The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. – Benjamin Franklin
– NIRP Strikes: Spain To Create Tax On Bank Deposits (ZeroHedge, June 26, 2014):
It was a little over a year ago, just as the Cyprus deposit confiscation aka “bail in” was taking place, when we asked, rhetorically, if “Spain is preparing for its own deposit levy” when an announcement by Spain’s Finance Minister, Montoro, hinted at the imminent arrival of just that.
Specifically we said:
– Internet Freedom’s Expiration Date (Wall Street Journal, May 13, 2014):
Sales taxers are holding hostage the renewal of a rare bipartisan success.
The idea of taxing email is no more popular today than when President Bill Clinton signed the Internet Tax Freedom Act into law. But a dedicated congressional minority now wants to allow states and localities to tax email—unless these governments are given new powers to collect sales taxes on e-commerce.
On Nov. 1—three days before Election Day—the Internet Tax Freedom Act is due to expire. In place since 1998 and renewed three times, it wisely prohibits taxes that discriminate against the Internet. State and local governments can’t impose burdens online that don’t exist offline. And multiple jurisdictions can’t tax the same online transaction—a critical consumer protection in a country with more than 9,600 taxing authorities. The law also bans email taxes and new taxes on Internet access services.
– Cameron, Confiscation, And “What’s Yours Ain’t Yours!” (Armstrong Economics,, May 10, 2014):
David Cameron has come out and argued that taxes will rise unless he can raid bank accounts in the UK. Cameron argues he will “have to put up taxes” unless tax officials are given draconian powers to raid people’s bank accounts if they think they even owe money. Trust me – all politicians share ideas. Obama is already conniving a way to do the same thing – you can bet on that.
There is no elite private conspiracy of some dominating group. That implies some comprehension of what is even possible. I have sat in the room with such people and these conspiracy stories give these people way too much credit for being intelligent. Nobody smart enough to handle the job ever seeks such positions. Governments are run by lawyer-politicians who think they need only decree some law that solves the problem. They understand nothing. Why should people keep money in a bank in the UK after Cameron makes such a statement? He is way too stupid to realize people act in anticipation.
Read moreCameron, Confiscation, And ‘What’s Yours Ain’t Yours!’
– The Taxpayer Cost To Maintain Obama’s Golf Handicap: Over $3 Million (ZeroHedge, May 11, 2014):
As the nation shivered through February and March and saw it’s gross domestic product collapse as humans hibernated, President Obama sought sunnier climes to ensure US supremacy on the world-leader’s golf handicap rankings. As The Washington Times reports, however, Obama’s trips this year to the golfing playgrounds of Palm Springs and Key Largo cost taxpayers nearly $3 million for flight expenses alone on Air Force One.
Read moreThe Taxpayer Cost To Maintain Obama’s Golf Handicap: OVER $3 MILLION
“Camel Contemplating Needle” by John Baldessari on display at the HALL Wines winery in Napa Valley, Calif. An identical sculpture is planned for the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan.
– Exclusive: U.S. Taxpayers To Spend $400,000 For A Camel Sculpture In Pakistan (BuzzFeed, March 31, 2014):
A camel staring at the eye of a needle would decorate a new American embassy — in a country where the average income yearly is $1,250.
– Apple, Microsoft hoard cash – US taxpayers pay the bill (The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, March 17, 2014):
In recent years, America’s technology giants have increased profits to epic levels. So you’d think this good fortune would prove a boon to the fragile American economy.
In theory, a river of tax dollars from America’s cash-rich technology firms ought to contribute towards a significant reduction of the US $17.5 trillion debt mountain.
Only it hasn’t quite worked out that way.
Today, the 1,067 biggest non-financial firms in the United States, according to Moody’s the credit rating agency, have amassed cash and liquid investments totalling $1.48 trillion – a sum equivalent to the entire economy of Spain.
Of this $1.48tn corporate cash mountain, 22% is held by just four companies. Combined; Apple, Microsoft, Google and Cisco Systems retain $331bn in cash, with $255bn held in foreign subsidiaries sheltered from US tax.
Cash mountains
But instead of this cash sitting idly in a Bermudan bank vault, new research by the Bureau shows that a substantial amount of the tech giants’ offshore cash is in fact lent to the US government.
