[Peter Suderman]
Well, this is a weight off my back. Via Dave Weigel, Harry Reid declares on camera -- repeatedly -- that the U.S. income tax is voluntary!
Copyright © 2009 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2009 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved.
So are rectal exams conducted by IRS agents.
Can I call Sen. Reid as a witness for the defense in my tax evasion trial?
Well, in reality he's right.
Unless that wall on the border is meant to keep us in rather than them out.
There's always the British Virgin Islands. Just ask Kellog Brown and Root!
Of course, that's the real problem here. What is totally unimportant are John Yoo's torture memos and the subsequent policy implemented by the President.
I love his argument, its like saying the peoples democratic republic of Congo is a democracy(not that I have anything against Congo!). There are some horrible countries that aren't democratic. It doest matter that whomever wins will be denounced and rebelled against by the other side and that elected governments seldom last, the people should be glad that they are so lucky to live in a democracy like Congo as opposed to those horrible non democracy's like Liechtenstein. The good senator seems to think that by defining taxation as voluntary makes it so. I think not!
Peter, oh, Peter!
Does this mean I can deduct my portion of the Iraq war from my return this year? Oh, that's right, the war is being funded by off-balance borrowing from China, so never mind.
Megan's postings are mediocre when she's here on her own (even with her 2X4's). Now they've become actively ignorant.
Davebo:
It is illegal to leave the United States or renounce your citizenship if the primary purpose is to avoid paying taxes.
It's also voluntary to put on a parachute before you jump out of an airplane.
I'll bet Wesley Snipes is happy to hear that!
"It is illegal to leave the United States or renounce your citizenship if the primary purpose is to avoid paying taxes."
That's right, and unlike in most Western countries, US citizens remain obliged to file tax returns and pay any resulting US taxes even if they permanently settle abroad.
Peter, you are without a doubt both dumber and and more dishonest than Megan. Do you really think we're going to believe that Harry Reid, being interviewed by an obvious moron, is going to get trapped into admitting that our tax system is "voluntary," a belief held by every single conservative nutcase and whack job since John Birch and Timothy McVeigh?
Unlike you, I actually listened to the words Sen. Reid said on the video. And he said these exact words: "Of course, you have to pay your taxes." Please explain to me and your readers how he could of said these words, yet still said that taxes were "voluntary"?
Look, scumbag, if you want to write on a mainstream journal's website, you need to tell people the truth--not mislead them by selectively quoting your political enemies out of context. Do you really think that any of your readers--most of whom follow politics pretty damned closely--really think that Harry Reid might actually believe that taxes are simply voluntary?
Stop it. What our country sorely lacks right now is HONESTY. And you are a disgrace to it!
Blake,
We need to meet for coffee and punch, maybe even some penny candy(!), because your comments are trending toward the stratosphere of redundancy.
Let me explicate. You haven't a concept of negative externalities nor of positive correlations, all of which Megan knows well and will explain to us when she gets back from suspension. Amen.
What our country sorely lacks right now is HONESTY
I'd say the ability to stop taking everything so damn seriously appears to be in short supply, too.
The IRS refers to the income-tax system as relying on "voluntary compliance" in the same sense that most compliance with law is voluntary: No policeman comes to your door and forces you to fill out and submit a return. Rather, you do it "voluntarily" so as not to later get punished for breaking the law.