This is a very short post. It’s a picture I took the other day in Seattle. I think it is a pretty clear example of what so many of the people in this group are like. We blame bankers and financial industry “big wigs” for causing an economic collapse that was, as usual, caused by government being…… well, government.
This is how they like to get their message across.
Is it just me, or does it seem that the Occupy Wall Street crown gets a little more out of line each and every day?
Lets start with sheer volume. The Tea Party Patriots movement that spawned protests all across the nation a few years back had 0 arrests attributed to it. The OWS folks have (last numbers I got were this morning ) 1525. That’s a lot of people being extremely stupid for a group that’s supposed to be protesting against corporate control and greed.
Add that to the fact that you can go to any OWS protest in whatever city you find (me being local to the Seattle area, I see these schmucks out at Westlake Center every morning on my way to work – something they should try) and ask them what they are protesting. Some of them will know the generic answer “Corporate Greed”. Not all of them, which is really sad since it’s written on their signs, but some of them will get it. Now, ask them some more questions. Define corporate greed. What do corporations do that makes them greedy? Are all corporations greedy, or just some? What about Apple? Are they a greedy corporation?
I see you’re holding an iPhone. Does that mean you’re supporting corporate greed? I see you’re wearing an Abercrombie shirt. Oh, I couldn’t help but notice those Nike shoes you’re wearing. Do you choose which corporations you support, or do you just go with the current trends and support whoever is coolest, because the cool are allowed to be greedy?
I trust you all are starting to see the point? The Occupy Wall Street Movement, in itself, is not such a bad idea. Corporations have caused damage by using their lobbiests in DC to try to get themselves into advantageous positions. That is a bad thing. OWS folks, you’re right! The problem is, they have done so because the Government allows, even encourages and rewards, such behavior. If I had the money to lobby for something that was advantageous to my business, don’t you think I’d do so? Of course. I’d be stupid not to. These corporations that the OWS’s are complaining about would also be stupid not to. It’s business, and it’s a competition. That’s why iPhones don’t cost $1000. If they did, you’d all buy Android devices instead. DUH!
If these OWS folks want to really make a change, they need to march on DC. March on the Capital. Camp on Pennsylvania Avenue. Protest in front of the White House. All the little state branches should be occupying their state capitals. The GOVERNMENT controls things in this country, and they do a piss poor job of it, I might add. I have managed and owned several businesses. The one thing they all had in common was that I was over-regulated, and spent far more time doing ridiculous loads of paperwork, often redundant, to send in to various government agencies, where people who are paid by the taxes that you and I pay would sift through it (eventually) and then do whatever needed to be done with it. Whatever needed to be done often resulted in me paying them more money.
Occupy Wall Street figured out the problem, but blamed some of the other victims because the OWSers aren’t rich and the other victims are. Sounds like Obama rhetoric to me. We’ve been hearing “blame the rich” for 3 years. Blame them long enough and they’ll find somewhere else to live. They who are you going to work for?
You can occupy whatever you want. Without the “evil rich”, you’re going to have a hard time finding a job, eating, or doing much of anything else. Enjoy!
I ran across this little store on the Washington Policy Center app on my Android. I felt that I needed to share. In a nutshell, Tribal gas stations are required to collect the State gas tax, but they can apply to be partially exempted, and the state will refund 75% of the tax collected back to the tribe.
Full article:http://www.washingtonpolicy.org/blog/post/new-wpc-study-washington-state-gives-away-gas-taxes-indian-tribes
Key points:
1) New tribal gas tax compacts negotiated by the governor require tribal fuel station operators to collect the state’s full gas tax rate, but then state officials give back 75%, or 28 cents per gallon, to tribes.
2) Since 2000, the number of tribal gas stations with agreements has more than tripled from an estimated 14 to 51.
3) Under the new agreements, the amount of gas taxes given to tribes has grown exponentially, from $5.31 million in 2005 to more than $28.14 million in 2010.
4) Since 2005, motorists lost more than $90.55 million in gas tax revenue to Indian tribes.
