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16 Dec 2011 14:23

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Politics: Three major cuts in the shutdown-avoiding omnibus spending bill

  • one In the biggest change, the popular Pell Grant program for low-income students could run dry for as many as 100,000 students, as eligibility standards tighten.
  • two Foreign aid will decline, with a 17 percent drop in the operating budget coming to USAID. It’s part of a larger $6 billion cut coming to the State Department.
  • three The GOP won a health care victory, blocking the IRS’ ability to implement the Affordable Care Act’s provisions in 2012. The individual mandate hits in 2014. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Mar 2011 14:09

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Culture: Acting legend Al Pacino’s pockets may get a little lighter

Al Pacino is in trouble with the IRS, on the hook for $188,000. He blamed his former manager, Kenneth Starr (not that one), who is currently in prison for stealing his client’s money. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Jan 2011 21:00

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U.S.: Tax watchdog: Taxes too complicated, take too much time

  • United States Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson says something has to change. Olson, who makes a yearly report on the collective state of tax compliance, says we spend too much time paying our taxes, and the process is way too overwhelming. “There has been near universal agreement for years that the tax code is broken and needs to be fixed,” she says. “Yet no broad-based attempt to reform the tax code has been made.” Some of her findings:
  • 6.1B the number of hours it takes for businesses to comply with tax-filing requirements
  • 3M the number of workers Olson estimates are needed to ensure everyone tax compliance
  • 550% the increase in liens the IRS has filed against taxpayers over the last five years source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Jan 2011 12:05

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U.S.: Dear early-bird tax filers: The IRS isn’t ready for you guys yet

  • good Obama got the tax compromise through late last month, even if it didn’t have absolutely everything he wanted in it. There’s no more uncertainty, which is good.
  • bad As a side effect of it coming so late in the year, the IRS can’t take as many as 50 million itemized tax forms until late February, due to tax code changes. Sorry, guys. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Mar 2010 12:05

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U.S.: The rise of the “lone wolf” extremist hard to combat

  • We have seen an increase in the lone wolf type attacks, which, from a law enforcement and investigation perspective, are the most challenging. Why? Because by definition they’re not conspiring.
  • Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano • Discussing “lone wolf” attacks like the ones by John Patrick Bedell (who shot two Pentagon security guards last week), Joe Stack (who flew a plane into an IRS building in February) and Johnny Lee Wicks (who was killed in a January courthouse attack after losing a case regarding his Social Security benefits). For those playing at home, that’s three “lone wolf” attacks in three months, which is problematic for law enforcement, because it’s not easy to prevent such cases. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Feb 2010 20:40

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U.S.: One widow sues another: The Austin crash becomes a legal battle

  • Vernon Hunter’s wife says Sheryl Stack should’ve known Joe was a threat. Joe Stack may have died in his ill-guided plane crash, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be any lawsuits. Valerie Hunter is suing Sheryl Stack, saying her actions – including taking her daughter with her to a hotel the night before the crash – suggest she knew something like this might happen. In other news, there’s lots of ego-waving over the incident happening right now, including this example. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Feb 2010 09:25

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U.S.: Who’s the hero in the Joe Stack IRS attack? Depends on who you ask

  • His last actions, the suicide, the catastrophe that caused injuries and death, that was wrong. But if nobody comes out and speaks up on behalf of injustice, then nothing will ever be accomplished. But I do not agree with his last action with what he did. But I do agree about the government.
  • Joe Stack’s daughter Samantha Bell • Regarding her opinion on what her father did. Without condoning the action of crashing into an IRS building in Austin, Bell condoned the intent of the action, which was to bring attention to U.S. tax laws. Ken Hunter, whose father Vernon Hunter died in Stack’s plane crash attack, disagreed completely, as one might assume considering the fact that his dad died in the attack. “How can you call someone a hero who after he burns down his house, gets into his plane… and drive it into the building to kill people?,” he said. “My dad Vernon did two tours of duty in Vietnam. My dad’s a hero.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

19 Feb 2010 12:06

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U.S.: Plane-crasher Joe Stack’s big issue may have been unfair tax policy

  • What policy? A 1978 law limited how employers could be punished for misclassifying employees as contractors, but in 1986 an exception was made for engineers and computer workers specifically.
  • The effect The exception affected workers like Stack, forcing the employees to have to pay back taxes if the IRS found that they were misclassified. It’s an issue Obama’s still trying to reform today.
  • Joe’s issue Stack spent $5,000 of his own money lobbying to change the law to no effect. The change forced him to pay significant backroll taxes due to his contractor status. He compared himself to a slave. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Feb 2010 20:37

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Politics: Plane-crasher Joe Stack: Terrorism or a really pissed off crazy dude?

  • I know this guy wasn’t part of al Qaida or a white power group, but how can this not qualify as an act of terrorism given the obvious political motive, however nutty it was?
  • True/Slant blogger Michael Roston • Discussing crazy guy Joe Stack, who crashed a plane into an Austin, Tx. IRS building today. Nobody was killed except for Stack, but for whatever reason, the case isn’t being treated like a terrorism thang despite the fact that it looks like, smells like, and quacks like a duck. Roston isn’t alone in debating the political implications of this insane case, with this guy getting tied to liberals, tea partiers, conservatives, and anyone that won’t have him. Personally, we’d stick him with the Lyndon LaRouche company just because we need to stick him somewhere. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Nov 2009 10:03

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U.S.: Arnold Schwarzenegger has a little tax lien issue with the IRS

  • $79,000 guess they’ll be back source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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