‘US taxpayers pay interest to tech giants on their offshore cash held there for tax reduction purposesRead moreApple, Microsoft Hoard Cash … US Taxpayers Pay The Bill
– A List Of 97 Taxes Americans Pay Every Year (Economic Collapse, March 24, 2014):
If you are like most Americans, paying taxes is one of your pet peeves. The deadline to file your federal taxes is coming up, and this year Americans will spend more than 7 billion hours preparing their taxes and will hand over more than four trillion dollars to federal, state and local governments. Americans will fork over nearly 30 percent of what they earn to pay their income taxes, but that is only a small part of the story. As you will see below, there are dozens of other taxes that Americans pay every year. Of course not everyone pays all of these taxes, but without a doubt we are all being taxed into oblivion. It is like death by a thousand paper cuts. Our politicians have become extremely creative in finding ways to extract money from all of us, and most Americans don’t even realize what is being done to them. By the time it is all said and done, a significant portion of the population ends up paying more than half of what they earn to the government. That is fundamentally wrong, but nothing will be done about it until people start demanding change.
The following is a list of 97 taxes Americans pay every year:
Read moreTaxed Into Oblivion: A List Of 97 Taxes Americans Pay Every Year
– British Tax Authorities Just Out-Mafia’d The IRS (Sovereign Man, March 21, 2014):
A few months ago, I told you about a bold report published within the IRS that absolutely blasted the agency’s mafia tactics.
In its 2013 annual report to Congress, the Office of the Taxpayer Advocate wrote that the IRS shows “disrespect for the law and a disregard for taxpayer rights.”
Further, the report says that the current system “disproportionately burdens those who [make] honest mistakes,” and that “tax requirements have become so confusing and the compliance burden so great that taxpayers are giving up their U.S. citizenship in record numbers.”
– If You Are Considering Buying A House, Read This First (ZeroHedge, March 15, 2014):
In September of 2011, when looking at the insurmountable debt catastrophe that the world finds itself (which has only gotten worse in the past several years) we warned that “the only way to resolve the massive debt load is through a global coordinated debt restructuring (which would, among other things, push all global banks into bankruptcy) which, when all is said and done, will have to be funded by the world’s financial asset holders: the middle-and upper-class, which, if BCS is right, have a ~30% one-time tax on all their assets to look forward to as the great mean reversion finally arrives and the world is set back on a viable path.”
Two years later, the financial asset tax approach, in the form of depositor bail-ins, was tried – successfully (as there was no mass rioting, no revolution, in fact the people were perfectly happy to accept the confiscation of their savings) – in Cyprus, further emboldening the status quo, in this case the IMF, to propose, tongue in cheek, that the time has come for the uber-wealthy to give back some (“it’s only fair”), and to raise income taxes through the roof (which of course would mostly impact the middle class as the bulk of current income for the 1% is in the form of dividend income, ultra-cheap leverage extraction on assets and various forms of carried interest).
And now, a new tax is not only on the horizon but coming fast and furious to allow the insolvent global regime at least one more can kicking: one which will impact current and future homeowners across the world.
But first, let’s step back.
Read moreIf You Are Considering Buying A House, Read This First
State-rescued lender confirms total losses since bailout level with 2008 state bail-out
– RBS has lost all the £46bn pumped in by the taxpayer (Telegeraph, Feb 27, 2014):
Royal Bank of Scotland has lost all the money invested in it by the taxpayer six years ago when the lender came close to collapse.
The bank has confirmed its total losses since its bailout have now drawn level with the £46bn pumped into it in 2008 in return for an 81pc stake.
RBS made a loss last year of £8.2bn, its sixth consecutive annual loss, taking its cumulative losses to £46bn.
The scale of the losses means that all the capital provided by the taxpayer has now been used up dealing with the toxic legacy assets on the bank’s balance sheet.
Read moreRoyal Bank Of Scotland Has Lost All The £46 BILLION Pumped In By The Taxpayer
YouTube Added: Feb 25, 2014
Description:
Abby Martin remarks on a recent report by GoodJobsFirst.org which exposes the absurd amount of taxpayer money used to provide some of the wealthiest companies in the US with corporate welfare.
… and to steal more money from the people.
