OT: Hurricanes Lounge XLIII: As Fun As Waterboarding

[HisIceness]

Regarding taxes Peter Gibbons has it right

 

[SlavinAway]

Of course what it's earmarked for is also probably only 10% of what it's being used for with all the other bullshit that gets thrown into those kinds of things...and once they have the money, who's going to stop them from misusing it?

Sure, no argument there. I'm just saying, a tax increase towards schools or specific infrastructure is something I would vote in favor of in a lot of cases. Probably similar to why 42% voted yes near Borsig.

 

[cptjeff]

Also an interest free loan to the gov’t

I got a delayed refund months later for last year because I initially f***ed up the returns and had to refile (which I guess had to be reviewed manually) and they actually did pay me interest.

 

[cptjeff]

Of course what it's earmarked for is also probably only 10% of what it's being used for with all the other bullshit that gets thrown into those kinds of things...and once they have the money, who's going to stop them from misusing it?

Of course it's also like when I was going to NC State, in 2009 they asked the students if they wanted a 5% tuition increase to go towards renovating the Atrium (that wouldn't even be completed until after all active students would likely have graduated). Of course this was amid the huge financial crisis so understandably the student body overwhelmingly voted "NO" (like 95%) because we were struggling with money and student loans already. School Board then basically said "the students don't know what they want, we're doing it!"

Still blows my mind that you get taxed on all your money, then you get taxed for spending your money, then you get taxed for owning those things that you bought with that money (and that's not even counting insurance that you are REQUIRED to have)...like how the f*** is that acceptable? And heaven forbid you get a bonus at work instead of a pay raise, that's getting the normal tax + 25%, so you maybe get 50% of in the end. But nobody in power will ever change that.

Taxes are the price we pay for a free society.

People keep voting for politicians who want a military larger than the next 20 militaries in the world combined, that costs money. People want social security, that costs money. People want quality roads, that costs money. And we're far from the highest tax burden country in the world.

 

[NotOpie]

Of course what it's earmarked for is also probably only 10% of what it's being used for with all the other bullshit that gets thrown into those kinds of things...and once they have the money, who's going to stop them from misusing it?

This reminds me of the "education lottery". In every state that has a lottery it gets sold to the public as the "education lottery" and the proceeds are all going to go to "education". In most states, what actually happens is that the lottery money replaces existing educational funding allowing the states to steer what they had been spending on education to other purposes. There's almost no incremental funding going to education. Yeah, there are laws on the books that say it must be incremental not replacement funding, but in NC, Bev Perdue decided that she needed it to balance the states 2008-09 budget.

The "law" that said lottery money was supposed to be in addition to allocated state funding was turned into a "guideline". Then in 2013 the state legislature changed the "law" to give them control of how the lottery money is spent each year.

When I lived in Texas way back when, Governor Ann Richards (yes I'm that old) promised Texans that the lottery money was all going to go into an "education fund" and so the population voted for the lottery. Of course, as soon as it passed, the Texas state legislature sent all lottery proceeds to the "general fund" with a promise that the lottery money was getting used for education.

I no longer even care about taxes (still wish I didn't have to pay as much) because it remains the greatest shell game around.

 

[SlavinAway]

I got a delayed refund months later for last year because I initially f***ed up the returns and had to refile (which I guess had to be reviewed manually) and they actually did pay me interest.

The interest rate increases the longer it's owed to you as well. My 2022 refund got stuck in limbo and I had to follow-up like 5-6 times for them to finally process it.

 

[cptjeff]

This reminds me of the "education lottery". In every state that has a lottery it gets sold to the public as the "education lottery" and the proceeds are all going to go to "education". In most states, what actually happens is that the lottery money replaces existing educational funding allowing the states to steer what they had been spending on education to other purposes. There's almost no incremental funding going to education. Yeah, there are laws on the books that say it must be incremental not replacement funding, but in NC, Bev Perdue decided that she needed it to balance the states 2008-09 budget.

The "law" that said lottery money was supposed to be in addition to allocated state funding was turned into a "guideline". Then in 2013 the state legislature changed the "law" to give them control of how the lottery money is spent each year.

When I lived in Texas way back when, Governor Ann Richards (yes I'm that old) promised Texans that the lottery money was all going to go into an "education fund" and so the population voted for the lottery. Of course, as soon as it passed, the Texas state legislature sent all lottery proceeds to the "general fund" with a promise that the lottery money was getting used for education.

I no longer even care about taxes (still wish I didn't have to pay as much) because it remains the greatest shell game around.

Money is fungible. Film at 11.

I mean, states and localities do have laws that bind specific taxes to certain uses, and some of those work better than others, but I work in federal world, where any differences between accounts are theoretical at best. In practical terms, it's all one pot. The real divide is between mandatory and discretionary spending.

 

[LakeLivin]

Taxes are the price we pay for a free society.

People keep voting for politicians who want a military larger than the next 20 militaries in the world combined, that costs money. People want social security, that costs money. People want quality roads, that costs money. And we're far from the highest tax burden country in the world.

And far from our historical average rates.

 

[Derailed75]

Taxes are the price we pay for a free society.

People keep voting for politicians who want a military larger than the next 20 militaries in the world combined, that costs money. People want social security, that costs money. People want quality roads, that costs money. And we're far from the highest tax burden country in the world.