5) Tribal fuel station operators are consistently underselling regional non-tribal competitors by an average of 7 to 12 cents per gallon for unleaded fuel and 15 to 26 cents per gallon for diesel in most areas of the state.
6) Tribal station operators charge up to 11.5% less for fuel than their non-tribal competitors.
7) In one example, a tribal station is estimated to have sold fuel at a loss of 2.5 cents per gallon.
8) The compacts allow state gas taxes to be used for non-highway purposes, subsidizing general tribal services.
9) Under the compacts, details of the tribal audits that are required to ensure compliance are kept secret from the public and state DOL officials.
10) The compacts allow tribes to undercut private fuel station operators, give away needed revenue for roads, harm taxpayers by allowing gas tax revenue to be spent on non-highway purposes, and hurt non-tribal businesses by creating an unfair playing field among fuel station operators.
While I have a problem with this on several levels, like creating unfair competition by giving an advantage to one group, the key problem I have is the state violating the Constitution. Yes, I know, it’s nothing new. The Feds have been violating the US Constitution for nearly 2 centuries, as far as I can tell, why should the state be any different?
The Washington State Constitution clearly states that the gas tax is to be used ONLY for roads. Section 40 reads:
SECTION 40 HIGHWAY FUNDS. All fees collected by the State of Washington as license fees for motor vehicles and all excise taxes collected by the State of Washington on the sale, distribution or use of motor vehicle fuel and all other state revenue intended to be used for highway purposes, shall be paid into the state treasury and placed in a special fund to be used exclusively for highway purposes. Such highway purposes shall be construed to include the following:
(a) The necessary operating, engineering and legal expenses connected with the administration of public highways, county roads and city streets;
(b) The construction, reconstruction, maintenance, repair, and betterment of public highways, county roads, bridges and city streets; including the cost and expense of (1) acquisition of rights-of-way, (2) installing, maintaining and operating traffic signs and signal lights, (3) policing by the state of public highways, (4) operation of movable span bridges, (5) operation of ferries which are a part of any public highway, county road, or city street;
(c) The payment or refunding of any obligation of the State of Washington, or any political subdivision thereof, for which any of the revenues described in section 1 may have been legally pledged prior to the effective date of this act;
(d) Refunds authorized by law for taxes paid on motor vehicle fuels;
(e) The cost of collection of any revenues described in this section:
Provided, That this section shall not be construed to include revenue from general or special taxes or excises not levied primarily for highway purposes, or apply to vehicle operator's license fees or any excise tax imposed on motor vehicles or the use thereof in lieu of a property tax thereon, or fees for certificates of ownership of motor vehicles. [AMENDMENT 18, 1943 House Joint Resolution No. 4, p 938. Approved November, 1944.]
(link: http://www.leg.wa.gov/lawsandagencyrules/pages/constitution.aspx)
How does this deal with the tribes stack up to the legal requirement in what is literally our states defining document and basis for all state laws? Clearly, it’s not being used for highway maintenance. If they wanted to make this deal, which should never have been made, they could have gotten around this section by not having the tribes collect the tax, or only collect a part of it. The section clearly states all taxes COLLECTED should be set aside in a special fund. If it’s not collected, that doesn’t count, right?
Most likely that’s wrong, too. I haven’t looked into the laws passed on how, when, and where to collect the gas tax, but I’d put forth a theory that it’s written in such a way as to make that illegal as well.
This is a clear violation of the Constitution of this state. How does it feel to know that your highway funds are being given to privileged groups to create an unfair business advantage, while at the same time depriving you of road maintenance that you were told those funds would support? Don’t let them continue to get away with breaking the laws they pledge to support and defend. Enough is enough and 100 times enough is way overboard.
I realize that it’s been a long while since my last post, and I want to start off by apologizing for that. You know how life goes, getting busy, changing priorities, etc. I’m getting back to it now, and seeing as I’m too cheap to spend a bunch of money on gas and take the bus to work, it seems like I have no excuse to not post on a regular basis anymore.
