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Carol H Tucker
Passionate about knowledge management and organizational development, expert in loan servicing, virtual world denizen and community facilitator, and a DISNEY fan
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beladona Memorial
Be warned:in this very rich environment where you can immerse yourself so completely, your emotions will become engaged -- and not everyone is cognizant of that. Among the many excellent features of SL, there is no auto-return on hearts, so be wary of where your's wanders...
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taxation
Today is the 3rd day of the 8th week, the 21st day of the 2nd month, the 52nd day of 2017, and:
- Card Reading Day
- International Mother Language Day
- National Sticky Bun Day
- Single Tasking Day
- Travel Africa Day
ON THIS DAY: In 362 Athanasius returned to Alexandria. In 1804 the first self-propelling steam locomotive made its outing at the Pen-y-Darren Ironworks in Wales. In 1828 the initial issue of the Cherokee Phoenix, the first periodical to use the Cherokee syllabary invented by Sequoyah, was published. In 1842 John Greenough was granted the first US patent for the sewing machine. In 1848 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published The Communist Manifesto. In 1858 The first electric burglar alarm was installed in Boston, Massachusetts, US. In 1878 the first telephone directories issued in the US, a single page of only fifty names, were distributed to residents in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1918 the last Carolina parakeet dies in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo [the last known wild bird had been killed in 1904]. In 1947 in New York City, Edwin Land demonstrated the first "instant camera", the Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America. In 1948 NASCAR was incorporated. In 1952 the British government, under Winston Churchill, abolished identity cards in the UK to "set the people free". In 1958 the CND symbol, aka peace symbol, commissioned by the Direct Action Committee in protest against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, was completed by Gerald Holtom. In 1972 the Soviet unmanned spaceship Luna 20 landed on the Moon. In 1995 Chicago stockbroker Steve Fossett became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon, landing in Canada.
I filed my taxes over the long weekend. It was not a particularly pleasant experience even though I am eligible for a refund. Because I have very minimal deductions, the program informed me that I pay more in the way of taxes than 94% of those in my income bracket and yes I have a problem with that.
To start with? Working in the loan department through the years has exposed me to a lot of tax returns of some very wealthy individuals and they -- like our president -- firmly believe that anyone who pays a lot of taxes is a fool. They have lawyers and accountants carefully groom their assets to position themselves to their greatest benefit – not only do most of them pay a lower percentage of their income in taxes, many of them pay a lower dollar amount as well. This is when I start ranting about the need for a flat tax – let EVERYONE [and that includes businesses and trusts etc] pay 25% so that the fat cats pay their fair share. Because the way it stands now, I feel abused, taken advantage of, exploited and filing each year acerbates those resentments as I struggle with the monthly cash flow. Bitterly I reflect on the old saying about “the rich get richer” and I sullenly feel that I am subsidizing every one of them in a lavish lifestyle while I am supposed to settle for crumbs from their table and be grateful for those – all hail trickledown economics!
It’s just not fair.
At the end, the program shows me where the monies that I have paid are going in the federal budget. – and I always take a long hard look at it. Charts like this fuel the drive against Social Security and Medicare because that chart claims a full third of my taxes go to those programs. No wonder the right thinks that all they have to do is get rid of those “entitlements” to lower taxes! No matter that it is like paying into your 401K or pension, no matter that someday [unless you are independently wealthy] you are going to desperately need those programs, seeing a full third of your tax dollars going there does indeed make it look as though it needs to be pruned.
I will admit that for a few moments I seriously considered not filing, but because I make sure I have enough taken out, I was due a refund. But when I read the meme “The President doesn’t pay taxes so why should I?” it makes me all snarly and snippety …
It is back to work today for those of us lucky enough to have enjoyed a three-day weekend.
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