Willie and Wesley and the boys...
 

On Feb 5, 8:42*pm, "Calif Bill" wrote:
wrote in message

...
On Feb 5, 9:12 am, "Calif Bill" wrote:



wrote in message

....
On Feb 5, 6:37 am, "Calif Bill" wrote:

"Ken Fortenberry" wrote in message

.. .

wrote:

... The whole idea that supposedly responsible people
such as Geithner, Daschle, etc., etc., have folks making excuses for
them
(and
are making excuses themselves) on stuff like taxes and the like is
ridiculous
and IMO, a large part of the problem.

The taxes don't bother me much. The tax code *is* complicated
and byzantine. Where is the line between, "borrow my car when
you're in town" and "this is salary, here's a W-2, don't forget
to change the oil" ? The bigger problem is that Daschle earned
$5 million influence peddling two days after being ousted from
the Senate. And he wasn't even a lobbyist.

I don't know how to fix that "problem". I think Daschle is
eminently qualified to be health czar, probably one of the most
qualified people in the country. In some ways lobbyists get a
bad rap. The Sierra Club hires a lobbyist and I hope they hire
a good one and pay whatever a good one costs. What is lobbying
other than having a voice ? The problem as I see it is Republican
lobbyists. We ought to allow lobbying only for liberals and not
fat cat Republicans. That'll fix it. ;-)

--
Ken Fortenberry

Personally I think Daschle should be the next prison inmate. Wesley
Snipes
gets 3 years for failing to cough up taxes, the Survivor guy getss 4
years.
A former Congressman should be held to a higher standard.

Why not torture him a bit to find out what he did with the money, what
tax tricks he knows, and then imprison him without trial? Maybe
overseas so you can claim he is outside your law? Seems you lot are
pretty good at that.

You never learn much it seems.

Your and similar philosophies have plunged much of the world into
chaos, financial and otherwise, and still you dumbos come along
advocating all sorts of crazy, illegal, and generally contemptible
****e. Seems you have no shame at all either.

ANYBODY who condones or supports the majority of the ****e that goes
down on this newsgroup is not only an idiot, but already basically a
criminal. In a few cases, they obviously only lack the means top do
far worse things than spout ****e on a public newsgroup.

You political system is an even bigger joke than your portrayal of it
here, and your arrogance and stupidity is simply breathtaking. I
wonder if you even realise how many people are waiting to see the USA
go right down the pipe, quite apart from those, including some here,
and of course elsewhere, who are actively working towards it?

Looks like you are not a fan of free markets. You would prefer a USSR
managed economy, or a China type from your writings. As to torture, they
are both good at that. As well as real torture of killing the prisoners..
Where am I saying to torture Daschle? He is a tax cheat! You seem to feel
cheating on taxes is ok. You a politician? I do not care what he did with
his money, he did a job and got paid. Legally in this country the job he
did required him to register as a lobbyist. So he also broke that law. I
feel that people should not cheat on taxes, and if they do they should pay
the penalty. The penalty should be greater for elected leaders. They can
serve as a good example. As to stupid, you take the prize.

You don´t have the slightest idea what I would prefer, but that
doesn't stop you posting a load of total bull**** on the matter.

There is no reason to assume you know any more about the political
claptrap you are posting.

You already won the prize for being stupid, you elected Bush, and let
him railroad you into a lot of trouble.

Alexis de Tocqueville said, “in a democracy, the people get the
government they deserve". .... so what does that say about you?

You got the newsgroup you deserve as well, a load of total ****e. Who
are you going to put in prison for that?

Dip****s like you? *plonk!

Now there's a surprise.

Willie and Wesley and the boys...
 

On Feb 5, 3:05*pm, Ken Fortenberry
wrote:
I screwed up my taxes one year, a $13K mistake that the IRS caught.
Contrary to conventional wisdom the IRS was a joy to work with.
They were polite, understanding and accommodating. I paid off my
error, plus interest, over two years and criminal prosecution was
never even mentioned.

