The photo above was taken by landscape photographer Edward Burtynsky, whose pieces are generally about nature transformed through industry. The photo, titled Breezewood, Pennsylvania, USA. was taken in 2008 and is from a collection titled Oil. He describes the inspiration behind Oil this way:
“I began to think about oil itself: as both the source of energy that makes everything possible and as a source of dread, for its ongoing endangerment of our habitat.”
There’s a certain beauty to this photo, which I stumbled across via Twitter, and you can even find humor in the responses to it. My favorite is this one:
lol the us looks like someone forgot to activate AdBlock
— Krumbukt – Pancakeboi ThiCC AF (@Krumbukt1) April 18, 2018
The reason why Tax Day falls on April 17th this year
Tomorrow is Tax Day in the United States: the deadline for U.S. taxpayers to file their tax returns for the previous tax year, or failing that, file for an extension. Normally, Tax Day falls on April 15th. However, since:
Last Week Tonight’s take on taxes — corporate taxes, that is
I can’t post a piece about tax day and taxes without pointing you to last night’s feature story on Last Week Tonight, which was on corporate taxes, and how corporations dodge them.
How much tax you’ve already paid through payroll withholding and estimated tax payments, and
How much tax you’re including as payment with the form.
What you don’t have to provide is any reason why you’re asking for an extension. Most requests for an extension requests are granted — I get the feeling that unless you’re Wesley Snipes, your request will probably go through.
Does the tax filing process have to be so painful?
The two gentlemen pictured below say “no”. In any other situation where you are invoiced, the person or organization doing the invoicing does all the work in calculating it, and all you have to do is say whether the invoice is correct or incorrect. But with taxes, you’re getting invoiced and you have to do all the calculating. The IRS already knows your income and finances, and could easily crunch the numbers and send you a bill. This practice is called return-free filing, and both Presidents Reagan and Obama have spoken in support of it.
Return-free filing is already done in some European countries, and it’s as simple as this:
You get a pre-filled filing from the government — basically, a tax invoice.
You review it.
If it’s accurate, you sign it, and pay any taxes you owe, or collect any refunds you’re owed.
If it’s not accurate, you fix it, or prepare your own return.
For many people, this could turn the process of filing taxes into a simple one that doesn’t require specialists or special software, and would take minutes.
But return-free filing would take away a lot of profits from Intuit (as in Turbotax) and H&R Block (the tax accountant shop), and their lobbyists have worked hard to ensure to block any motions to make it possible in the U.S.. Propublica have covered this over the years…
Bill Russell called me one time… He says, “Charles Barkley.” I said, “Yes, sir, Mr. Russell.”
“You grew up in Alabama. Right?” I said, “Yes, sir.”
He says, “Did you go to public school?” I said, “Yes, sir.”
He says, “Did the cops ever come to your neighborhood?” I said, “Yes sir.”
He said, “Any of the houses ever on fire and the firemen come?” I said, “Yes, sir.”
He said, “I don’t want to see your black ass on TV complaining about your taxes anymore.” I says, “What do you mean?”
He says, “So now that you got money you don’t want to help other people out, but when you were poor, other people took care of you.” And I says, “You know what, Mr. Russell, you will never hear me complain about my taxes again.”
And it was a very interesting lesson for me, because I do think rich people should pay more taxes. I’m blessed to be one of them, and we should pay more in taxes. I learned my lesson. I never complain about taxes.
I haven’t played Shadowrun in ages! The last time I played, you had to combine magic and technology to get things like wireless networking and many other goodies that we consider typical today.
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