Business tax compliance costs, according to an SBA.gov study from 2005, measure $894 per employee, or approximately $200B per year. (All regulations and compliance costs total $1.1T) And, what appears to be a studyseparately looking at compliance with individual income taxes, Americans spent 6 billion hours AND $256 billion doing taxes in 2005. That's probably half of the budget deficit by now, as these costs have been creeping up over the years! And by simplifying the tax code, my guess is that more revenue would come from the wealthy, who likely use many more deductions.

Werthless wrote:Business tax compliance costs, according to an SBA.gov study from 2005, measure $894 per employee, or approximately $200B per year. (All regulations and compliance costs total $1.1T) And, what appears to be a studyseparately looking at compliance with individual income taxes, Americans spent 6 billion hours AND $256 billion doing taxes in 2005. That's probably half of the budget deficit by now, as these costs have been creeping up over the years! And by simplifying the tax code, my guess is that more revenue would come from the wealthy, who likely use many more deductions.

The tax system is not simple or complex based upon how many tax brackets there are. That is simple, and is the same calculation, regardless of how many brackets are above or below you. The complexity of the individual tax system, which requires all of those hours and professional help, arises from things such as the AMT tax calculation, needing to account for stock/bond profits and losses, the gradual removal of deductions above certain income levels, and a whole host of deductions from mortgage interest to charitable mileage. Then there is the documentation and eligibility justification for all the various credits, like home weatherization. If your only income is wages, your taxes are a snap, regardless of how many brackets exist.

On a lighter note... the Johnston/Palin wedding e-vite.

The fact that Levi still walks is all I need to know that the Palins aren't fit parents, and thus are unqualified for higher office. If a Levi type were to show his face at my door with the intention of dating my daughter, well, let's just say I don't think a jury in the great state of Arkansas would convict me.

pass the cyanide

TenuredVulture wrote:The fact that Levi still walks is all I need to know that the Palins aren't fit parents, and thus are unqualified for higher office. If a Levi type were to show his face at my door with the intention of dating my daughter, well, let's just say I don't think a jury in the great state of Arkansas would convict me.

"He needed shooting" might actually be a valid defense in Texas. Just sayin'...

the 'Kill the Ground Zero Mosque' ad is offensive in every way. MUSLIMS ARE AMERICANS! MUSLIMS ARE NEW YORKERS!! THATS WHY ITS BEING BUILT!!! SHEESH

Plus, I don't even think it's a damned mosque! ugh, i am losing my mind

Someone whom I know was running focus groups testing messages against the financial overhaul, and the numbers I was told about how it's polling shocked me. Like 50/50 nationally with fair language, worse in the subsample of swing congressional districts.

Good morning for the House GOP. A few different incumbents are trailing in leaked internal GOP polls (Kanjorski and Giffords), Bloomberg has GOP up 8! on the generic ballot among likely voters, InTrade has moved GOP takeover of the House to 57%.

And what are the Dems doing? They're still grumbling at Gibbs for saying it was a possibility that the GOP could take back the House.

People bitch about gov't being ineffective now, but just wait for the clusterf*** that will ensue with a GOP House and a Dem. Senate.

A Dem senate that has like 53 votes. I can't wait.

jerseyhoya wrote:Someone whom I know was running focus groups testing messages against the financial overhaul, and the numbers I was told about how it's polling shocked me. Like 50/50 nationally with fair language, worse in the subsample of swing congressional districts.

you do know this is incomprehensible outside that space between your ears, yes?

but it has the sound of something interesting so I encourage you to try again. What is the "therefore" we hunger for?

Werthless wrote:.... Americans spent 6 billion hours AND $256 billion doing taxes in 2005. That's probably half of the budget deficit by now, as these costs have been creeping up over the years! And by simplifying the tax code, my guess is that more revenue would come from the wealthy, who likely use many more deductions.

20 hours spent on calculation of taxes per man, woman & child, AND $850 for calculations/compliance on top of that?

The time calculation, as suspect as averages can be, may be within range, but what's the additional $850 PER PERSON spent on? You can see how that might make your assertion look a little funny to some.

drsmooth wrote:

jerseyhoya wrote:Someone whom I know was running focus groups testing messages against the financial overhaul, and the numbers I was told about how it's polling shocked me. Like 50/50 nationally with fair language, worse in the subsample of swing congressional districts.

you do know this is incomprehensible outside that space between your ears, yes?

but it has the sound of something interesting so I encourage you to try again. What is the "therefore" we hunger for?

A gentlemen with whom I was conversing on the 234th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence (aka the day Joe Blanton and the bullpen blew a 5-2 lead to the fucking Pirates) happens to be employed in the field of public opinion research. We were discussing some of his most recent work, and he mentioned doing focus groups for a major credit card company (rhymes with Pisa) on different messages that they might want to use to influence public sentiment on the major financial bill that had recently passed the House.

I mentioned I was surprised that so many vulnerable House Democrats had voted against it, and so few GOPers supported it. He said they did a national poll in conjunction with the focus groups that found the total sample was evenly split on whether they wanted Congress to pass the financial reregulation bill they were debating, and the subsample of respondents in the Congressional districts that are considered competitive in the fall opposed Congress passing the measure. This finding went against my instinct on the bill that it was probably a winner for Democrats because if there's one thing Americans distrust more than Congress in 2010, it's Wall Street. The gentleman with Pisa as a client who was on his 5th half litre of some fancy, high ABV Belgian beer while I was drinking a 375 of Makers Mark straight from the bottle admitted he too was surprised a little bit by the numbers, but said for Congress to be 50/50 on an issue is a rarity these days, so this really was something of a winner or at least less of a loser than anything else Democrats have recently pushed.

In actual governance news, Argentina approved marriage equality. Yay

In actual American governance news, the Senate passed the financial reregulation bill, so it's onto Obama.

I think he'll sign.

In news that conventional wisdom says probably means less than nothing, Blanche Lincoln has 1.9 million cash on hand, while her Republican opponent John Boozman has 456k. It really is sort of meaningless, I suppose, as I'd imagine lots of money will be available by those groups "not affiliated with any candidate" for negative ads. Oh joy.

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