This is Low, Even for the IRS

From the Sacramento Bee:

Arriving at Harv's Metro Car Wash in midtown Wednesday afternoon were two dark-suited IRS agents demanding payment of delinquent taxes. "They were deadly serious, very aggressive, very condescending," says Harv's owner, Aaron Zeff.

The really odd part of this: The letter that was hand-delivered to Zeff's on-site manager showed the amount of money owed to the feds was ... 4 cents.

Are the thugs in D.C. really that desperate for cash?

I Hate to Be a Tea Party Pooper...

...but I just couldn't get all that excited about the nationwide "tea party" protests that took place on Tax Day. And I couldn't exactly articulate why -- until Jeff Deist summed it up perfectly:

It seems to me the Tea Parties failed to deliver any coherent or consistent message; therefore, it was easy for the Left and the pro-state media to marginalize and denounce the protestors. Unless and until people renounce and repudiate Bush and the Republican party utterly and entirely, it's easy to dismiss them as kooks, racists, religious zealots, etc.

After all, what is the protesters' message? We want to go back to Bush? We want less spending but agitate to expand insanely expensive wars? We want a "fair" tax? We're against bailouts of Wall Street, even though the public (correctly) perceives the political right as bought and paid for by Wall Street? We're for states rights and the Constitution? Laughable. We're pro-life? Laughable -- even ignoring the pro-war killing mentality, the GOP has done zero to stop abortion.

Read the rest of his comments here.

Anthony Gregory also weighs in:

The grassroots spirit at the tea parties was great, but it seems many were hijacked by organized conservatives, Republican partisans, and Fox News-style corporate interests. I hear that at many the speakers were exclusively of the red-state fascist persuasion, thanks to the sectarian organizers.

So, it appears the majority of tea party participants are frauds. If they really believed in reducing spending and shrinking government, they would have spoken up when their own party was in charge.

Tax-Supporters Hold Their Own Rallies

While hundreds of thousands of concerned Americans attend "tea parties" all across the country to protest burdensome taxes and out-of-control government spending, others are responding with what can only be described as "Kool-Aid parties." The Star-Tribune has the story:

Normally, the annual arrival of tax day isn't considered a cause for celebration.

But this year, a group of liberal organizations in Minnesota and nationwide are staging "thank you taxes" events today.

Organizers of the Alliance for a Better Minnesota planned to hold a midday press conference as part of its ongoing campaign to highlight the need for tax revenue to sustain public services.

The event, among others sponsored by Americans United for Change and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, is an attempt to piggyback on publicity recently garnered by anti-tax activists who are holding "tea parties" across the nation today.

Yes, It's That Time of Year Again...

Tax Day. And we can't celebrate Tax Day without this classic quote from Fox Mulder...

Obama's Broken Promise

From the AP:

One of President Barack Obama's campaign pledges on taxes went up in puffs of smoke Wednesday.

The largest increase in tobacco taxes took effect despite Obama's promise not to raise taxes of any kind on families earning under $250,000 or individuals under $200,000.

This is one tax that disproportionately affects the poor, who are more likely to smoke than the rich.

To be sure, Obama's tax promises in last year's campaign were most often made in the context of income taxes. Not always.

"I can make a firm pledge," he said in Dover, N.H., on Sept. 12. "Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes."

He repeatedly vowed "you will not see any of your taxes increase one single dime."

Now in office, Obama, who stopped smoking but has admitted he slips now and then, signed a law raising the tobacco tax nearly 62 cents on a pack of cigarettes, to $1.01. Other tobacco products saw similarly steep increases.

He continues to validate the axiom "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

If You Really Want an Economic Stimulus...

...start cutting back on the number of government employees.

First of all, these public sector jobs are virtually unaffected by free market principles. It's all political. Secondly, many of these government workers are guaranteed hefty pensions when they retire, regardless of the state of the economy in the real world.

If you want to see where a lot of your tax dollars are going, take a look at this article in Forbes. Though the article barely scratches the surface, the comments section has already received quite a few gripes from those who live off the money taken by force from ordinary citizens. Some even play the "we're risking our lives, therefore we're above criticism" card. Such is the entitlement mindset of most government employees.

The Definition of Oxymoron

Bush Behind Bars!

From the Dallas Morning News:

Just like his father, President George W. Bush will return to Texas when he leaves office.

