The rest of the industrial world (you know, all those countries with universal health care) do not have this problem. The United STates, with its unregulated private market DOES have it. Your private health insurance can refuse to treat your cancer based on "pre-existing conditions;" guess what, the Sécurité Sociale or the National Health Service cannot.
I get 4-4.5 hours out of my 4 year old Dell D505. I leave the backlight at 50% - it's too bright otherwise. WiFi usually on, new battery from 1.5 years ago. Seems to last about what Dell claimed! Now, if I'm doing non-stop compiling or heavy-duty FEA then the battery life drops WAY down. But then I'm usually seated at a desk, where an outlet is just a few feet away. When I'm traveling and need the battery life, it's typically just web and e-mail and it lasts plenty long for that...
There's only I've place where I've seen more IP violations that China, and that is Russia. Heck, most of the copied DVDs sold in China COME from Russia!
Please see the US Treasury Debt application, and show me the last time a Fiscal Year ended with a lower national debt than the previous Fiscal Year. HINT: Eisenhower was President...
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I know that President Clinton loves to crow about budget surpluses, but given that the US national debt increased EVERY year, the surpluses were figments of his imagination. If there was a surplus, the national debt should have gone down, rather than gone up.
Yes, but how many of the delivery lorries and buses get that kind of mileage? This is a mandate for the AVERAGE of all vehicles sold; meaning that for every truck sold that does 12 MPG (like the large trucks used for construction workers or larger vans used by small businesses for delivery vehicles), you need to sell a dozen that average 45 MPG to make up for it.
It's not $17 billion in cuts, it's $17 billion in proposed cuts, 99% of which won't happen. For comparison, last year George W Bush proposed 434 billion in cuts, none of which happened.
And it's even worse than that... The supposed "savings" from stopping Yucca Mountain are imaginary! Yucca Mountain was funded by a special, sole-purpose tax on utilities to fund just such a place as a national waste repository - the Nuclear Waste Fund.
What we have is literally an illegal shifting of targeted taxation. The original source of funds to finish Yucca Mountain was this special tax, and it was to be spent on Yucca Mountain only. But I guess the Obama Administration decided that those dollars would be better re-directed elsewhere.
Of course, the illegal nature of that taxation shift won't be mentioned, and it'll be played up as a savings of a general multi-billion expenditure - the fact that it was a pre-paid "user fee" will be ignored...
Actually, this will probably stifle R&D. Right now, it's a smart move to keep profits overseas, tax deferred, so you can build up a multi-year chest for large purchases or big R&D pushes. By making that income taxable, if you save any money year-over-year you'll get taxed on that profit and the interest you earn as well. So much for small and mid sized companies saving a few year's worth of profit to expand their operations.
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Taxation on income is definitely a disincentive to save profits. We've seen that it is definitely a disincentive towards personal savings.
Apparently you don't understand what tax is being deferred... Let's say I am a US company. I have a Hong Kong subsidiary (where foreign corporate income tax is zero). That HK subsidiary makes a sale of product from our Singapore operations to London, and makes a $1M profit.
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According to the current Administration, that $1M profit should be taxed inside the US at a 39.6% tax rate. A product made in Singapore, sold from HK, and delivered to London should have its profits taxed in the US because the owner is in the US. Even if the profits are never repatriated into the US (for example, I keep those profits in HK to further expand my overseas operation). And regardless of the tax I pay on that profit overseas.
I find it astounding that people believe that is a legitimate and proper application of tax law...
Yes, yes... ExxonMobil made $4.55 billion in profit for the first quarter of 2009. Of course, they also paid $17.6 billion in taxes for that same quarter. So is giving the Government nearly $4 for every $1 you keep not high enough taxation?
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I know "Big Oil" is a favorite whipping boy of the political left, but really, isn't a ~80% tax rate high enough? How much more do you demand?
Look at Hong Kong. Definitely not a poor place, yet they have a 0% tax rate on foreign income (that is, if you're an HK company, and you earn money outside the territory of HK, you pay zero corporate taxes on that money). Seems to work OK for them...
Unfortunately, real world data says otherwise. I'd suggest reading up on Hauser's Law and consider the voluminous data that points to lower taxation increasing economic growth. In light of Hauser's Law, it should be painfully obvious that lower taxation will result in higher receipts to the Government.
Yep - works great. How many trillions of dollars of debt does the US have now?
About half of what the current Administration wants us to have, apparently. The same Administration that wants to balance it's $11 trillion spending spree by closing a $6 billion annual loophole (yes, that's the amount of taxes that the IRS estimate are deferred by foreign subsidiaries). It would take over 1800 YEARS to balance the added debt this Administration wants to saddle us with by closing this loophole.
