Tag: Taxes

California Dreaming – How to Leave & Fast

Guest Post by Martin Armstrong

Once upon a time, they use to write songs about California Dreaming. It is now turned 180 degrees to the main dreaming in California is how to get out of the same. You just cannot keep raising taxes endlessly reducing the standard of living of the people and survive indefinitely. It is official. The net migration leaving California is showing up not just in the statistics, rental cars leaving the state, but now at least 1800 businesses have packed their bags and left headed to Texas or Florida.

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Want a free $100K a year? Quit your job and move here…

Guest Post by Simon Black

According to the latest jobs report, averages wages for US workers increased 3.1% – the strongest growth since 2009.

 Median individual income in the US is now around $31,000, which means the typical American put an extra $1,000 in their pocket last year.

That’s solid extra cash.

But if you really want to see your wages grow, quit your job and become homeless.

 Just be sure you move to San Francisco.

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Services Rendered

Guest Post by Jeff Thomas

Here we have a standard credit card receipt from a coffee shop.

The diner understands that he’s not obligated to order anything that he doesn’t want to receive, but that, for whatever he does order, he must pay the price on the menu.

The subtotal is printed in large type on the charge slip. He may then decide whether or not the service he received was of particular value to him. Diners typically choose to pay somewhere between 10% and 20%, depending on the value they feel they’ve received.

But the receipt above differs from the norm. After the “Tip” line, another line exists for “Voluntary Tax.”

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National Economic Disparity Could Spell Political Shifts

Originally Posted at Free Market Shooter – Authored by Ben Isaac

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In the years following the housing crash of 2008, most local housing markets have made a full rebound from the dire straits that befell a huge portion of the population and took the economy with it. Many markets are now even stronger than they were in that time. The recent tax deductions passed by Congress and signed by President Trump in December have put more after tax cash in the pockets of virtually all Americans, yet there is one feature of the bill that has been seen as a detractor for the health of the American economy: State and local tax deductions.

The major reduction has many high earners in higher tax states and cities in a bit of a panic over their new tax liability which they can no longer write off, which has resulted in some high revenue companies and large income earners looking to other parts of the country where the cost of doing business is much less burdensome.

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Hidden Taxes

Guest Post by John Stossel

Hidden Taxes

The cable bill was the last straw, says Kristin Tate. “That’s the one that really made me mad.”

Comcast included $36 in charges for mysterious things like “utility tax” and “government access fee.”

That motivated her to research obscure taxes and put what she learned in a new book, “How Do I Tax Thee? A Field Guide to the Great American Rip-Off.”

Rip-off? Even limited government needs some taxes to fund basic functions.

“Yes,” says Tate. “But politicians are cowards. Instead of creating a tax, they magically create these little fees (so) they don’t have to tell their voters they raised taxes.”

Voters don’t often notice the sneaky taxes.

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Trump: “Amazon Pays Little Or No Taxes, Puts Thousands Of Retailers Out Of Business”

The main driver behind yesterday’s latest FANG plunge, was a report in Axios, according to which it was not Facebook that Trump wants to go after, but rather Amazon:

“He’s obsessed with Amazon,” a source told Axios. “Obsessed”, and added that Trump has allegedly talked about changing Amazon’s tax treatment because he’s worried about mom-and-pop retailers being put out of business. Another Axios source said that POTUS has “wondered aloud if there may be any way to go after Amazon with antitrust or competition law.”

Trump’s deep-seated antipathy toward Amazon surfaces when discussing tax policy and antitrust cases. The president would love to clip CEO Jeff Bezos’ wings. But he doesn’t have a plan to make that happen.

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Goldman Showers Execs With $100 Million In Early Bonuses To Avoid Trump Tax Hit

Goldman Sachs has accelerated nearly $100 million in stock awards to top executives before the end of the year in order to avoid unfavorable changes in the new tax code, according to public filings posted Friday.

The most sweeping overhaul of U.S. tax code in 30 years includes a provision which caps a corporate deduction for executive pay; under current law, corporations can deduct up to $1 million per executive’s base salary, however there’s no cap on deductions for performance-based pay, such as bonuses.

Under the new provisions, both base salary and performance bonuses count towards to $1 million cap – which is why Goldman accelerated $94.8 million in bonuses originally scheduled for January, 2018. By paying the bonuses early, the bank will save money on its own tax bill.

Most of Goldman’s executives received early payouts – including of course, CEO Lloyd Blankfein.

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Lloyd Blankfein

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The Imbecile Tax

Guest Post by Eric Peters

Grown-ups used to appreciate being treated as grown-ups, especially by other grown-ups. How is it that today’s grown-ups demand that they be treated like not-too-bright children?

This manifests all over but one obvious area is new cars. The latest example being what Nissan just announced it will be installing in at least one of its 2018 models – the Pathfinder SUV – and probably, inevitably, the rest, too:

“Rear Door Alert.”

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY – Lincoln imposes first federal income tax – 1861

Via History.com

On this day in 1861, Lincoln imposes the first federal income tax by signing the Revenue Act. Strapped for cash with which to pursue the Civil War, Lincoln and Congress agreed to impose a 3 percent tax on annual incomes over $800.

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Fines – Civil Asset Forfeitures – Taxes

Guest Post by Martin Armstrong

When I was a kid, most police were kind, respectful, and actually there to protect society. Sure, there was some towns that were just greedy. My father took a local post as a judge in Cinnaminson, New Jersey. It was the politicians who told him they want the maximum fine for everything. My father refused and quit. It is not even the police who are ticketing people just for fun. There are quotas and pressure to raise money for the politicians. Governments are just going broke. Many of the police they bring in today are not like they use to be. They are much more nasty and aggressive.

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