Taxes
mikepegg44
Posts: 3,353
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38378992/ns/politics/
anyone have any thoughts on this... I am all for someone paying less in taxes, I just find it funny that people who talk about taxing the rich more do whatever they can to avoid paying taxes.
anyone have any thoughts on this... I am all for someone paying less in taxes, I just find it funny that people who talk about taxing the rich more do whatever they can to avoid paying taxes.
that’s right! Can’t we all just get together and focus on our real enemies: monogamous gays and stem cells… - Ned Flanders
It is terrifying when you are too stupid to know who is dumb
- Joe Rogan
It is terrifying when you are too stupid to know who is dumb
- Joe Rogan
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Main Entry: hyp·o·crite
Pronunciation: \ˈhi-pə-ˌkrit\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English ypocrite, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin hypocrita, from Greek hypokritēs actor, hypocrite, from hypokrinesthai
Date: 13th century
1 : a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion
2 : a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings
with that said, I think kerry is a jackass...
Kerry is a douche
that is why I said I didn't care if someone does whatever they can to avoid taxes, but it is more the idea that he wants rich people to be taxed more, just not him. that bothers me.
Like Warren Buffet for example. he does what ever he can to get out of paying higher taxes, but then turns around and talks about how rich people don't pay enough in taxes. I don't get it. Am I missing something.
Why do people always want to spend someone else's money?
It is terrifying when you are too stupid to know who is dumb
- Joe Rogan
Could you please provide a source for that claim about Warren Buffett? I'm pretty sure he spends his own money, by the way.
there are numorous sources, it was at a fundraising dinner for Clinton during the presidential campaign. Not sure which one you would like, the washington times is one of the first that pop up for google.
Buffett is a rare breed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETgTNflAyo4
no one is stopping him from paying more in taxes. I am sure if he offered it up, the government would take as much as he would give them
edit: also look at his letter to his shareholders. His taxes are being paid. Some by him, and others by his company in the form of corporate taxes. He is clearly ommitting this when he talks about his tax rate to prove his point. I don't want this to turn into a thread on buffett, if you care to discuss his policies further SCB i will gladly PM with you. this is about a democrat in the senate trying to spend someone else's money while getting out of paying his own way. I shouldn't even have brought up buffett. Just read about what he calls look-through earnings.
It is terrifying when you are too stupid to know who is dumb
- Joe Rogan
he bought it RI and parked in RI.
that is more then people around here do, we go to Indiana to buy cheap shit on a lower tax rate and bring it back to Illinois
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
Jeff Greene denies his anchor damaged Belize reef
Belize said Jeff Greene's yacht damaged a coral reef, racking up $1.87 million in unpaid fines.
BY ADAM C. SMITH
ST. PETERSBURG TIMES
On a Tuesday morning five years ago, Summerwind, a three-story, 145-foot luxury yacht, maneuvered above the celebrated barrier reef that lines the coast of Belize.
There it dropped anchor -- and plunged into controversy over severe damage to a coral reef system officially recognized by the United Nations as one of the world's most magnificent and irreplaceable treasures.
``The guys from the area told me they were beside the boat before it dropped anchor, and they were yelling and waving their hands, shouting, `No! No, don't drop here,' '' recounted Melanie McField, a marine scientist with the Smithsonian Institution who surveyed the reef soon after the incident. ``It was bad. There was a lot of damage.''
The owner of that yacht? Billionaire Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Greene.
The real-estate mogul from Palm Beach was not aboard the boat at the time. And, oddly, Greene today says the incident never happened, despite extensive publicity about it at the time (including statements from his representatives), eyewitness accounts, scientific surveys of the damage and an extensive case file at the country's Department of Environment.
``Jeff Greene doesn't take a penny of special interest money, so career politicians are attacking him with ridiculous stories about something that didn't even happen five years ago on a boat he wasn't even on,'' said campaign spokesman Luis Vizcaino.
`THAT'S OUR QUOTE'
Asked how he could say it never happened when Greene's own employees at the time acknowledged a problem on the reef with Summerwind, Vizcaino declined to comment further: ``That's our position. That's our quote.''
Greene bought Summerwind in 2003, registering it in the Marshall Islands, a well-known tax haven.
