in lower tax brackets as a result.

Wrong. The highest income group (people that made over $10M in 2001) paid about 25.4%. Compare that with the 2.0% paid by the lowest income level.

The next time Daschle is on TV whining about the "tax cuts for the rich", keep these numbers in mind...

look at the real figures (those percentages are bogus and you know that).

Funny- those percentages are the "real figures" as published by the IRS. In other words, even if the rich are paying accountants to find them tons of loopholes, they are still paying a lot more taxes that the poor.

These are more than just crazy economic theories- they are proven to bring results. Look at the Ronald Reagan years. Reagan drastically cut taxes, and look at what happened: our economy grew at a whopping 3.2%/year, and everybody's income increased. But it gets better- the poorest quintile saw an increase of 6% in real income compared to a 2.5% increase of families that made over $75,000/year (the wealthy), and minorities saw an 11% increase in income over the same period! The poorest demographics benefitted the most from "Reaganomics".

So not only is your 'Screw the rich' plan unfair, it doesn't work. It punishes success and the whole economy suffers.

The justification for invading Iraq was to force compliance. Saddam was required by 17 unanimous UN resolutions to prove that he had disarmed, and he never did. Nobody disputes that- not even people like Mr Chirac or Mr Blix. If the goal had merely been disarmament, then another 12+ years of UN inspections might have even worked, but it would have worked at the cost of the continued torture and oppression of the Iraqi people, a continued threat to our national security, and it would give other crazy 3rd world despot leaders incentive to misbehave. Nothing short of full compliance was acceptable.

Now if Saddam quietly destroyed all of his weapons in secret, especially in the face of such intense international pressure, then he is crazier (and stupider) than we all thought. He could have avoided 12 years of sanctions, repeated bombings, and a full-scale invasion if he had only showed the world proof. The world knew he had weapons- we even saw him use some of them. But instead he played the system for 12 years, so it was a very reasonable assumption that he still had the weapons. But the point is this- the world told him to do something and he didn't do it. Whether or not he still actually had WMDs (and I still think some will be found) is irrelevant.

Now the reason for going into Iraq when we did was because of our 9/11 wake up call- we realized that we can't afford to have a sworn enemy of our country collecting illegal weapons. The fact that Saddam is sitting on huge natural resources that can finance almost anything he wants set Iraq apart from other rouge nations (ex: the DPRK- they can't afford squat).

Were the WMD allegations trumped up? Maybe, but that seems very unlikely to me. Why would we lie about that when we knew that the truth would come out after our invasion? In fact, the truth is coming out because of the invasion.

If you don't think what we've done in Iraq will increase and perpetuate terrorism, then you probably are completely devoid of any ability to think logically.

Ah, I don't agree with you, therefore I am devoid of any ability to think logically. Thatâ(TM)s a pretty good debate tactic.

I think that a stable and free Iraq, as well as a dedication to the mid-east peace process, will do wonders for our relations with that part of the world. These things will take time, but it looks like to me like progress is being made.

As for the rest of your arguments, well when Warren Buffet comes out against Bush's tax cuts and says it unfairly benefits the wealthy, what do you say in response.

Yes, Warren Buffet is against the tax cuts. Warren Buffet is also a regular contributor to the Democratic Party. He is entitled to his opinion, and I am entitled to disagree.

The fact is, the wealthy already pay most of the taxes (the richest 50% pay over 96% of all income taxes- Source). It stands to reason that they will benefit more in a tax cut. I don't see anything wrong with that.

If you care to do some research, the growing disparity between the wealthy and the poor, and the shrinking of the middle class are causes for real concern.

Ok- here is some research. Let's look at the last substantial tax cut before this one- the tax cuts during President Reagan's administration. Under the Reagan administration, every income bracket showed an increase in real income, but families making under $50,000/year had a 5.9% increase compared to the 2.5% increase of families that made over $75,000/year. During this same period, the poorest quintile saw an increase of 6% in real income, and minorities had an 11% increase in income. And just today CNN ran a story that the number of millionaires is shrinking. So much for your "growing disparity" between the rich and the poor.

Check this document, which another slashdotter graciously provided from the US Treasury.

