The Taxes on Products

IMG SRC: fiscalaccountability.org

Tax The Rich

Trans. Secretary LaHood Considering Taxing Mileage

WASHINGTON - Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says he wants to consider taxing motorists based on how many miles they drive rather than how much gasoline they burn — an idea that has angered drivers in some states where it has been proposed.

Gasoline taxes that for nearly half a century have paid for the federal share of highway and bridge construction can no longer be counted on to raise enough money to keep the nation's transportation system moving, LaHood said in an interview with The Associated Press.

"We should look at the vehicular miles program where people are actually clocked on the number of miles that they traveled," the former Illinois Republican lawmaker said. - MSNBC

Incompetently silly idea.

Obesity Tax?

Gov. Paterson, as part of a $121 billion budget to be unveiled Tuesday, will propose an "obesity tax" of about 15% on nondiet drinks.

This means a Diet Coke might sell for a $1 - even as the same size bottle of its calorie-rich alter ego would go for $1.15.

Paterson's budget also calls for a 3% cut in education spending, a $620-a-year tuition hike at SUNY and a $600 increase at CUNY - and about $3.5 billion in health care cuts, a source said.

The Democratic governor will not call for a broad-based income tax boost, but he will push to restore the sales tax on clothing and footwear. - NY Daily News

Gotta love those damn liberals. Nawt

Picking the President: Economic Recovery

...I got nothing. F an introduction.

John McCain

• Believes tax cuts will best strengthen the economy
  
• Stimulate economy with tax cuts for businesses
  
• Create personal accounts for unemployment insurance
  
• Government-backed mortgage relief for some subprime mortgage-holders

Barack Obama

• Economy and tax code too skewed toward wealthy
  
• New stimulus package with rebate checks and aid to local governments
  
• Extend and expand unemployment insurance
  
• Government-backed mortgage relief for some subprime mortgage-holders
  

I'll give this one to Obama...surprised? Too bad neither candidate wants to give the Fair Tax a try - remember Mike Gravel and Mike Huckabee? But Obama's right - the rich are getting richer, the poor getting poorer, and the middle class is shrinking. To me, his ideas are more plausible than the trickle down theory.

Silly Democrats in Cali

SACRAMENTO -- As state leaders hunt for politically palatable solutions to the swelling budget shortfall, some Democrats are proposing unorthodox ways to generate cash.

Strip clubs, six-packs, grocery bags and iTunes downloads are all in their sights as alternatives to broad income or sales tax hikes. So are gas guzzlers and yachts -- and a tax loophole for criminals.

Despite tough odds of overcoming an oath signed by their Republican colleagues to stop any tax hikes, Democratic lawmakers seem confident that their ideas will carry the day. They predict the public won't stand for painful cuts to schools and healthcare to close a shortfall the governor now pegs as high as $20 billion, and say anti-tax forces will ultimately have to accept that more revenue is needed to bring the state into the black.

GOP lawmakers say the majority party simply has an insatiable appetite for taking money from Californians. The California Republican Party recently released an Internet video, set to the O'Jays' "For the Love of Money," in which the tax ideas float across the screen after footage of Senate leader Don Perata (D-Oakland) telling the media in March his prescription for balancing the budget: "Raise taxes. That clear enough? Raise taxes." - LA Times

Busted!

April 25, 2008 Edition 1

A US federal judge yesterday sentenced Hollywood actor Wesley Snipes to three years in prison for failing to file tax returns from 1999 to 2004.

Judge William Terrell Hodges laid down the harshest possible sentence against Snipes, after the star of Demolition Man and the Blade trilogy of vampire movies was found guilty by a jury in February on three misdemeanour charges.

According to US attorney Scotland Morris, who argued the government's case, Snipes at present owes more than $20 million dollars (R153.8 million) in back taxes and penalties.

The actor made a five million dollar payment to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) yesterday, but Morris dismissed it as "a fraction of what he owes".

"Snipes's long prison sentence should send a loud and crystal clear message to all tax defiers that if they engage in similar tax defier conduct, they face joining him and his co-defendants as inmates in prison," said an official at the US Department of Justice Tax Division, Nathan Hochman.

"The law is very clear: people must pay their taxes," added IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman. "There is no secret formula that eliminates a person's tax obligations, nor are there any special exceptions."

Attorneys for Snipes, 45, vowed to appeal.

"We were hoping for a complete acquittal," Snipes attorney Linda Moreno said. "I have faith in the process, and I have faith in the jury system. We will appeal."

- Daily News
So, I guess there will not be a Blade 4!