What is Digg?49 Comments
- HarryBauzonia, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17I complain about taxes because I don't want all the "services" they provide.
Besides, more money doesn't translate into service improvements; it translates into service program expansion. - zodiacal, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14government spending wisely? is that possible?
- EdShroomhead, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12And perhaps if government wasn't so wasteful with our tax dollars in the first place, they could easily afford those "government services" also.
- Pizpump, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8I'd happily pay taxes if I could allocate how the money is spent. All americans should have this privilege. The current system is archaic and disgusting.
This is an area where being a broke-ass education lifer makes me giddy... - EdShroomhead, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Just do a flat federal sales tax on everything (except necessities like food), and you'd solve the problem of tax dodgers while also ridding our nation of our bloated, wasteful and complicated tax system. I like how the government comes up with this idea once every 5-10 years or so, but nothing is changed or done. :-/
- Sirocco, on 10/12/2007, -5/+9Yes, but with a title description worded in a less sensational fashion which more accurately describes the situation.
- Reddog_x2000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4@ FreakTrap
Yes, you will pay whatever amount we demand in taxes. We will provide whatever services and service levels we decide to provide. You have no choice in the matter. This is Freedom. Black is White. Up is down. Freedom is ...
Sorry, the founders intended a nation where you could do as you pleased so long as you didn't infringe anyone elses rights. The consequences of your actions, good or bad, would belong to you. This is in complete opposition to today's Nanny state.
This was not accomplished by a legitimite process of amending the constitution. It was accomplished largely by an end run around that process by FDR, our worst president ever. When the Supreme Court threatened to strike down his new deal, he threatened to expand the supreme court until he had a majority. He also urged them to not allow constitutional concerns "no matter how reasonable" to interfere with his agenda. So much for checks and balances. Or, integrity for that matter. This is all a matter of public record.
So, the Libertarian vision is the legitimate constitutional America. The Nanny state you embrace is an illegitimate, unconstitutional lie. I, for one, resent having my money stolen to finance it. It was freedom we were promised, not a nanny state with high taxes and eroding rights. - EdShroomhead, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6> Go IRS! Maybe now the government can learn how to spend wisely next.
"Go IRS??" At any rate, the government should learn how to spend wisely FIRST, because if they don't, they can take all the extra taxes they like, but they'll still end up wasting it, and putting us deeper and deeper into debt. The end-result is that people will have less money, with nothing but increasing debt to show for it. - DrunkenSmurf, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8Isnt this the same thing that was on the front page yesterday?
http://www.digg.com/technology/GOVT_to_PayPal:_Give_us_your_users_information - MrStylz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I don't understand why all of the comments being buried are the ones for these people getting caught? We all pay our taxes rightfully, why should a bunch of cheaters and criminals be able to get away with this? It seems backwards that the "dugg" comments are for letting these people cheat us and the government out of money.
I am sure this will get buried as well for wanting the government to retrieve due taxes from these criminals/scam artists. The fact is that I pay my taxes on my money and I feel that it should be the same accross the board...if you cheat the system, you should be held liable. - Duston, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8Death and taxes....
- xocomil, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@MarkStrube
I don't feel bad for you. If you don't want to pay for it, go vote. I feel no pity for people who complain about our country, but don't vote. Guess what? You agreed by choosing not to voice your opinion at the polls. You told everyone that you don't care enough about what happens in your country to take two hours every other year to go to your voting district and letting your politicians know what you think. - diggduggjoe, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4If, they reduce taxes to sane levels, most will not refuse to pay it. With federal, state and local taxes, the US is a tax hell. First, though, the socialist/communist programs must go. Empirialistic wars, too.
- Duston, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Working for a bunch of CPA's I can tell you if you don't pay taxes you will be fined. Still don't pay, you will be jailed. Happens every year and every year the IRS puts more people in the slammer.
- johndi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I think they are being buried because of the attitude more than the belief that cheaters should be caught. It seems like a common belief that when the government takes your money and gives it to someone else it's theft. That the government made that theft legal does not going to make it easier to accept. Doing so under force of arms makes it extortion. All legal mind you, but still immoral.
"If elections changed anything, they would be forbidden" - Kurt Tucholsky
99% of incumbents get re-elected!
De Tocqueville warned of the dangers to liberty in a democracy when The People learn they can vote themselves money from the public treasury.