The "rich". It's a convenient label to give someone. It all comes down to being jealous of someone else's wealth. They have it. You want it. The poor can't steal it legally, so they get the government to do it for them.

Just because those wealthy people don't "deserve" all that money. "They must have killed countless poor people to get that money! It's rightfully ours!"

People that complain that the rich aren't taxed enough piss the hell out of me. There are lots of programs for people to increase their lot in life. Either people don't use the resources because they are lazy, or because they would rather keep on milking the system.

Tell you what - let's burden the people with the most money even further. Who's going to pay the tab when they leave?

So obviously Warren Buffet is the god economist who's never wrong, right?

Do you realize that the top 1% of income earners (that earn over $293,000 per year) earn only 20.81% of the income and PAY 37.42% of the income taxes? The top 50% of wage earners pay over 96.09% of the income taxes! That means that if you earn over $26,000 or so, you're part of the "elite" that pay 96% of the taxes! If you're still confused about the whole ordeal, what I'm telling you is that according to the IRS, in 2000, half the people in this country paid 96% of the taxes. The other half paid under 4%. If you only pay 4% of the taxes, why should you get back more than 4% of a tax cut? Oh wait, because MOST of the people in the lower 50% don't pay ANY taxes at all!

Don't believe me? Check with the IRS yourself:
IRS Statistics for 1996 - 2000 Excel Spreadsheet

The paper that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) uses to produce our currency is "distinctive." A paper manufacturer produces it according to BEP specifications. It is composed of 75 percent cotton and 25 percent linen. The paper also contains red and blue fibers of various lengths that are evenly distributed throughout the paper.

Currency paper has a unique feel and is extremely durable. Is it really 'paper' in the traditional sense? There are no wood fibers or starch in currency paper. Instead, like high quality stationery, currency paper is composed of a special blend of cotton and linen fibers. The strength comes from raw materials continuously refined until the special feel of the currency is achieved. People who handle money on a regular basis, such as bank tellers, can easily determine if a bill is counterfeit by this distinctive feel.

If you tear a note in half, burn both edges of the tear and take both halves to different banks, claiming that your money got burned, will they each exchange the half-notes for real ones?

Question: I have some currency that was damaged. My bank will not exchange it for undamaged currency. What can I do?

Answer: You will be interested to know that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP), thorugh its Office of Currency Standards, processes all reimbursement for damaged United States currency. They decide the redemption value of torn or otherwise unfit currency by measuring the portions of the notes submitted. Generally, they reimburse the full face value if clearly more than one-half of the original note remains. Currency fragments measuring less than one-half are not redeemable.

You say this happened in Canada, but you used American money? I live nowhere near that border; what's up with that?

Anyway, regarding the guys with $1000 bills: The "legal tender" doesn't mean that somebody has to accept it, except the Federal Reserve. If the seller and the buyer can't agree on an instrument of payment, then there's just no sale. Yeah, the guy with the $1000 bill wouldn't have to pay-- but the store doesn't have to give him their product!

By the way: the $1000 bill hasn't been issued since 1969, and the Federal Reserve pulls them from circulation.

Also see Snopes on legal tender, and the US Treasury FAQ.

It was eliminated due to thus negative stigma attached to it.

It was not eliminated .

It's the $22 bills that are "fake"!

I know this is kind of hard to understand, but you have to actually pay taxes in order to get a tax cut. Since the richest 50% pay over 96% of the taxes, it stands to reason that they will also get the "vast majority" of the tax cuts.

Moron.

As of March 1, 2003, the Secret Service and the Customs Services have been moved from the Treasury Department to the Department of Homeland Security. ATF has been split between the "tax and trade bureau", which remained in the Treasury Department, and the "law enforcement functions", which moved to the Department of Justice.

I know it's a joke, but it's a little out-of-date.

Well, he pushed through an expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit [irs.gov], specifically designed to provide tax breaks to lower income working people.

People who pay zero in federal taxes still qualify for this. It's another form of welfare.

The top 50% of wage earners in the country (those who make over $27,682 per year) pay 96.09% of the taxes. Reference. Yet Clinton is a "good guy" for reducing taxes for the "poor", and the Republicans are "bad" for reducing taxes for the "rich"? The poor pay virtually nothing in federal taxes! You can only cut taxes for the people that actually pay them.