That said, there is something that has been really bothering me lately. This ignorant idea that the “Rich” pay less in federal taxes than the “Poor”, “Middle Class” and “Less Fortunate”.
Keep in mind, we are talking about Federal taxes. Since there are 50 states, and who knows how many counties, cities, etc. in this country that all have their own taxes, I won’t even pretend to speak on that.
The biggest lie I’ve seen in a long while is this notion that Warren Buffet pays less in taxes then does his secretary. If you look solely at income tax, this may be the case. I don’t know that it is, but I have no knowledge of what he pays himself or his secretary. However, income taxes are based on, what else…. your income. If you are a billionaire, you may not even have an income. You’ve already earned a great deal of income, and in the year that you made it, you paid income tax on it. Income tax has a graduated tax rate, which means the more you earn, the larger percentage they take for taxes. So, based on income tax, the “Rich” person certainly paid not only a higher percentage, but a great deal more in actual dollars than anyone who made less.
Now, if a “Rich” person has earned $20 million a year for 20 years, they may decide to retire. Obviously, they will have plenty of money to live on, so there’s no reason to continue working unless they would like to. They will no have no income. Therefore, they won’t have any income tax. They have already paid taxes on the money they earned, every single year that they earned it.
So the plan, as I understand it, is to make them pay their “fair share” of taxes. Hmmm….. the taxes on $20 million a year would be close to $8 million a year. Now they are retired and have no income. Why should they be forced to pay more taxes on money they have already paid tax on?
So that’s for income tax. There are other federal taxes as well. Most folks making $20 million a year probably aren’t doing so working as a fry cook. Most likely they own or run some sort of business. If they own the business, they are going to get hit for a portion of Social Security and Medicare taxes for every single person they employ. They’ll also get the privilege of paying corporate income tax on the revenues of the business. Remember, we are only talking about federal taxes. There is a whole host of other taxes that business owners will have to pay to the states/counties where they do business. Additionally, they will likely have investments. Any gain they make through an investment would be known as a Capital Gain, and will be subject to a 15% federal tax.
Now, through all the time they’re working, they will be paying ALL of these taxes. Once they have retired, they won’t have income tax anymore, unless they still draw a salary of some sort from any business they might own. If they no longer own a business, they don’t have to worry about paying all the taxes related to employees, gains, corporate income tax, equipment, etc. Like as not, they’ll still have some investments, and still have to pay the 15% capital gains tax on anything they make off that.
So, in theory, if Warren Buffet draws no salary, or less of a salary than he pays his secretary, she most certainly will be paying more than he does for INCOME tax in a year. How can y0u tax him on income he doesn’t have? He’ll still being paying corporate taxes (he still owns a business) and employment taxes (if he’s got a secretary, I have proof that he has at least one employee) and capital gains taxes. How is that remotely close to unfair to working Americans that this man who has already been taxed on all the money he’s earned doesn’t have to get taxed on that same money again? I don’t have to pay income tax for money I’ve already paid income tax for. Do you?
Am I saying we don’t need tax reform? ABSOLUTELY NOT!! We DESPARATELY need tax reform. Painting the picture in broad terms and getting people all pissed off at the people who are successful (you most likely work for one) is not the way to do it. What needs to happen is a complete tear down of the federal tax program. Is it right that someone with millions of dollars in the bank can “earn” more through investment and pay 15% while someone earning that same amount through a salary pays 38% in taxes? Of course not! The entire income tax system is ridiculous to begin with. Income tax punishes success, rewards failure, and discourages economic growth. What we need is one flat rate that EVERYONE pays, regardless of how much they make, with no deductions. We will need to take into consideration basic living expenses and exempt that amount from the taxation scheme, and NO OTHER EXEMPTIONS. Gee, where can we find something like this?
Check out www.fairtax.org to learn about a system that truly is “fair”, and not in the liberal “pillage from success to reward failure” meaning of the word.
