Oh Shoot

  Always a stimulating and thoughtful read,  Lester....   One thing's for sure ... it would sure cut through a bunch of chaff to have a consumption tax (like Fair Tax). And sure, there seem to be plenty of obvious and not so obvious inequities even in that -- certain consumables would likely have to be taxed at different rates, and so on and so forth, so that there would still be quite the regulatory  bureaucracy involved -- BUT, by being anonymous except for a quite extended statistical analysis, it couldn't help but to be run more logically on a ledger like basis rather than by the largely political machinery which determines its incredible labyrinth of fluctuating nooks and crannies now.   Oh yeah, one other thing's for sure: because the parties would give up most of their control to tweak money and votes from targeted demographics and business, it will never happen.   (I think there's an echo in here, and I think it's me).   - OS

  Well, population in mighty Paragould is 26,000, so maybe it won't take too long to quell that big crime wave.   In the meantime, I agree with CCI: the Paragould Daily Press's webmaster should be put under the jail.   - OS

  Well, like numerous other firearm "freedoms" we've been granted, it'll probably wind up being so toothless by the time it passes he won't need to veto it.   - OS

  Then you just right back into exemptions, deductions, whatever. Would inevitably just be tweaked constantly, like now. Because it's not anonymous, the pols couldn't resist manipulating it, just like now.   - OS

  Well, you don't go to Leavenworth for making mistakes. Matter of fact you generally don't even owe penalties on mistakes as long as you cough up the diff pert quick when they catch it. 'Bout the only thing that's deep do do is simply not filing at all, or not reporting actual gross income.   'Course, mistakes in their favor never get caught somehow or other, either, so if ya got big bucks at stake on complicated returns it's often worth paying a pro to protect them. ;)   - OS

  Oh, they wuz recommended by several folks I thought well of, one by bunch of lawyers I used to know pretty well, real skinflints too, so figgered she was getting them every dime back possible. She seemed to pull every string possible on the federal stuff, damn return was like a tome, but somehow was just lax on the quite simple state part.   Sometimes, you just don't know, you know?   - OS

Perp sounds like an all around great guy and neighbor:   "The gunman, identified by neighbors as Jimmy Lee Dykes, a 65-year-old retired truck driver, was known around the neighborhood as a menacing figure who once beat a dog to death with a lead pipe, threatened to shoot children for setting foot on his property and patrolled his yard at night with a flashlight and a shotgun. He had been scheduled to appear in court Wednesday morning to answer charges he shot at his neighbors in a dispute last month over a speed bump."   http://www.wave3.com/story/20803699/driver-fatally-shot-aboard-alabama-school-bus     - OS

  The reason it hasn't happened and won't happen is that the pols lose control. It's an anonymous tax -- they couldn't stroke targeted groups to enhance contributions and votes.   - OS

  My last two tax folks, one of whom was a CPA,  cost me at least $10K in TN state income tax. I didn't discover the boneheaded errors till the first year when I no longer had a business and was able to tackle them myself. Was able to file back 3 years worth and get about $1500 back, but the rest was a goner.   - OS

  Well,  it is tolerated presently. But it wasn't when the guy tried it. Irony is that sounds like if he had just been nice about it, maybe he could have tried his $125 Pmags again. :)   - OS

  Yeah, that was sorta parta of my poorly made point. No cheating involved.   If I had been smart enough to gamble a quarter or more my income through the years and come out way ahead, I could have paid a helluva lot less in taxes while making a helluva lot more money, too. Albeit on an, umm, slightly less grandiose scale. ;)   Begrudging someone who makes out like a bandit by obeying the law is un-American. Hell, it's worse than that, it's Democratic!   - OS