If we hoped to rob it [Fort Knox], we'd have our work cut out for us. On the other hand, if it had been designed by an open forum, then the architecture and security practices within would be public knowledge, and it would be comparitively easier to launch a robbery attack on it.

While not everything about Fort Knox is public, the US Mint has made quite a bit of information about it available to the public. This includes information on the architecture and on some of the the security practices,.

Excerpts:

Within the building is a two level steel and concrete vault that is divided into compartments. The vault door weighs more than 20 tons. No one person is entrusted with the combination. Various members of the Depository staff must dial separate combinations known only to them. The vault casing is constructed of steel plates, steel I-beams and steel cylinders laced with hoop bands and encased in concrete. The vault roof is of similar construction and is independent of the Depository roof. Between the corridor encircling the vault and the outer wall of the building is space used for offices and storerooms. [...]

At each corner of the structure on the outside, but connected with it, are four guard boxes. Sentry boxes, similar to the guard boxes at the corners of the Depository, are located at the entrance gate. A driveway encircles the building and a steel fence marks the boundaries of the site.

In case you are in danger of believing in this nut case, consider this link from the IRS also.

This actually happened/happens. The scam that I heard about is the Slavery reparations tax refund, where descendents of slaves get a $5000 tax refund.

This was, of course, false, but a lot of people signed up for it.

It turns out that the IRS has a page on Tax Fraud Alerts.

I'm actually surprised there aren't more of these.

If you have clearly more than half of each piece of soiled, worn out, or dirty bills, you can just go to your local bank and exchange them.

Bills damaged by fire, water, chemicals, decay should be sent to Department of the Treasury, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Office of Currency Standards (OCS), Room 344-PD, Post Office Box 37048, Washington, D.C. 20013 for examination. The bills should also be clearly more than half intact.

Sources: http://www.bep.treas.gov/section.cfm/8/39
http://www.ustreas.gov/education/faq/currency/sale s.html#q1

Internet sales taxes are desperately needed. Not only are the well-off more likely to purchase things online... this is one of those 'rich getting richer' schemes that doesn't get much airplay

This is pure left-wing bull crap. First of all, the idea that rich somehow get off scott-free when it comes to taxes is laughable. The richest 5% already pay over 56% of the entire income tax base (Source). They are not getting any richer because of anything the government does.

Your just playing the same liberal card over and over. Try to convice the poor that the only reason they are poor is because some rich bastard stepped all over them to get rich. It doesn't work that way.

First, the top 1% make 20.81% of all income covered under the income tax, yet pay 37.42% of all federal income taxes paid in the United States. For the Excel-impaired, this AP-based article largely recites the relevant statistics.

Second, the government does not "give" the rich (or anybody else) money when it cuts taxes. If you believe that the government owns your money and only gives you what it deems necessary to maintain your lifestyle, then it would appear that you're all for government paternalism and should have no objections to this video game bill at all!

I dunno dude, but it sounds to me like you're the victim of a Denial of Service (DoS) attack. If I were you I would document each and every single occurance (time, size, IP addresses, etc) and attach a dollar value to each occurance (time spent, harddrive space filled up, bandwidth filled up, down time, new equipment bought to counter the threat, etc).

Then give a call to the U. S. Secret Service Electronic Crimes Branch or the FBI National Computer Crime Squad or the National Infrastructure Protection Center.

Note that each of these organizations has a dollar amount threshold. If the crime doesn't break the threshold (e.g. over $10k or something (I don't know the actual numbers, but I'm sure they can be found here)), then they won't investigate the crime.

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.

You can deposit any amount into a bank account, though you may have to file a small amoutn of paperwork declaring where it came from if it's over $10,000

Or, to rephrase what you said, you cannot deposit more than $10,000 without filing the proper forms. In fact, any "irregular" transaction will be reported to the authorities.

You are free to keep $10,000 in a cookie jar all you want.

This is legal, unless your house is searched and the money discovered. Then it may be seized based on new interpretations of old laws, and new anti-terrorist laws like the USA Patriot Act.

You can carry any amount of negotiable item into most countries, though you have to decolare it if it's over a certain amount. In the US, it's $10,000

The US treasury disagrees with you. Fail to file acceptable reasons, and the penalties can be quite severe.