Apparently neither math nor logic are the strong suits of this Administration. Of course, with an admitted tax cheat in charge of the IRS, one can't expect much...
Hmmm... The Government of the country sets up the rules. And those companies play by those rules. And that's considered screwing the country? Look, you make the rules, I play by them, don't get upset when I win...
"Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one's taxes. Over and over again the Courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone does it, rich and poor alike and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands"
Judge Hand was a very interesting judge who has had a massive impact on the US judiciary at all levels. I would submit that it is, in fact, patriotic to minimize one's taxes to provide a check and balance on the size and scope of Government through restriction of the purse strings (not that it really matters with the current Administration racking up multi-trillion dollar annual deficits...)
First off, please point to the year-over-year reduction in national debt; it hasn't happened since 1957 under President Eisenhower. Clinton's "surplus" was a mirage.
Sorry, but the facts just don't jibe with your diatribe. Your racist class warfare claims to the contrary.
Oh, and Obama's solution to paying off the debt? More than doubling the debt that took 230+ years to accumulate, and do it in under a decade. Nothing like tripling the deficit his first year out, and planning for ever-increasing deficits after next year (all of which are greater than ANY deficit under George W. Bush).
"Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one's taxes. Over and over again the Courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone does it, rich and poor alike and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands."
Most of those Bermuda/Cayman holding companies exist not to avoid taxes entirely, but rather to keep the US from double-taxing profits that have already been taxed once by Europe/Asia, which is what the US does when this offshore trick isn't used.
This is bogus argument. US has tax treaties with most of the rest of the world that prevent double taxation
Too bad it's capped at a pretty low level; for persons working overseas, it's capped at around $90K; above that point you get the "privilege" of paying both income taxes - where you reside and US - on every dollar you make. I believe it's the same for corporations, above a certain level.
Because it was earned OVERSEAS and LEGALLY SHELTERED. What Obama wants is to claim the 39.6% that US-based companies pay, and let you also pay the double-taxation (tax on profits made overseas, to the overseas country AND to the US government). And we're not talking about the additional 15% on distribution of what remains...
Really? The US debt dropped year-over-year in the 90s? Look again, I think you'll see otherwise... The last time we actually had a surplus and paid down the national debt was 1957 under Eisenhower.
But the problem is that most environmental extremists consider cats part of nature, so their bird kills are fine. Man, on the other hand, is NOT considered part of nature so anything we do is automatically bad. Even if it has less impact than cats.
Slashdot Mirror
I wonder what the Jar Jar Binks alien will look like?
Only if Jar Jar Binks feels the wrath of the aliens... Then it truly would be a Merry Christmas for all!
The rest of the industrial world (you know, all those countries with universal health care) do not have this problem. The United STates, with its unregulated private market DOES have it. Your private health insurance can refuse to treat your cancer based on "pre-existing conditions;" guess what, the Sécurité Sociale or the National Health Service cannot.
Guess what: in the US you cannot exclude on pre-existing conditions either.
1. The Engagement Ring
2. The Wedding Ring
3. The SuffeRing
I get 4-4.5 hours out of my 4 year old Dell D505. I leave the backlight at 50% - it's too bright otherwise. WiFi usually on, new battery from 1.5 years ago. Seems to last about what Dell claimed! Now, if I'm doing non-stop compiling or heavy-duty FEA then the battery life drops WAY down. But then I'm usually seated at a desk, where an outlet is just a few feet away. When I'm traveling and need the battery life, it's typically just web and e-mail and it lasts plenty long for that...
There's only I've place where I've seen more IP violations that China, and that is Russia. Heck, most of the copied DVDs sold in China COME from Russia!
I know that President Clinton loves to crow about budget surpluses, but given that the US national debt increased EVERY year, the surpluses were figments of his imagination. If there was a surplus, the national debt should have gone down, rather than gone up.
No, the flashing is reserved for the Internet, where all things female and flashing are stored!
Yes, but how many of the delivery lorries and buses get that kind of mileage? This is a mandate for the AVERAGE of all vehicles sold; meaning that for every truck sold that does 12 MPG (like the large trucks used for construction workers or larger vans used by small businesses for delivery vehicles), you need to sell a dozen that average 45 MPG to make up for it.
It's not $17 billion in cuts, it's $17 billion in proposed cuts, 99% of which won't happen. For comparison, last year George W Bush proposed 434 billion in cuts, none of which happened.
And it's even worse than that... The supposed "savings" from stopping Yucca Mountain are imaginary! Yucca Mountain was funded by a special, sole-purpose tax on utilities to fund just such a place as a national waste repository - the Nuclear Waste Fund.
