It ain't tricklin' down folks!

According to the Congressional Budget Office, since 1979:
After-tax income increased by 275% for the wealthiest 1% of Americans
After-tax income increased by 18% for the poorest 20%

in 2005-2007, right before the Great Recession, the top 20% of the population earned more after-tax income than the entire bottom 80%...

The obvious case that some will make in light of these statistics is that they deserve it. They work harder, they make the right decisions.
Am I to believe that I am that much lazier and that much more ignorant?It feels like I work really hard every day; I'm certainly very tired at the end of a day...
I certainly don't see a 275% increase in my after-tax income ANYtime soon.

Maybe the wealth isn't trickling back down after all...

Don't get me wrong... I don't feel entitled to an increase in my income. If you think about it on a world wide scale, I live a pretty fantastic life full of wonderful toys and comforts beyond the wildest dreams of billions of people.

What drives me nuts is that a vast amount of the 'wealth' in this country has been pooled among 1% of Americans and they have turned our elections into a war of campaign donations while appointing themselves to positions of power so they can use tax payer's money to 'bail' each other 'out.'

They've even stopped paying a reasonable amount of taxes. Again, don't get me wrong, I'm a staunch opponent of high taxes for everyone and loathe big governments.

Alas, we all have to pay our share of taxes to keep the system going. It wasn't until GE paid absolutely $0 (ZERO) in taxes on $5.1 BILLION in profits in 2010 that I realized maybe, just maybe, not everyone was paying their share of taxes.

The statistics from our own government:
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/124xx/doc12485/10-25-HouseholdIncome.pdf

Stealing from our citizens

Why do we pay taxes?

To defend our Air Force Reserves recruitment efforts when they steal songs from the American music industry to play during their Super Bowl ads.

Though, I'm not sure what will cost more:
The legal defense and resulting fines for using a White Stripes song without authorization (which will cost more than licensing it the proper way)
-OR-
Running Super Bowl ads.

Seriously. How is it OK that government agencies are vying for the multi-MILLION dollar ad spots during the Super Bowl? I know they have a working budget for recruiting, but this doesn't seem like the best way to spend it to me...

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

read more: White Stripes battle US Air Force over Super Bowl ad(bbc)

Interest swaps

Its a damn fine thing that we were able to bail out the banks long enough to for them to come calling on the bogus investments they sold to us as interest swaps and whatnot.

Follow the money:
Banks sell interest swaps to government agencies, pensions, school districts, and others that use taxpayer money to pay their bills. The idea is that they'll magically get lower interest rates on money borrowed because this banker in a really nice suit told them it would.
taxpayers 0 Banks 1

Suddenly, that very same banker almost goes out of business. A true travesty of justice as we picture him trading in that really nice suit to feed his family. Instead of letting them realize the consequences of their failures, our government uses taxpayer money to pay their bills for them.
taxpayers 0 Banks 2

Now that everything is running smooth, it comes time to think about how big of a bonus the banker in a really nice suit will get. Wait a minute, I know. He can tell all his interest swap customers that not only did they not get the lower interest rates, but things are so tough out there that they suddenly owe the banks MILLIONs of dollars.
taxpayers 0 Banks 3

Thats right. A fabricated product did not perform as promised. Though rather than losing your investment in the product outright, you actually owe more now!

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

read more: Auditor general looks to ban swaps(marketplace)

Greasing their poles

The cops in Philadelphia are applying a thick coat of grease to all light and sign poles, bus shelters and trees in the downtown area. Police Lt. Frank Vanore says the department is "trying to prevent people from getting too crazy and climbing up there."

This is in response to their World Series victory last year, as the police seek to limit the looting and damage caused by the citizen's celebrations.

I guess this *might* bring about a reduction in uninsured dumbasses falling out of trees, hurting themselves, and being given a trip to the emergency room that they cannot afford. However, I can't possibly fathom a way in which buying a thick lubricating jelly and taking the time to smear it over everything, including trees, is supposed to limit looting or protect taxpayers interests in anyway.

I guess adding buckets of grease to the city's waste water system is cheaper than putting a few more cops on duty that night...

THIS is whyphiladelphianspaytaxes.

read more: Greasing poles in case of a Phillies victory (philly.com)

Psycho

That title is a reference to the movie. And, of course, this post...

When Mr[s]. Thomas Prusin-Parkin's (First flag: Dude with a hyphenated last name) mother died in 2003, he just couldn't bear to let her [identity] go. So, he provided the funeral director with a fake ss# and assumed her identity. Ever since her death, [s]he would put on a wig and some makeup, grab her walking stick and collect social security checks and rent subsidies, visit banks, appear in court[!], file for bankruptcy[!!], and renew her driver's liscense[!!!]. (He even got a friend to pose as a nephew while getting her liscense...)

The late Mrs. Prusik still gettin' her shit done.