"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." -Thomas Jefferson
"Democracy has turned out to be not majority rule but rule by well-organized and well-connected minority groups who steal from the majority." Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
"It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it; consequently, the defenders of every kind of regime claim that it is a democracy, and fear that they might have to stop using the word if it were tied down to any one meaning." George Orwell - Reddog_x2000, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4@funkytaco
The 16th Amendment authorizes the government to collect a VOLUNTARY income tax. I don't know the statuette that actually puts this into action.
The problem is that the 16th Amendment was never properly passed. There were a whole lot of irregularities that should have invalidated it. The Supreme Court refuses to do anything about this.
If you look at the actual amendment you'll see that this tax is supposed to be voluntary. But, there is no known process for opting out. Well, at least not that I've been able to find.
I've heard of people supposedly raising arguments that made the IRS back off. But, I've never been able to verify them.
IMO, every dollar the IRS has ever collected has been stolen and every person it has ever imprisoned has been illegally imprisoned.
I should hasten to add that this is my opinion. I'm not telling anyone not to pay their taxes. They can and will throw you in prison despite the fact that you're right and they're wrong. That's cuz they're evil & don't follow their own laws. - recursive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Mark: You agreed to it when you chose not to vote. Now you get no say.
- Kolar, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Using paypal for anything besides small purchases is a risk in its self.
- edmicman, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5I don't understand - what's wrong with stashing your money overseas to avoid paying taxes? ***** the goverment and their greedy bastard ways.
- xocomil, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5This is a good idea. That way, the fundamentalists don't have to fund schools teaching evolution. Pro-lifers can choose not to fund hospitals or clinics that provide abortions. We can tire of paying for a war part way through and leave our soldiers stranded with no hope of reinforcement or extraction. Hell, I can decide I only want to fund programs that will return that money straight back to myself. Screw others if their views don't coincide with mine. Just imagine how great this country will be when ideas that are unpopular can't get tax revenue. It will be awesome....
- MarkStrube, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5FreakTrap... don't confuse hating the government with hating the country. I love this country, but the ever-expanding government stealing our wages has got to go. It's killing our freedom.
- MarkStrube, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Taxes are still theft as far as I'm concerned. Just because 10% of people in a community actually went and voted, and 6% of the people voted for a program that requires to steal more of my money, I'm somehow obligated? When did I agree to that??!
- XxN3RDC0R3xX, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2To "ask" PayPal ?
Since PayPal has a choice whether to turn over the information, if they say no, can they be forced to ? - gxti, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2We certainly seem to be trying...
- Pizpump, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5PayPal could care less about keeping their customer's private information from the IRS.
The REAL reason PayPal doesn't want to turn over records is so they don't expose all the illicit money-holding schemes the insiders are using to make the executives ultra-wealthy (and thus exposing them to a lawsuit a la Enron or Worldcom). - Reddog_x2000, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2My memory is faulty. The term VOLUNTARY doesn't appear in the text of the amendment. Disregard that portion of that last post.
I still maintain that you have the right to keep the fruits of your labor regardless of what the gov't says. Thus, the income tax, or any involuntary tax is theft. - Reddog_x2000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@You do get to decide. Its called voting
I'm not going to denigrate voting. It's very important. But, it's also very crude. You can vote for someone. But, is there any guarantee they'll behave as they say they will? - Strahd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@Reddog_x2000
Interesting point about the 16th amendment. The argument that the anti-IRS people pose is that the 16th amendment was passed illegally. The idea is that Ohio voted in favor of it, however they were not officially a state at the time. President Eisenhower tried to fix this by signing a law that retroactively made Ohio a state - however, this is a violation of constitutional law. Ex Post Facto (after the fact) laws are illegal.
In my estimation this legal reasoning is enough to invalidate the 16th amendment but for some reason Straight Dope sides with the IRS.
Good linky below:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_127.html - FreakTrap, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2As of now, no; however, should the IRS go to court for a subpoena [and win,] then yes, they would be forced to hand over the records....
at least, that's what I think the law is...
I.A.N.A.L. - johndi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I misread that Rockwell quote or I wouldn't have put it in. I read minority groups as special interest groups.
- Kolar, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Actually FreakTrap the best option is not to GTFO when you don't like something in a democratic society, you fight it politically and peacefully. Taxes in the US are not paying for emergency personal, basics like power, communications and even in some cases water systems ect.. as many states privatized, social security is not going to be properly funded after 2-3 billion was taken out of the social security fund in 2000. Maybe you should go look at what your state and federal Govt. is spending money on.. like 250 million USD$ for a bridge to a island with 50 people in Alaska, billions on military...
