Mitch Townsend

Paying for it

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On the one hand, we have the Obama administration’s grand plans for universal health care, investment in our infrastructure, reducing our atmospheric carbon output, and world-wide reduction in sea levels. On the other, we have the requirement to pay for it, assuming the Chinese would like to have some significant portion of their money returned to them. Currently, the administration seems to favor increased taxes (sorry, “contributions”) on those with the highest incomes. The problem is that there are not enough rich people to go around. Even at a tax rate of 100%, there is still not enough money to pay for all the urgently needed good stuff. What to do, what to do…

A possible remedy comes from the Internal Revenue Code, which starts with this:

§ 61. Gross income defined
(a) General definition
Except as otherwise provided in this subtitle, gross income means all income from whatever source derived, including (but not limited to) the following items:
(1) Compensation for services, including fees, commissions, fringe benefits, and similar items;
(2) Gross income derived from business;
(3) Gains derived from dealings in property;
(4) Interest;
(5) Rents;
(6) Royalties;
(7) Dividends;
(8) Alimony and separate maintenance payments;
(9) Annuities;
(10) Income from life insurance and endowment contracts;
(11) Pensions;
(12) Income from discharge of indebtedness;
(13) Distributive share of partnership gross income;
(14) Income in respect of a decedent; and
(15) Income from an interest in an estate or trust.

The definition is broad enough to encompass just about anything that could be construed as income; that is, anything that would result in the improvement in the economic situation of a person or entity. Cash need not be involved. Income can be recognized, and taxes must be paid, on the unrealized gains of certain derivatives (§ 1256, § 988), on bonds that do not pay anything at all until they mature (§ 1272), and even in some situations where you pay too little for something (§ 1274). This is a marvelously flexible idea, and suggests that we can close our budget deficits not by raising the tax rates, but by discovering and taxing previously undiscovered sources of income.

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Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right…

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It looks like Al Franken is going to be the junior Senator from Minnesota. Does this mean we can stop taking Democrats seriously? Or should the Republicans nominate someone like Ann Coulter for the Senate to ensure that the bozo factor is evenly distributed between the parties? Floppy shoes and red rubber noses all around! Good grief, why did I even bother to register to vote? I could have enjoyed the spectacle without having to participate. I’m almost ashamed of giving a s**t.

Here is some encouraging news: “On April 29, 2008, Franken released a statement noting that he will pay about $70,000 in back income taxes in 17 states dating to 2003” (link). Since Timothy Geithner had to pay only $34,000 in back taxes, Franken is about twice as qualified as Geithner to handle the fiscal affairs of our country. Senate Appropriations Committee, here comes a fellow who knows which end of a calculator is up, if not much more. Maybe someone can teach him what those symbols on the buttons mean.

My grandparents came here because their continent had gone insane. May they rest in peace, never having known what happened here later.

Failure, Part 2

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It was a vital national industry, employing many thousands. The plants, although state of the art when built, were outdated. Years of poor management and outright hostile labor relations had not helped. Foreign competitors were taking market share, and US companies were belatedly moving production facilities south or offshore. Would you like to contribute your tax dollars reviving this industry?

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Boston Parties Like it’s 1773

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Tea Party
Design by Michelle Yang. Thank you!
I couldn’t really hear what was going on, but you can read more about it at GOP Mom. The inevitable tricorne hats and other 18th century finery were there, and there were some people with other issues (returning to the gold standard, abolishing the Federal Reserve, etc.), but most of the crowd seemed like normal people fed up with the shenanigans in Washington. My guess is that a couple of hundred people were there at any one time. Michelle points out that she distributed 1,000 postcards like the one above, so my estimate is probably too conservative. More pictures after the break.

Update, courtesy of Michelle Yang again: I missed it, but there was another demonstration today across town, down by the water at Christopher Columbus Park in the North End. The harbor has been getting cleaner in recent years, even to the extent of supporting living fish. The tea dumped there today is not likely to harm them. This second demonstration was sponsored by the local FM talk radio. There was even a third gathering in the morning on the Common. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend that one, either. I spent the morning struggling with extensions for Massachusetts income taxes. Let me just point out that (1) if you put a telephone number in the instructions, you should probably do better than have the answering machine tell callers that they cannot use that number; (2) if you require your victims to use the website and forbid them to use paper forms, it is not really a good idea for all your site search results to point to the paper forms; and (3) if a CPA with web development experience can’t figure out what is going on in your website, your website probably sucks and your web developer should be firmly disciplined. “Bad codemonkey! No donut!”

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My Apologies

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Many of you – far too many – will shortly receive an invitation to be my “friend” on a site called Mylife.com. I am so sorry to have caused you this inconvenience. The sign-up for this “free service” (only the useful parts require payment) ask you to import your email contacts. In my case, that included a lot of Chicago Boyz correspondents. Only later did I realize that instead of using them to search, it blasted spam to all of you. Again, my profound apologies. Please avoid this awful site.