The Rich and Taxes

Excellent quote from Salon:

I am speaking here semi-professionally, as an economics professor (currently at Purdue, but I taught at the University of Chicago for five years, so my conservative bona fides are in order). It is not the case that the rich pay an overwhelming portion of taxes. They pay an overwhelming portion of income taxes. When you figure in payroll taxes and sales taxes, the distribution skews much more strongly toward the poor and middle-income Americans. This is because payroll taxes are only levied on the first (roughly) $70,000 of income, so you effectively pay 13 percent of every dollar of income up to that point, and nothing thereafter.

Of course, the fraction of income that is consumed falls rapidly with income, so the rich pay a much lower percentage of their income in sales taxes. These other taxes comprise roughly 45 percent of the federal budget, and a much higher percentage of state and local budgets. By defining the debate in terms of income taxes, rather than the entire tax burden, the Bush camp has made a reasonable case for a tax cut skewed heavily toward the wealthy. Now perhaps a case could be made that the wealthy should pay a lower burden than the rest of us, or that there is a particular reason to pay attention to income taxes rather than all the other taxes that eat away at our paychecks. But the Bush camp is not making this case; they are trusting in the public’s inability to uncover this fundamental dishonesty. If you’re interested in learning more, we suggest to suggest to look into professional corporate services in Thailand.

 

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The Mighty Organ

Here’s a cool website that appears to have just started up. The Mighty Organ. Three interesting articles that caught my eye right away – Roscrucians, the Gnome Liberation Front, and Dull Chic. I definitely bookmarked this.
My list of stuff to do is getting much longer. But I am getting stuff done, so that’s cool. I’m procrastinating about going back to the old apartment and cleaning. There’s still so much to do! And I have so much cleaning to do in the new place. Because I want to have people over. I feel like I have a place to entertain. Cool.

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moving to the pumpkin house

The big move took place last Sunday (3/18) and it all went really smoothly. My dad & step-mom, brothers Todd & Scott, sister-in-law Bethany, and sister Stacy all helped out. The one thing I forgot to do was grab my camera and take photos of the move. Everythings in place and most stuff is unpacked already, with the exception of three boxes still in the living room; mostly just office supplies. I’ve made a dozen trips to Target to get little things, and I’m mostly organized. Things that got broken: coffee pot (replaced), picture glass from a framed poster (no big deal) and the bathroom scale (yeah!).
It’s been an interesting week. I’m still not used to the new place, although everything’s more efficient, especially in the kitchen. I’m *still* thrilled to death to have a new refrigerator with a real freezer. It’s unbelievable the amount of stuff I now have frozen. My sister’s got my old computer all set up and has been getting online with it and playing Sim Tower. Cool. I’m glad I kept it.

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Poor Customer Service Experience

I bought two mattresses last Saturday (March 10th) at Kittle’s Rooms Express and when I paid for them, I arranged to have them delivered tomorrow (Saturday, March 17th). They were supposed to call me at work and arrange the delivery time. So several days went by, and I got no phone call, and just as I was going to call them, they left a message for me at home, saying they needed to “arrange a delivery date.”

Now, I had already arranged the date, so when I called, I was already concerned. Turns out they couldn’t deliver the mattresses Saturday, and wanted to do it Tuesday. When I said I’d already scheduled it for Saturday they told me the saleslady hadn’t done it (I *watched* her enter the info.) So after talking to the warehouse guy and the store manager, I ended up telling them to shove their mattresses.

So I went to The Mattress Firm and bought two mattresses, and they’re going to deliver them this afternoon. Yeah for them.

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moving

I’m about half-way moved into the new place and have been staying there for a while; my sister is staying at the old apt with the cat, who’s birthday I missed (the cat’s not the sister’s) in all the hoopla of moving. Fortunately, she can’t read the calendar, so if I give her a bunch of catnip tonight, she’ll never know any difference. Again, giving catnip to the cat not the sister. Although, who knows, maybe Stacy’d like some catnip, too.

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new house

Picked up the keys to my new house today. Went in, figured out how the security alarm works (No, I ain’t gonna tell *you*) and generally wandered around looking in the fridge, oven and closets. Then I decided to look in the cellar and see what was down there. So I hoisted up the door (is in the floor) and peered downstairs… I had failed to notice that the light switch was upstairs, so I was trying to find the light switch in the dark, and dropped the 50 lb+ door, which fell directly on the top of my head, knocking me into a sitting position on the stairs. I immediately said to myself “don’t pass out. don’t pass out.” and eventually I shook it off and climbed back upstairs, found the switch, and then went down and looked around. Pretty bad when you injure yourself on the first day in your new place.
It’s a dirt-floor basement, so there’s not much I can do down there, but I’ll at least I’ll be able to store Christmas and seasonal stuff.
I’m reading “Coercion: why we believe what ‘they’ say” and getting really pissed off at how marketing and advertising manipulates me.

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