Ron Carey’s glass house

Franken foisted on his own petard An amazing thing about the liberal mind-set is its capacity to compartmentalize – to isolate issues as if they existed in a vacuum. The Franken issue is not so much about the comic’s character as it is about the complexity of the tax system, a issue recently raised by Charlie Quimby at “Across the Great Divide.”

But if Franken is a victim of tax code complexity who can’t be expected to know all the minutia of the tax system, what about the rest of us poor schmucks trying to earn a living and better ourselves?

God bless H & R Block, but every dime American taxpayers pay H & Block is an unproductive expense that sucks money from the economy and creates no new wealth. Individuals can save money by saving on taxes; society loses in aggregate when individuals must “waste” money only to calculate exactly how much tax is actually owed to government.

Taxes are necessary; a complex tax system is not. Not coincidently, the major cause of the complexity of the tax system is the result of “fairness” policies Franken promotes. The system we have today piles exception on exception in a vain attempt to make sure everyone “pays their fair shares.” It is difficult to understand, and the tax system is used to reward and punish individuals and industries that please or tick off the powers that be. What actually makes a tax system “fair” is that it is uniform, easy to understand, and not subject to change at the whim of government.

Franken is foisted on his own petard – he’s victim of a system liberal-thinking created. He’s got the means and the people to deal with it. The rest of us don’t, and people like Franken either don’t care or haven’t given us a second thought. Almost makes a guy want to whine, “It’s not fair.”

Why do Republicans keep sneering about “Hollywood celebrities?” Isn’t Norm Coleman married to one?

http://tinyurl.com/6…

ah, mr sticks An amazing thing about the liberal mind-set is its capacity to compartmentalize

how I missed your sweeping generalities….

now why is money spent on having someone do your taxes a “waste,” when that itself is a write off?

I would think the greater waste would be those who use the complexity of the tax codes to hide their own wealth, but it seems that many of your crowd are strongly against the idea of closing those loopholes.

Or am I not allowed to make sweeping generalities as well?

Because … Tax preparation fees are money that could have been put to a productive use. Tax preparation is not a waste to the individual in the sense that he or she saves money, but it is a waste to the venerated common good because money spent on tax preparation produces no new wealth.

Not that you are compartmentalizing, but yes, all of the effort companies and individuals put into legally avoiding taxes is good for them individually, but also a waste for society in general. Your example proves my point. Every tax accountant a company has to hire is one less R&D researcher (to generalize for simplicity).

Generally speaking, loopholes are the consequence of complexity; however it is only a “loophole” when it favors someone else. When it favors the generic “me,” it is “reform.”

Oh, how I missed your “but your side is worse” line of argument.

Franken foisted on his own petard An amazing thing about the liberal mind-set is its capacity to compartmentalize – to isolate issues as if they existed in a vacuum. The Franken issue is not so much about the comic's character as it is about the complexity of the tax system, a issue recently raised by Charlie Quimby at “Across the Great Divide.”

But if Franken is a victim of tax code complexity who can't be expected to know all the minutia of the tax system, what about the rest of us poor schmucks trying to earn a living and better ourselves?

God bless H & R Block, but every dime American taxpayers pay H & Block is an unproductive expense that sucks money from the economy and creates no new wealth. Individuals can save money by saving on taxes; society loses in aggregate when individuals must “waste” money only to calculate exactly how much tax is actually owed to government.

Taxes are necessary; a complex tax system is not. Not coincidently, the major cause of the complexity of the tax system is the result of “fairness” policies Franken promotes. The system we have today piles exception on exception in a vain attempt to make sure everyone “pays their fair shares.” It is difficult to understand, and the tax system is used to reward and punish individuals and industries that please or tick off the powers that be. What actually makes a tax system “fair” is that it is uniform, easy to understand, and not subject to change at the whim of government.

Franken is foisted on his own petard – he's victim of a system liberal-thinking created. He's got the means and the people to deal with it. The rest of us don't, and people like Franken either don't care or haven't given us a second thought. Almost makes a guy want to whine, “It's not fair.”

Why do Republicans keep sneering about “Hollywood celebrities?” Isn't Norm Coleman married to one?

http://tinyurl.com/6…

ah, mr sticks An amazing thing about the liberal mind-set is its capacity to compartmentalize

how I missed your sweeping generalities….

now why is money spent on having someone do your taxes a “waste,” when that itself is a write off?

I would think the greater waste would be those who use the complexity of the tax codes to hide their own wealth, but it seems that many of your crowd are strongly against the idea of closing those loopholes.

Or am I not allowed to make sweeping generalities as well?

Because … Tax preparation fees are money that could have been put to a productive use. Tax preparation is not a waste to the individual in the sense that he or she saves money, but it is a waste to the venerated common good because money spent on tax preparation produces no new wealth.

Not that you are compartmentalizing, but yes, all of the effort companies and individuals put into legally avoiding taxes is good for them individually, but also a waste for society in general. Your example proves my point. Every tax accountant a company has to hire is one less R&D; researcher (to generalize for simplicity).

Generally speaking, loopholes are the consequence of complexity; however it is only a “loophole” when it favors someone else. When it favors the generic “me,” it is “reform.”

Oh, how I missed your “but your side is worse” line of argument.