+1 here. My error was less significant, but I did face a
disheartening sum owed. As with your experience, everyone I dealt
with at IRS were quite pleasant and helpful. (I'll stop a bit short
of "joy", however.)

In that I know how easy it is for even a smart guy to overlook
something, I'm a bit surprised that having a lily white past with the
IRS is the new litmus test for public service.

Joe F.

Willie and Wesley and the boys...
 

On Feb 5, 3:05*pm, Ken Fortenberry
wrote:
Calif Bill wrote:
"Ken Fortenberry" wrote:
The taxes don't bother me much. The tax code *is* complicated
and byzantine. ...

Personally I think Daschle should be the next prison inmate. *Wesley Snipes
gets 3 years for failing to cough up taxes, the Survivor guy getss 4 years.
A former Congressman should be held to a higher standard.

The law should be the same for everyone.

I screwed up my taxes one year, a $13K mistake that the IRS caught.
Contrary to conventional wisdom the IRS was a joy to work with.
They were polite, understanding and accommodating. I paid off my
error, plus interest, over two years and criminal prosecution was
never even mentioned. Mr. Snipes and the Survivor guy must have
tried to cheat. Daschle and me, we screwed up. Big difference.

--
Ken Fortenberry

Willie and Wesley and the boys...
 

"Ken Fortenberry" wrote in message
...
Mr. Snipes and the Survivor guy must have
tried to cheat. Daschle and me, we screwed up. Big difference.

.....and Willie was just plain stoned.
Tom

Willie and Wesley and the boys...
 

"rb608" wrote in message
...
I'm a bit surprised that having a lily white past with the
IRS is the new litmus test for public service.

It's not merely the errors, it's the not paying up until you hit the
limelight part. As you both must have noticed, as did I when I made an
error, the IRS is pretty prompt to alert you about the issue. I too, found
them completely cooperative, but then again, I paid up readily, when asked.
Tom

Willie and Wesley and the boys...
 

On Feb 5, 5:29*pm, "Tom Littleton" wrote:
It's not merely the errors, it's the not paying up until you hit the
limelight part.

That certainly applies to Daschle, but I've heard others have been "in
trouble" because they (or even their spouses) have owed the IRS some
minor dough. Speaking for myself, once I was notified of the amount
owed, it still took me years to pay the full amount due. I have a lot
of empathy for folks in a similar situation.

Joe F.

Willie and Wesley and the boys...
 

"rb608" wrote in message
...
That certainly applies to Daschle, but I've heard others have been "in
trouble" because they (or even their spouses) have owed the IRS some
minor dough.


Certainly, that one woman with a $900 tax lien for some local tax falls into
that catagory. Still, this is politics, and appearances count for a lot.
Tom

Willie and Wesley and the boys...
 

On Thu, 05 Feb 2009 22:29:30 GMT, "Tom Littleton"
wrote:


"rb608" wrote in message
...
I'm a bit surprised that having a lily white past with the
IRS is the new litmus test for public service.

It's not merely the errors, it's the not paying up until you hit the
limelight part. As you both must have noticed, as did I when I made an
error, the IRS is pretty prompt to alert you about the issue. I too, found
them completely cooperative, but then again, I paid up readily, when asked.
Tom



Seems like Obama's choice for Labor Sec is also having some tax
problems - well, to be more correct, her husband owed money on a tax
lein, but just paid it off when she was selected as a candidate for
the office. Who is doing the vetting of these people?

Good ol' J.F. Kerry also had some tax problems concerning some free
cars he received from a Buick dealer on the North Shore. Seems he
"forgot" to claim the free use of the cars for several years, and also
"forgot" to report the free use of a friend's townhouse in Boston.
That was the year he claimed $300 to charity on his tax return.