And just like his father, he wants a gate to be installed along a public street to limit access to his neighborhood.

Dallas City Manager Mary Suhm confirmed Monday that the younger Bush is seeking to have a gate placed somewhere along the entrance to streets leading to his future Preston Hollow address.

The plan, which requires approval by the Dallas City Council, isn't expected to encounter much opposition at City Hall, and the Bushes' neighbors seem to be on board.

So far, several options to limit access to the Bushes' new street have been discussed. But a final decision on exactly where to place the gate hasn't been recommended, Suhm said.

Federal money would pay for the gate, not the city, she said. It's unclear how residents would use the gate to get to their homes.

So, it seems this treasonous war criminal will end up behind bars at taxpayer expense after all. I suppose there's a silver lining in there somewhere.

Congress Gets a Raise

Well, what do you know? Members of Congress are getting a pay raise:

A crumbling economy, more than 2 million constituents who have lost their jobs this year, and congressional demands of CEOs to work for free did not convince lawmakers to freeze their own pay.

Instead, they will get a $4,700 pay increase, amounting to an additional $2.5 million that taxpayers will spend on congressional salaries, and watchdog groups are not happy about it.

Running other people's lives is hard work, so I guess they deserve it.

Crime DOES Pay...if You're the Government

Government officials don't have to be responsible with money because it isn't theirs to begin with, and when they find themselves a little short on cash, they simply raise taxes or impose fines. In Rhode Island, for example, the state wants to start taxing drivers based on the mileage put on their vehicles. In addition to paying for roads and bridges (things that should already be receiving adequate funding), the money will be used to prop up the outdated and financially strapped public transit system.

In Gwinnett County, Georgia, a move is on to force residents to take part in a mandatory recycling program. Did I say "mandatory"? I meant to say that it's voluntary -- as long as residents are ready to shell out $500 each time they choose not to participate.

These kinds of regulations might be enough to give some people the crazy idea that they can vote with their feet and just pick up and move to a community that actually celebrates freedom. No such luck. This is America, after all. Where state or local governments fail to stick it to law-abiding citizens, the federal government is there to pick up the slack. Farmers are finding this out thanks to a proposal by the Environmental Protection Agency that would require certain farms with dairy cows, beef cattle, or hogs to pay an annual fee because of their livestock's greenhouse emissions. No, they're not kidding.

These types of regulations are always implemented under the auspices of providing for the "common good." But in reality they are nothing more than fund-raising schemes that end up making criminals out of otherwise law-abiding citizens.

When you and I are in a financial pinch, we are forced to reassess how much we spend and make the necessary adjustments. We don't have the luxury to go out and rob our neighbors -- except, of course, for those lazy compassionate types who try to "spread the wealth" through the ballot box.

The state, however, can do whatever it wants to pad its pockets. It's why police forces are maintained. If you believe otherwise, then just haven't been paying attention.

Happy Cost of Government Day!

From the Americans for Tax Reform:

Definition
Cost of Government Day (COGD) is the date of the calendar year on which the average American worker has earned enough gross income to pay off his or her share of spending and regulatory burdens imposed by government on the federal, state and local levels.

Cost of Government Day 2008
Cost of Government Day for 2008 is July 16. Working people must toil on average 197 days out of the year just to meet all costs imposed by government. In other words, the cost of government consumes 53.9 percent of national income.

People used to start revolutions over things like this.

The Double Trouble of Taxation

Ron Paul on the double trouble of taxation:

Big government is destructive when it takes your money and when it spends it. There is no economic benefit to supporting a government sector as massive as ours. In fact, this country thrived for well over 100 years without an income tax. Today, if you took away the income tax, the government would still have revenue from other sources equal to total government spending in 1990, when government was still too big. $1.2 trillion should be more than enough to fund a government operating within its constitutional confines, and that is exactly what we need to get back to.

Tax Protest Draws a Crowd at State Capitol

The Minnesota Tax Cut Coalition held its annual rally at the State Capitol on Saturday, drawing a crowd of about 1,000 people demanding that legislators stop "wasteful'' spending and allow Minnesotans to keep more of their paychecks.

Government funding to support light rail transit, the social safety net and the Twins ballpark were among the targets of complaints among the crowd, which spilled across the Capitol lawn.

Click here for the full story.

It's Tax Day