The Register article seems to mock the Secret Service as being the outfit that only protects high-ranking officials. That is quite untrue. The primary mission of the USSS was originally to suppress counterfeiting operations, and only adopted the protection of the White House staff after the 1901 McKinley assassination. So while the USSS is most famous for protecting the President at all costs(tm), they still play major roles in uncovering counterfeiting rings (if selling The Two Towers "DVD" 1 month before the actual release of the movie isn't counterfeiting, I don't know what is). Sounds like the Brits need to do their homework (e.g. visit http://www.ustreas.gov/usss/index.shtml)

"The Secret Service is also responsible for the enforcement of laws relating to counterfeiting of obligations and securities of the United States, investigation of financial crimes including, but not limited to access device fraud, financial institution fraud, identity theft, computer fraud, telecommunications fraud, and computer based attacks on our nation's financial, banking, and telecommunications infrastructure."

"The Secret Service is also responsible for the enforcement of laws relating to counterfeiting of obligations and securities of the United States, investigation of financial crimes including, but not limited to access device fraud, financial institution fraud, identity theft, computer fraud, telecommunications fraud, and computer based attacks on our nation's financial, banking, and telecommunications infrastructure."

"The other curious aspect of yesterday's release is the use of Secret Service agents in the bust. The Secret Service, we naively presumed, was employed to protect high-ranking elected officials. " Actually thats just part of the Secret Service's job. They are officialy under the treasury department and are also in charge of counterfeiting investigations and some other things... I'm not sure how ileagle CD copying falls under this, but they don't just protect politicians and civil leaders.

Of course you could just buy everything from "off shore" sites and Canadian ones. But I am sure they will have a way to tax that as well.

Normally, you'll have to pay tariff on the goods. But if the fair retail value does not exceed $100, you could avoid the tariff by having the retailer send your goods as a gift. More info here. I guess you could negotiate with smaller website owners regarding this, but the big ones probably don't want to take the risk.

Here we go again with percentages? Why don't Liberals ever use dollars? Because then people would understand the specious bull they are spewing. According to the IRS, in 2000, the top 1% were families or individuals that made above 313,469 dollars a year. The top 5% made above 128,336 dollars a year. The top 10% made above 92,144 dollars a year. The top 25% made above 55,225 dollars a year. You can verify this at the IRS's site in this Excel file. 00in01rt.xls

So we know the top 2% is somewhere between 128k and higher. Big deal! Prove their wealth came from defense and not from their plumbing business or their pizza shop.

Just in case.

Just hold this up to the original article and read it backwards.

Here is a mirror

And here is a picture of a mirror. :-)

When do I get my points?

here's a mirror.

It is interesting, given that the founders of our country picked no bones about having no such separation. In fact, the Declaration of Independence talks about the "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" and of the need for its direct influence on manmade government.

Our currency carries our motto, "In God we Trust!"

Our pledge states that we are a nation indivisible "under God"

Is it moral and upright to take a growing child and pervert them in a way that doesn't allow them to live a normal life or not? And God's law says it isn't.

And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that
cometh out of man, in their sight...Then he [the Lord] said unto me, Lo, I
have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread
therewith. -Ezek. 4:12-15

For those interested, here is a mirror.

mirror

History of 'In God We Trust' on currency:

http://www.ustreas.gov/education/fact-sheets/curre ncy/in-god-we-trust.html

If that one doesn't work you might try this mirror.

For downloadable purchases, Europeans have decided to tax them domestically. That's different from US policy, but so what? If American firms now want to sell downloadable stuff in Europe, they face the choice: either collect the European taxes or face increasing regulation by European governments. US firms generally prefer self-regulation. But the Europeans have the means to get their cut, if necessary, by taking the money out of on-line banking transactions.

Here is a mirror.

Mirror!

A good deal of these spam e-mails are related to the Nigerian Advance Fee Fraud, which the U.S. State Department considers a big enough deal to publish their own materials on it. See here [link is to a PDF] or here. The fraud is quite advanced, often going so far as to appear to originate from the Central Bank of Nigeria, use official letterheads and stationary, etc.