I know, I know, it's not just a Dem problem. I say let every state
have 1 Senator and a maximum of 5 Reps. Kick the rest out. It would
save a helluva lot of money and require the remaining *******s to
actually to some work. Also, as it now stands (thanks to Jimmy
Carter, I believe), all you need to do is serve one term and you get
retirement/privileges for the rest of your life. The military, the
rest of government, and most of the private sector require at least 20
years of service before you get retirement.

I don't believe that the framers of our Constitution meant for the
lawyers/farmers/merchants serving in Congress to be professional
politicians. Corruption, cheating, stealing, influence peddling are
bound to happen when someone serves in Congress for most, if not all,
of their adult life. The power that these people yield is
unbelievable, AND worth lots of money.

Many of them have been in positions that would have led to jail for
the rest of us. Vehicular homicide by Ted Kennedy comes to mind, as
well as the recent tax problems, sex scandals, etc.

I don't mean this as a slam, but so far, I am not impressed with
Obama. He seems to be allowing Pelosi and Reed to do their normal
spending without addressing such things as banks/loan institutions,
housing, and unemployment. Instead the socalled Stimulous Package
seems to be nothing more than a lot of pork.

Dave

Willie and Wesley and the boys...
 

"Dave LaCourse" wrote in message
...
Seems like Obama's choice for Labor Sec is also having some tax
problems - well, to be more correct, her husband owed money on a tax
lein, but just paid it off when she was selected as a candidate for
the office.

I never have had much interest in the spouse's problems in past, similar
situations. Personally, I am not going to start getting worked up now.


I don't mean this as a slam, but so far, I am not impressed with
Obama. He seems to be allowing Pelosi and Reed to do their normal
spending without addressing such things as banks/loan institutions,
housing, and unemployment. Instead the socalled Stimulous Package
seems to be nothing more than a lot of pork.

I concur about part of that. So far, Obama is bending over backward to be
'bipartisan' and 'cooperative', and he was elected to bring radical change.
He needs to take the gloves off, and start riding herd on some folks(Pelosi,
Reid and many on the GOP side). Folks gave him the political capital, now he
needs to use it. As for any stimulus package, you are going to be able to
point to various projects as pork, but certainly, the final bill looks like
it will attempt to address housing, try to stimulate job growth and also
keep a lot of businesses afloat. Whether it will work, or be enough, or in
time, is a guess at best.
As to addressing the financial community, there is an example of where Obama
might well exercise less universally popular, decisive actions. Time will
tell.
Tom

Willie and Wesley and the boys...
 

"Ken Fortenberry" wrote in message
...
Calif Bill wrote:
"Ken Fortenberry" wrote:
The taxes don't bother me much. The tax code *is* complicated
and byzantine. ...

Personally I think Daschle should be the next prison inmate. Wesley
Snipes gets 3 years for failing to cough up taxes, the Survivor guy getss
4 years. A former Congressman should be held to a higher standard.

The law should be the same for everyone.

I screwed up my taxes one year, a $13K mistake that the IRS caught.
Contrary to conventional wisdom the IRS was a joy to work with.
They were polite, understanding and accommodating. I paid off my
error, plus interest, over two years and criminal prosecution was
never even mentioned. Mr. Snipes and the Survivor guy must have
tried to cheat. Daschle and me, we screwed up. Big difference.

--
Ken Fortenberry

You screwed up and worked with the IRS. Daschle did not even try to pay up
until the appointment. As to working with the IRS, not always sensible. I
got tagged for underpayment of estimated taxes. $230 penalty. I paid an
extreme lot more that year than I ever paid before, and they took 28% of the
options money before I even saw any of it. They waive the penalty in this
case if you retire. The underpayment was not supposed to be for cases where
you paid more than the year before. So sometimes it is OK in working with
the IRS, others not. I can a letter about undocumented mortgage deduction.
They were good to work with on that as was the interest on an RV loan. Told
them what it was and they said OK, and corrected the paperwork. As to equal
under the law. Yes, but a former elected official, who makes $5,000,000 for
2 years in consulting fees, and has his taxes done, should not make
$100,000++ mistakes.