The yacht has traveled across the world, hosting Greene, family members and celebrities, including Lindsay Lohan. He brought it to Nantucket last weekend to crash a meeting of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee where only his Democratic rival, Kendrick Meek, had been invited to speak.
Summerwind -- like a 14-story building turned on its side -- accommodates about 10 guests in five suites.
Greene boasted to Forbes in 2008 that he practically stole it for $6 million in 2002. It may have been a bargain purchase price, but it costs about $100,000 to fill up the tank on Summerwind, which burns about 50 gallons of fuel per hour.
Like a second home, such luxury yachts often are docked well away from their owners when not in use, which appears to be what happened in this case.
In Belize, the chief environmental officer of the Department of Environment, Martin Alegria, thumbed through a two-volume file on the Summerwind case in response to questions from The St. Petersburg Times.
The case remains officially open, Alegria said in a phone interview, and if Greene or the Summerwind's then-captain returns to Belize they face fines of up to $1.87 million, given the amount of reef damage caused.
Belize became much tougher on those who harm or pollute the 175-mile reef after the Summerwind incident occurred, Alegria said, but at the time local authorities failed to seize passports or press charges before Summerwind left.
LARGE GASH
Billy Leslie, president of the San Pedro Tourist Guide Council in Belize, said he saw the damage soon after the incident and closely followed the investigation. Summerwind's anchor caused a swath of destruction on the living reef 50 feet by 200 feet, he said.
``It was a very big deal at the time, but the police made mistakes in that they didn't apprehend anyone soon enough,'' he said. Summerwind representatives ``were very clear they were willing to pay to get this resolved, but by the time the order finally came to apprehend someone, they had taken off and never paid a penny.''
Various news accounts at the time said the yacht's captain was interrogated but after several days passed without further action, Summerwind took off.
``My recollection is that the vessel was manned with the permanent crew at the time of the reported incident and that there were no guests onboard. The captain at the time had indicated to me that he had cooperated fully with the local authorities, including making a formal statement at a local police station,'' said Rupert Connor, who at the time worked as Greene's yacht manager.
The boat left Belize as it was scheduled to, he said, ``and my office received no notification from the Belize authorities of any claim against the vessel or its environmental insurance policy.''
`A LOST CAUSE'
Alegria, Belize's chief environmental enforcement officer, said he may take a closer look at the case now that it has been brought to his attention, but in 2005 the matter effectively ended when Greene's yacht left.
``It's still an open case, but it was a lost cause after they left Belize,'' said Alegria, noting that Belize authorities have been much more successful punishing people responsible for major reef destruction in recent years.
Adam C. Smith can be reached at <!-- e --><a href="mailto:asmith@sptimes.com">asmith@sptimes.com</a><!-- e -->.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/23/1 ... z0uo08mVnx
Maybe the MSM didn't report on this because no one knows who the hell he is... I never heard of him so I looked him up, and he's a democrat running for the US Senate, and not even leading in the polls... why exactly would the MSM care about him?
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
Since when is voting for taxes a couple percent higher than the other party "standing on a platform of wealth redistribution"? And docking your boat down the road a few miles is using a tax loophole?
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. - Louis Brandeis
Because your argument ignores half the point. Legally avoiding taxes in and of itself is not the issue under discussion -- what irks "everyone" (to quote you) is when people -particularly those in power- support the notion of building a better society through taxation -particularly of a progressive nature- whilst avoiding any and all taxes they can -particularly on notable items of opulence like recreational boats.
"Particularly" is such a useful word. Provides just the right amount of sass without being rude.
Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. - Louis Brandeis
Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. - Louis Brandeis
That's funny
Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. - Louis Brandeis
My thought is RI should raise its damn boat taxes we could use the money.
Edit- Kerry is a moron.
Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. - Louis Brandeis
Also - one of my favorite quotes: "When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic" - Benjamin Franklin
Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. - Louis Brandeis
You either aren't reading or aren't understanding my posts as I haven't said anything specific about a taxation methodology preference. I'll boil it down: if you're going to preach it, live it. If you're going to preach family values from your soapbox, don't boink the maid. If you're going to preach clean air, don't drive a Hummer. If you're going to preach wealth redistribution and/or increased taxes for the "common good", don't move your $7M yatch to another jurisdiction so you don't have to pay the taxes in your home state.