- Reddog_x2000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@ Strahd
Actually, there are a hell of a lot more reasons than the ohio argument. Several states didn't actually approve the 16th amendment properly according to their own internal standards. But, for some reason, they were counted as having voted for it anyway. I don't want to be accused of spamming. So, I won't put in a link. But, if you google the term 16th amendment, you'll find what I'm talking about pretty quickly. - johndi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1There is a legal way to not pay taxes. Working for the government in a combat zone is legitimate, and IRS approved. The cap is around 89,000 tax free (same as the highest ranking NCO in the military plus your danger pay) That does mean that some high ranking officers do pay taxes on anything over that cap.
Sort of a catch 22 if you hate the government, but that's the way life goes. - FreakTrap, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Might I say, that is quite an impressive overactive imagination you have there...
But in all seriousness, your right; and on a side note, might I comment that I'm sick of the government lying to us about Area 51! - joerao, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4You do get to decide. Its called voting...
Don't pay your taxes = Felony = No voting...
Try voting for school vouchers... same concept... - funkytaco, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Just curious, does anyone know of the law that says we have to pay taxes in the US? A friend of mine says his dad has never paid taxes and challenged the IRS to point him to the statute that says he has to pay. Whether it's true or not, I do not know.
- peeptophe, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Your friend and his dad are both liars or tax evading hippies.
As for the IRS not being able to point to a law.....here's one that makes it pretty clear. It's from this thing called the United States Constitution:
Amendment XVI
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several states, and without regard to any census or enumeration - Kermee, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Just remember, the IRS asked the courts for "permission to ask" and it was granted. The courts haven't forced PayPal to turn over the information IRS... yet. Even with PayPal's track record after eBay took over operations, I'm hoping that PayPal sticks to their guns over privacy issues.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1We did that here in Australia, and yet we still pay income tax at pretty much the same rate as we did before. Where that 10% tax that got slapped on everything (including food) went is a mystery!
At least our government called it an appropriate name, the Goods and Services Tax, and didn't sugarcoat it with a nice sounding name like the 'Value Added Tax' that England got forced upon them. - joerao, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Since when did we have an empire?
- johndi, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I've lived in many countries, and have had the chance to talk with people from even more countries. People hating their government is near universal, oddly enough almost all of these same people love their country.
That says one of two things either people are just cranky or more likely competent people don't become politicians because associating with people of ill repute is damaging to your reputation. - FreakTrap, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2"We certainly seem to be trying..."
No.. we are not... - Durrok, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3We elect the representatives to represent us in the house. These people then vote for where our tax dollars go. So, technically, we do already vote where our tax dollars are used. Feel better now? :)
- FreakTrap, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3How about this scenario...
I'm offered a contract job to build a house for someone down the street from me, with a price tag of 2.8 mill. After completion of the job, i request that i be payed vie pay pal with accounts that are located in _____ country as that they have far lower tax rates. I get payed and don't pay nearly as much in taxes, despite the fact that i did the work in the US, I am a US citizen, and my client was a US citizen.
So, what's wrong with that? The same exact thing that is wrong with this: "***** the government and their greedy bastard ways." If you hate this country so much, then you only have one option, GTFO; that way you don't have to worry about anything that the GOVT did with your tax dollars: like funding your children's education, paying your parent's social security when they retire, making sure that your house has power, sewage, and clean water, giving you an option other than suicide when you go bankrupt, employing emergency personnel to help save you and your family in case of an emergency, etc... - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2Portuguese / Brazilian : http://www.htk.com.br/noticia.php?noticia=482
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http://www.htk.com.br/ - GoatHerderEd, on 10/12/2007, -15/+10As much as I don’t like the government messing with some things, I hate people who lie and evade taxes more. Go IRS! Maybe now the government can learn how to spend wisely next.
- dclowd9901, on 10/12/2007, -11/+2Yeah but you only want them when you need them, don't you? You pay school taxes cause you went to school, and even if you didn't, it was your choice to forego school as a service provided via your taxes to the government. You're going to be taxed either way, so you might as well take advantage.
- 1337geek, on 10/12/2007, -12/+3GOD DAMN DUPE
- MatttK, on 10/12/2007, -16/+6Good. People who complain about paying taxes are typically also the people who are first to complain about a government service. Maybe if you paid your taxes, the government could afford to improve that service.
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