I think we have to give him credit for trying to find common ground. Trying to bring Americans together. To bring an end to the bickering of partisan politics by finding something that all Americans of all political stripes can agree on.

That Kanye West is a jackass.

It's the beginning of a new era, ladies and gentlemen. A new era.

Lately I'd been doubting myself about voting for Mr. Obama...I 100% rescind any doubt.

I wouldn't say it's worthless...

I would say that it's more of an issue that the people are lazy / unmotivated and don't hold anyone, be they public or "private", accountable. Most of the people who are my age and are "angry" at the government don't know a ****ing thing about the government, themselves, or this world. They just latch on to the first cliche bull**** catch phrase or trend (sorry you dumb ****, but changing your facebook status will NOT start a revolution) in hope of defining themselves amongst the ever-graying, and slowly decaying, mass.

**** that. Government is more accountable than the private sector. We acknowledge that politicians are supposed to act in our best interest; I rarely hear anyone say the same about the CEOs...

But we're the ones who are supposed to hold them accountable, and how often does that happen?

What a sick ****ing joke.

/rant

EDIT: Though I agree that the gov't does a LOT of ****ed up ****.

I would just like to see my taxes go to something worthwhile... what a sad state we're in when the public school system provides teachers with the absolute minimum to get the job done. Creative teaching? Inspirational education? Not in the public system! Forcing teachers to spend their own money on that ****.

I can't understand this bull**** about "big government" blah blah dictating who can and can't do what in this health care reform argument. Holy ****!

We get HMOs involved in Medicare/aid to bring down costs in the 90s, right? Well guess what the point of the HMO evolved into - bringing down costs through greater involvement in the process, regardless of if it's a public program or private insurance.

The point?

That someone somewhere is getting involved in your health care decisions (if you have an HMO) and it's not a ****ing doctor. Just because it's labeled "government" doesn't make it evil.

Yeah so how about that poker..

I hear people like that kind of ****.

don't know about poker, but i'm having a nice cold beer.

I like when people go into rant-mode

Something about it warms my soul

Pheisar, I see your avatar as the son from third rock from the sun, AKA Cobra Commander/Doctor/Rex

I can do this for a small ammount. PM

It will take the White House staff about another 24 hours to realize that rather than trying to kill this video, it is probably the best thing that could have happened to them at the moment.

Best line of the whole thing was "cut the president some slack"

Have you seen Lars von Trier's Antichrist?

You, my friend, may rant whenever you like.

New Hampshire for the win.

Until you look at all the ****ty roads, and mediocre schools, and the most expensive public university for in state schooling in the country.

But hey, Liquor's cheap.

No, but if you try to tell me that Joseph Gordon-Levitt was in no way related to the film, I won't believe you.

Trainee just doubled up when I took this capture....what the hell is Paul doing?

Huh?

http://cfpolicyblog.blogspot.com/200...-by-state.html

NH tends to score low on education forums because they spend less money that other states. In the real world, better results & spending less = a good thing. In the education world, worse results & higher spending = a good thing for bureaucrats.

Yes, tuition at UNH is $24 a year more expensive than UMass-Amherst, so you got me there.

Abusing a table full of shorties, IMO.

Ahhhh ahahahahahah. Pictures like this kill me.

Pheisar:

This is the text of 26 USC Section 1, which imposes the individual income tax.


(a) Married individuals filing joint returns and surviving spouses. There is hereby imposed on the taxable income of�
every married individual (as defined in section 7703 ) who makes a single return jointly with his spouse under section 6013 , and

every surviving spouse (as defined in section 2(a) ),

a tax determined in accordance with the following table: (table omitted).

(b) Heads of households.There is hereby imposed on the taxable income of every head of a household (as defined in section 2(b) ) a tax determined in accordance with the following table: (table omitted)


(c)Unmarried individuals (other than surviving spouses and heads of households).
There is hereby imposed on the taxable income of every individual (other than a surviving spouse as defined in section 2(a) or the head of a household as defined in section 2(b) ) who is not a married individual (as defined in section 7703 ) a tax determined in accordance with the following table: (table omitted).

as xxMaquiladoraxx points out, the federal government specifically imposes an obligation to pay all taxes due in 26 USC 6551, I think it is.


xxMaquiladoraxx has also done an excellent job of explaining what the IRS means by voluntary compliance with the legal obligation to pay taxes. The IRS could come to your door and stand there while you write a check for your taxes owing. They could send you a bill. They don't. Instead, they trust you to voluntarily report all of your income from whatever source derived, correctly calculate your own tax liability and ship them any taxes you owe.

What the IRS means by voluntary compliance is easiest to understand in the case of self-employed people, such as pro poker players. I do not have an employer who withholds a portion of my income from me and ships it off to the IRS for me. Instead, the IRS trusts me to count up all the money I made, calculate my own taxes, and send them the amount I owe quarterly.

As 26 USC 1 and 26 USC 6551 make clear, all of my taxable income is taxed, and I am legally required to pay the tax under penalty of going to prison.

xxMaquiladoraxx has also done an outstanding job of discussing the constitutionality argument.

Well, you being a lawyer for so many years, i guess i can't argue against your (and xxxmaquiladoraxxxs, venice10) arguments, but i guess i have some issues with the laws definition of the words: voluntary compliance. Voluntary implies ones own free will, i could make a case for bad usage of words and their definitions of it, because there is no will involved, but rather self-regulation or something like that, can't find the word im looking for, sorry.

Another point that could be made is the difference of tax imposition between individuals and corporation in the USC 26.

As one can see, there is a clear difference. In the corps, there isn't the part filling joint returns, while in the individual section there is, that implies you're only imposing the fed tax income to yourself if you fill the joint. What do you think about my points (this one and all the ones i've mentioned earlier, would appreciate it a lot if you would take some minutes to see all the points i've made in previous posts)

Anyways, i'm glad you guys have the competence to clarify me because there is so much info out there, it's difficult to filter it properly. Isn't even that important to me because i ain't an american citizen, as you know, but i like to have my facts straight.

The definition taken from the USC, which i have issues with, doesn't make sense to me, voluntary doesn't mean that in my book (and i find it rather strange that the USC can claim it's own definition for a specific word)..

interesting Actually, it's Charlotte Gainsbourg in my avatar

about f'n time

Yeah, I wish the IRS had never mentioned "voluntary compliance," too, because it has caused a lot of people to make the argument that they don't have to pay taxes, and a fair number of people have gone to prison because that misinformation is out in the world.

I looked over all of your posts. The really long one I was not sure exactly what you were saying. All I really have to say is that xxMaquiladoraxx was 100% correct, and I would have said exactly what he said in response to you.

As for your latest point, maybe you missed 26 USC 1 (b) and (c)? The income tax is imposed on all individuals, whether single, surviving spouse, married filing jointly or married filing separately.

That said, I don't think anybody would give you a big argument that the corporation tax is different from the individual tax. I mean, there are huge complications, such as whether the corporation is a subchapter C corporation (which is sort of ignored for tax purposes with the individual owners of the corporation paying the taxes) or a subchapter K (I think it is) corporation, which is taxed as a separate legal entity from its owners.

IIRC c corp is the separate entity, and s corp is the blended tax situation thing. I'm sure someone will straighten it out shortly though.

I just met Dan Wilson, Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter/guitar player of Semisonic, before I realized who he was. He was coming to meet some people at my school for lunch and I happened to be working the front desk in the President's office.