At least those are things you can "see" the results. The part that really passes me off is the cost to run our government. Seriously their can't be a signal corporation that has an operating overhead as high as the US government

 

[MrazeksVengeance]

Having technically two jobs (hospital contract and university contract) forces me to do my own taxes. Hate that.

 

[Borsig]

Of course what it's earmarked for is also probably only 10% of what it's being used for with all the other bullshit that gets thrown into those kinds of things...and once they have the money, who's going to stop them from misusing it?

Of course it's also like when I was going to NC State, in 2009 they asked the students if they wanted a 5% tuition increase to go towards renovating the Atrium (that wouldn't even be completed until after all active students would likely have graduated). Of course this was amid the huge financial crisis so understandably the student body overwhelmingly voted "NO" (like 95%) because we were struggling with money and student loans already. School Board then basically said "the students don't know what they want, we're doing it!"

Still blows my mind that you get taxed on all your money, then you get taxed for spending your money, then you get taxed for owning those things that you bought with that money (and that's not even counting insurance that you are REQUIRED to have)...like how the f*** is that acceptable? And heaven forbid you get a bonus at work instead of a pay raise, that's getting the normal tax + 25%, so you maybe get 50% of in the end. But nobody in power will ever change that.

This.

It was "earmarked" for community improvement. The last one was "earmarked" to improve schools. They spent a million dollars on a bus loading loop. People were pissed lol.

 

[Lempo]

King Charles III diagnosed with cancer. Not prostate cancer, says the Buckingham Palace.

 

[cptjeff]

King Charles III diagnosed with cancel. Not prostate cancer, says the Buckingham Palace.

Is "diagnosed with cancel" the new way of saying he sent some shitty tweets as a teenager?

Seriously though, that sucks for him. Sure he's got the best medical care on the planet, though.

 

[Lempo]

Is "diagnosed with cancel" the new way of saying he sent some shitty tweets as a teenager?

Seriously though, that sucks for him. Sure he's got the best medical care on the planet, though.

Damn. That was a silly typo of me, fixed.

 

[the halleJOKEL]

Of course what it's earmarked for is also probably only 10% of what it's being used for with all the other bullshit that gets thrown into those kinds of things...and once they have the money, who's going to stop them from misusing it?

Of course it's also like when I was going to NC State, in 2009 they asked the students if they wanted a 5% tuition increase to go towards renovating the Atrium (that wouldn't even be completed until after all active students would likely have graduated). Of course this was amid the huge financial crisis so understandably the student body overwhelmingly voted "NO" (like 95%) because we were struggling with money and student loans already. School Board then basically said "the students don't know what they want, we're doing it!"

Still blows my mind that you get taxed on all your money, then you get taxed for spending your money, then you get taxed for owning those things that you bought with that money (and that's not even counting insurance that you are REQUIRED to have)...like how the f*** is that acceptable? And heaven forbid you get a bonus at work instead of a pay raise, that's getting the normal tax + 25%, so you maybe get 50% of in the end. But nobody in power will ever change that.

it wasn't the atrium, it was talley student center

rally for talley

95% no, and my tuition tripled anyway. cool building now that it is done, glad students now can enjoy it i guess

 

[Navin R Slavin]

Damn. That was a silly typo of me, fixed.

"Diagnosed with cancel" has incredible meme potential, to be fair.

 

[WreckingCrew]

it wasn't the atrium, it was talley student center

rally for talley

95% no, and my tuition tripled anyway. cool building now that it is done, glad students now can enjoy it i guess

That's right, Talley not the Atrium. But yes, don't bother asking students how they feel if you're just going to ignore them

 

[Svechhammer]

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

Its an organic IPA

 

[cptjeff]

13 * 28 is 364. You'd still need one month with an extra day. Which throws off the easy repeatability of Sundays thing too.

Almost like the rotation of the earth and our orbit around the sun are independent of each other.

 

[Svechhammer]

13 * 28 is 364. You'd still need one month with an extra day. Which throws off the easy repeatability of Sundays thing too.

Almost like the rotation of the earth and our orbit around the sun are independent of each other.

New Years Day could be it's own independent day without a month

 

[cptjeff]

New Years Day could be it's own independent day without a month

I mean, not the worst idea in the world. You're still screwing up days of the week, though.

The weird one to me with our current calendar is February being so short. We could just do 7 months with 30 days and 5 months with 31 days, but no. But it's all one of those things that would just be a clusterf*** to change so we won't.

 

[Derailed75]

I mean, not the worst idea in the world. You're still screwing up days of the week, though.

The weird one to me with our current calendar is February being so short. We could just do 7 months with 30 days and 5 months with 31 days, but no. But it's all one of those things that would just be a clusterf*** to change so we won't.

Wife an I were discussing this. Make election day once every 4 years for all officials and make it an un named day off so everyone has the chance to vote.

Screw the rest if the world run our own calendar

 

[MinJaBen]

Wife an I were discussing this. Make election day once every 4 years for all officials and make it an un named day off so everyone has the chance to vote.

Screw the rest if the world run our own calendar

Who needs those damn metric calendars anyway. We can mandate that Google and Microsoft put our calendar in their software so the rest of the world has to see it.

 

[DaveG]

can I at least complain about the lousy Smarch weather?