Tax Act. At taxact.com.  Free to do one return. I think it's free to efile one return with it too, maybe they went to charging 5 bucks or so, can't remember. Recommended by two tax folks I know, one is a CPA even.   Can do it online or download, I use downloaded version so have it on puter. Weak TN state module though, if you have to do that, doesn't walk you through which investment income is excepted and which is taxable, just gives you a link to state page for the scoop if you don't already just know. Or at least it didn't last year when I bought the TN add on. So I'll just do that one by hand this year. Can't efile the TN one anyway.   Used it last two years, I've bought the 7.95 version so can do more than one (Mom's too).   I'll do yours if you want.   There's also a freebie online one at irs.gov. Never used it, so it probably cheats you since it's their offering. :)   http://www.irs.gov/uac/Free-File:-Do-Your-Federal-Taxes-for-Free   edit: I see the above link walks you through some questions, then gives you recommendation for free file companies that meet your needs.   Did it for me (quite modest income these days) and it gave me:    Online Taxes at OLT.com http://apps.irs.gov/app/scripts/exit.jsp?dest=http://www.olt.com/main/oltfree/default.asp   FreeTaxUSA® IRS Free File Edition http://apps.irs.gov/app/scripts/exit.jsp?dest=http://www.freetaxusa.com/freefile   FileYourTaxes.com http://apps.irs.gov/app/scripts/exit.jsp?dest=http://www.FileYourTaxes.com/alliance   TaxSlayer http://apps.irs.gov/app/scripts/exit.jsp?dest=http://www.taxslayer.com/americanpledge/default.aspx?source=ctbtmfy   TurboTax® Freedom Edition http://apps.irs.gov/app/scripts/exit.jsp?dest=http://taxfreedom.com   - OS

Good God, PBR has become "fashionable"? This was its rep all my life:     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N3iVHxP8FQ   - OS

  Yep, that's pretty much it AFAIK.   But my point is, that figure you mention on page two, taxable income, gets the same rate as anyone else in a tax bracket. So Mitt's was 30 something % same as anybody else who topped out.   Sure, he's paying a lot lower rate on overall income than someone who only made that $400K or more from wages but that seems to be the way the figure is painted for public figures.   Hell, even those in the lowest tax bracket are paying a lower overall % than if if they had no deductions, even if they only have the standard one and nothing else.   - OS

Always interesting take, Lester, and lots of brain work, not to mention math! One thing, I blew it my post, I said this was tax rate on "adjusted gross income", meant to say simply "taxable income", edited post.       Well, you have to be comparing tax % on total income (all bucks coming in) to % on final taxable income to make that statement, would you not? Meaning, didn't Romney actually pay the same % as anyone else in same bracket of final taxable income for a given year? Doesn't everyone? - OS

Yeah, his lips were probably moving when he wrote that too.   Who's not a "2A supporter"? All the antis are.   Think he'll veto the parking lot bill if it passes?

  No open ended at all, only mentioned in relation to semi-auto rifles and shotguns, and as a second pistol grip on a pistol, which is already illegal anyway. First AWB had same stuff in it, except it had to be one of two disqualifying features.   Doesn't really matter, we'll never see a vote on this bill as is.   - OS

  No open ended at all, only mentioned in relation to semi-auto rifles and shotguns, and as a second pistol grip on a pistol, which is already illegal anyway.   Doesn't really matter, we'll never see a vote on this bill as is.   - OS

Oh, it'll be a check on ALL private sales, if passed, you can take that to the bank. - OS

  Well, "notwithstanding" means "despite" or "despite anything to the contrary", so reasonably that means that this bill overrides those.   The "unless" for federal law would mean that it is still in effect.   - OS

  Neither does the GOP. Both sides jockey the tax code through the years to further reelection. Would posit more loopholes are in there due to Republicans.   - OS

Inconvenient truth brought out in that today:   " We think it's reasonable to provide mandatory instant criminal background checks for every sale at every gun show. No loopholes anywhere for anyone."         - Wayne LaPierre, during testimony before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee in 1999 after Columbine.

  Residents of seven states are on line 2.

  He's not made much news since his suicide. ;)

You pay significantly less percentage that the top on taxable income: Tax brackets for 2013: If you want to discuss the tax rates on certain investment income, that's a totally different argument. But you'd not pay higher rate on that than the big rich either. Methinks you have been convinced otherwise by the Dems? - OS