What we have is literally an illegal shifting of targeted taxation. The original source of funds to finish Yucca Mountain was this special tax, and it was to be spent on Yucca Mountain only. But I guess the Obama Administration decided that those dollars would be better re-directed elsewhere.
Of course, the illegal nature of that taxation shift won't be mentioned, and it'll be played up as a savings of a general multi-billion expenditure - the fact that it was a pre-paid "user fee" will be ignored...
Taxation on income is definitely a disincentive to save profits. We've seen that it is definitely a disincentive towards personal savings.
According to the current Administration, that $1M profit should be taxed inside the US at a 39.6% tax rate. A product made in Singapore, sold from HK, and delivered to London should have its profits taxed in the US because the owner is in the US. Even if the profits are never repatriated into the US (for example, I keep those profits in HK to further expand my overseas operation). And regardless of the tax I pay on that profit overseas.
I find it astounding that people believe that is a legitimate and proper application of tax law...
I know "Big Oil" is a favorite whipping boy of the political left, but really, isn't a ~80% tax rate high enough? How much more do you demand?
Look at Hong Kong. Definitely not a poor place, yet they have a 0% tax rate on foreign income (that is, if you're an HK company, and you earn money outside the territory of HK, you pay zero corporate taxes on that money). Seems to work OK for them...
Unfortunately, real world data says otherwise. I'd suggest reading up on Hauser's Law and consider the voluminous data that points to lower taxation increasing economic growth. In light of Hauser's Law, it should be painfully obvious that lower taxation will result in higher receipts to the Government.
Yep - works great. How many trillions of dollars of debt does the US have now?
About half of what the current Administration wants us to have, apparently. The same Administration that wants to balance it's $11 trillion spending spree by closing a $6 billion annual loophole (yes, that's the amount of taxes that the IRS estimate are deferred by foreign subsidiaries). It would take over 1800 YEARS to balance the added debt this Administration wants to saddle us with by closing this loophole.
Apparently neither math nor logic are the strong suits of this Administration. Of course, with an admitted tax cheat in charge of the IRS, one can't expect much...
Hmmm... The Government of the country sets up the rules. And those companies play by those rules. And that's considered screwing the country? Look, you make the rules, I play by them, don't get upset when I win...
Judge Learned Hand
Gregory v. Helvering 69 F.2d 809, 810 (2d Cir. 1934), aff'd, 293 U.S. 465, 55 S.Ct. 266, 79 L.Ed. 596 (1935)
Judge Hand was a very interesting judge who has had a massive impact on the US judiciary at all levels. I would submit that it is, in fact, patriotic to minimize one's taxes to provide a check and balance on the size and scope of Government through restriction of the purse strings (not that it really matters with the current Administration racking up multi-trillion dollar annual deficits...)
Second, not only did taxes paid by the rich increase as a percent of total taxes paid, income distribution shifted from the rich to the poor under George W. Bush.
Sorry, but the facts just don't jibe with your diatribe. Your racist class warfare claims to the contrary.
Oh, and Obama's solution to paying off the debt? More than doubling the debt that took 230+ years to accumulate, and do it in under a decade. Nothing like tripling the deficit his first year out, and planning for ever-increasing deficits after next year (all of which are greater than ANY deficit under George W. Bush).
Judge Learned Hand
If only we had more judges and politicians with such common sense as Judge Hand showed...
Most of those Bermuda/Cayman holding companies exist not to avoid taxes entirely, but rather to keep the US from double-taxing profits that have already been taxed once by Europe/Asia, which is what the US does when this offshore trick isn't used.
This is bogus argument. US has tax treaties with most of the rest of the world that prevent double taxation
Too bad it's capped at a pretty low level; for persons working overseas, it's capped at around $90K; above that point you get the "privilege" of paying both income taxes - where you reside and US - on every dollar you make. I believe it's the same for corporations, above a certain level.
Because it was earned OVERSEAS and LEGALLY SHELTERED. What Obama wants is to claim the 39.6% that US-based companies pay, and let you also pay the double-taxation (tax on profits made overseas, to the overseas country AND to the US government). And we're not talking about the additional 15% on distribution of what remains...
Really? The US debt dropped year-over-year in the 90s? Look again, I think you'll see otherwise... The last time we actually had a surplus and paid down the national debt was 1957 under Eisenhower.
Because it's FUNNY! And yes, I'm Irish, and proud of it. Now excuse me while I go quaff another Guinness, I'm not quite pickled enough yet.
But the problem is that most environmental extremists consider cats part of nature, so their bird kills are fine. Man, on the other hand, is NOT considered part of nature so anything we do is automatically bad. Even if it has less impact than cats.