The moral of the story is that sometimes spam is not just annoying, but potentially fraudulent and therefore dangerous. I'm glad to see something is being done about this, not only to curb spam, but also to prevent the scam from growing.

Goto http://www.customs.ustreas.gov/imp-exp/rulings/hq. htm.

Click on the "Search the full text of ruling letters issued by OR & R, headquarters".

In the bottom frame put "Flash Advance Linker" in the edit box, and hit search.

You'll get a page with a big heading of "October 30, 2001". It's about the 3rd letter on this page. Just search for "Flash Advance Linker" on the page and you'll find it.

The U.S. Customs ruling (available through their
search page if you
search for Flash Advance Linker under the link to
rulings by their HQ) contains their own justification for getting involved, as well as their legal reasoning. The official rationale for having the authority to rule is as follows:

"In the instant case, the question before us deviates somewhat from the more traditional cases involving Customs copyright infringement enforcement in that the subject question involves application of certain provisions of the Digitial Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. 1201) (hereinafter DMCA). That is, Customs here is providing administrative enforcement not on the basis of whether one work is "substantially similar" to another, but rather, on those provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976 that address "circumvention" which the DMCA was promulgated to address. Regardless, the question presented is whether a particular device constitutes an infringement of law under Title 17, U.S. Code."

"The role of Customs in issuing substantive decisions of copyright infringement as to imported merchandise was addressed in The Miss America Organization v. Mattel, Inc., 945 F.2d 536 (2d Cir. 1991). Citing section 603 of the Copyright Act of 1976 (17 U.S.C. 603), the court recognized Customs authority to enforce the provisions of the law prohibiting importations of infringing goods. Id. at 538."

The four specific allegations Nintendo made against Flash Advance Linker were as follows:

"(1)the floppy disk which is provided as part of the "GB Flash Advance Linker" has no function other than to bypass the "Game Boy Advance" access restrictions, and therefore meets the statutory requirements of 17 U.S.C. 1201(b)(1)(A);"

"(2)the "GB Flash Advance Linker" illegally copies Nintendo's Game Boy Advance video game data from its cartridge format to a flash memory cartridge (Flash 64M RAM card, distributed with the "GB Flash Advance Linker" device, in contravention of 17 U.S.C. 1201(b)(1)(A));"

"(3)the "GB Flash Advance Linker" illegally copies Nintendo's "Game Boy Advance" video game data from its cartridge format directly to a PC hard drive, using the printer port connection of the "GB Flash Advance Linker", from whence it can be uploaded to the internet for unlimited copying, in contravention of 17 U.S.C. 1201(b)(1)(A); and"

"(4)the "GB Flash Advance Linker" is also primarily designed to circumvent technological protections, and has only the most limited commercially significant purpose other than to circumvent protections, in contravention of 17 U.S.C. 1201(b)(1)(B)."

Long story short: US Customs did their own
lab investigation of Flash Advance Linker, agreed that FAL could do what it's advertised as doing, and agreed with all of Nintendo's four points.

I hope this case (or something similar) goes to
court and results in DMCA being ruled unconstitutional. I can't actually disagree with the U.S. Custom folks' decision; it is an entirely rational application of the law as it stands. It's just that the law as it stands is insane.

You're trying to become a charitable organization 501(c)(3) but in reality, I think you're probably a social club 501(c)(7) and I'm sure the IRS feels the same way too.

Look into the IRS's Tax Expemtion for Social Clubs

• Exemption Requirements
• Application for Recognition of Exemption
• Filing Requirements
• Unrelated Business Income Tax
• Solicitation Notice

You're trying to become a charitable organization 501(c)(3) but in reality, I think you're probably a social club 501(c)(7) and I'm sure the IRS feels the same way too.

Look into the IRS's Tax Expemtion for Social Clubs

• Exemption Requirements
• Application for Recognition of Exemption
• Filing Requirements
• Unrelated Business Income Tax
• Solicitation Notice

You're trying to become a charitable organization 501(c)(3) but in reality, I think you're probably a social club 501(c)(7) and I'm sure the IRS feels the same way too.

Look into the IRS's Tax Expemtion for Social Clubs

• Exemption Requirements
• Application for Recognition of Exemption
• Filing Requirements
• Unrelated Business Income Tax
• Solicitation Notice