In the end, Tom 'Mom' Prusin-Parkin collected over $115,000 directly from the government. No totals were given on the material gains on the bankruptcy...

At least no one got stabbed while taking a shower!

THIS is whyipaytaxes...

read more: US man 'posed as his dead mother' (bbc)

SIPC, Please buy my mistake

I've been listening to npr pretty heavily for a couple years now. For the first time, I heard a story repeated this week. And wouldn't you know it, it was one of those stories that makes me question why I listen to npr...

A rather whiny lady, Ronnie Sue Ambersino, was dumb enough to invest everything she had into one fund: Madoff's. (That's day one shit. NEVER put all your eggs in one basket.)
Ron and her husband retired in their 40s, sold everything they owned, and what they didn't spend on their RV they gave to good ol' Bernie.

Now she thinks that the SIPC should reimburse her, not only for her losses, but for her last statement balance. This is only fair because when they moved into the RV, she threw away all of her paperwork. She only has the latest statement available. But that is our fault taxpayers, and we should cover it.

Her take on it is that we should not only pay her for the money she lost, but we should ALSO pay her for the money promised to her by a scam artist. She argues: Why not? I made all the right decisions, I worked hard, blah, blah, blah. The problem is: She obviously did NOT make all the right decisions!!! (I won't even mention her thinking she has a right to retire in her 40s (If you can afford it, do it. If you give all your money to a scam artist, don't count on it! You certainly don't deserve to retire in your 40's because you made 'right' decisions...))

I'd like to see this one enacted fairly and accross the board. Hell, lets try it. For everyone that sends me $1, I will send you $50,000. I'll even draw up some fancy looking paperwork to make it all official like. Then, when I can't pay you the $50,000, you can complain to the SIPC and demand that because I can't pay you, they must.

Don't get me wrong. Bernie is a baaad man. Very bad. But nobody owe's the fools that gave him their money anything. They got what they needed: one of life's little lessons... No one gets a mulligan.

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

Tough crowd

A few days ago, I wrote about Daschle and Geithner and their and their forays into the wonderful world of tax evasion. I had completely missed the news that our [almost] Chief Performance Officer Nancy Killifer had to step down because of her tax evasion. (Don't worry, its not really tax evasion when you simply aren't paying the payroll taxes on your illegal immigrants...) Now Daschle has stepped down as well.

So. Wow. Are there any Democrats left that have paid there taxes? We could really use a functional government right now! Preferrably not someone who knows their way around the system so well that they have completely worked their own way around the system...

Paying our taxes so our government officials don't have to...

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

(little did we know that change we can beleive in simply meant they wanted to change the people that were actively scamming the system! I love that the same people who are willing to scam the IRS out of their personal tax burdens are the same folks we are to beleive can be trusted with white house power...)

IOU (Your money back)

Tonight has been a good night for me to catch up on some of the things I've missed lately...

California's IOU Tax Refunds(onion)
Calif. Taxpayers Due Refunds May Get IOUs(nbc) (I saw it at the onion first...)

Either way, the headlines sum it up. The money that Californians pay out of each and every one of their paychecks without delay and without question will not be refunded to them in accordance with their laws.

I'll bet they keep on taking the taxes out of the paychecks though!

THIS is whycalifornianspaytaxes.

Geithner & Daschle vs. The Taxman

First Tim 'It Could Happen to Anyone' Geithner forgets to pay his payroll taxes (though he remembered to file with the IMF to reimburse him for the payroll taxes he was supposed to pay) now we find out Daschle must be using the same forgetful accountant...

More Daschle Tax Issues(abc)

Why is it beginning to feel like the reason I pay taxes is so the incoming administration doesn't have too?

I owe taxes this year. Maybe I'll forget to file them! Whats good enough for them is good enough for me...

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

Why I pay taxes

'So, you're saying I should go back to where I came from?'

Too bad we're all paying to prosecute him now... But at least I'm not paying his salary anymore!

Sha na nana, Sha na nana, Hey hey hey, Good Riddance.

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

Preacher embezzlement

US priests 'in $800,000 theft'(bbc)

When their not screwing your children, they're stealing your entry fee into heaven...

I wonder if those parishioners whose money they stole are going to go to hell because they never got there tithing to the right people...

What does all this have to do with wasted taxes? Nothing. I just don't like organized religions so large that the preachers can steal almost a million dollars to pay off their hookers. So, I bitch a little... (Did I mention they used some of the stolen money on mistresses? Or that they used the money to gamble? Or that they used the money to buy vacation properties? (at least the last one isn't really a sin. Sort of...))

But, I'll try a tie in anyway: If we didn't allow the business of religion operate tax free, there probably would have been stricter accounting regulations that might have caught these bastards a bit sooner. Strict accounting regulations aside, if this particular church was used as a for-profit business, why the hell is it still tax free?

THIS is [has little to do with] whyipaytaxes.