– California wants to slap a ‘carbon tax’ on gasoline (The Daily Caller, Feb 21, 2014):
California lawmakers want to put a carbon tax on gasoline and other vehicle fuels to curb carbon dioxide emissions and fight global warming. Golden State residents already face some of the highest energy and fuel costs in the country, but carbon tax proponents say the tax would go to help mitigate the effects of global warming on the poor.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Democratic state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg proposed legislation that would slap a 15 cents per gallon tax on fuels sold in the state which would rise to 24 cents per gallon in 2020. The fuel tax is expected to raise $3.6 billion in the first year and would fund public transit projects as well as a new tax credit for families earning less than $75,000 per year.
Steinberg justified his gas tax increase as aid for the poor, who are most impacted by global warming.
Read moreCalifornia Wants To Slap A ‘Carbon Tax’ On Gasoline
– Achieve Olympic Glory – Now Pay the IRS (Americans For Tax Reform, Feb 7, 2014):
As 230 U.S. Olympic athletes gear up to compete in the 2014 Winter Games, the only thing colder than the slopes at Sochi is the fact that any prizes awarded by the U.S. Olympic Commission (USOC) will be taxed by the IRS. Many Americans don’t realize that the U.S. taxes income earned abroad, and as such even the winnings of Olympic athletes are subject to the reach of the IRS.The USOC awards prizes to U.S. Olympic medal winners: $25,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver, and $10,000 for bronze. Relative to each athlete’s income tax bracket, some top earners such as Shaun White could end up paying over a third (39.6 percent) of their winnings to the IRS.Read moreU.S. Olympic Gold Medal Winners To Pay Almost $10,000 To The IRS
– For Queen Michelle, 17 Days in Paradise Just Not Enough (Truth Revolt, Jan 5, 2014):
WH: A ‘Birthday Present’ From President — And You Taxpayers
Seems 17 days in paradise just isn’t enough for Michelle Obama.
When President Obama and his daughters left Hawaii to return to the White House, the first lady stayed behind in the $25,000-a-week vacation mansion. The president let his wife stay on with friends as a “birthday present,” the White House said.
Yes, America, like it or not, you just bought the first lady a really nice present. See, when she flies home solo, likely on an Air Force C-40B Special Mission Aircraft flown from Washington, D.C., it’ll cost taxpayers about $126,000, according to the website WhiteHouseDossier.com.
Read moreFor Queen Michelle, 17 Days in Paradise Just Not Enough
– The IMF Wants You To Pay 71% Income Tax (Sovereign Man, Dec 12, 2013):
The IMF just dropped another bombshell.
After it recently suggested a “one-off capital levy” – a one-time tax on private wealth as an exceptional measure to restore debt sustainability across insolvent countries – it has now called for “revenue-maximizing top income tax rates”.
The IMF’s team of monkeys has been working around the clock on this one, figuring that developed nations can increase their overall tax revenue by increasing tax rates.
They’ve singled out the US, suggesting that the US government could maximize its tax revenue by increasing tax brackets to as high as 71%.
Coming from one of the grand wizards of the global financial system, this might be the clearest sign yet that the whole house of cards is dangerously close to being swept away.
Think about it– solvent governments with healthy economies don’t go looking to steal 71% of people’s wealth. They’re raising this point because these governments are desperate. And flat broke.
– Ray Kelly to Get 10-Officer Detail When He Leaves, Costing Taxpayers $1.5M (DNAinfo, Dec 4, 2013):
NEW YORK CITY — The bill taxpayers will have to pay to protect Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly when he leaves office next month just got bigger.
The NYPD’s Intelligence Division — with Kelly’s input — is recommending that Kelly take with him a 10-officer complement of taxpayer-funded bodyguards, up from the six-officer detail the commissioner had wanted last month.
The detail will now include a lieutenant, three sergeants and six detectives to chauffeur and protect Kelly and his family around-the-clock in the Big Apple and even out of town after he ends his 12-year run atop Police Headquarters — at an estimated cost of more than $1.5 million a year, sources estimate.
– Blast from the Past: Harry Reid Claimed Income Taxes are “Voluntary” (Liberty Blitzkrieg, Oct 14, 2013):
With Harry Reid in deep negotiations with crony Republican fraud Mitch McConnell, the American public is surely in the process of getting royally screwed once again. Thus, it seems like an appropriate time to revisit an interview in which Mr. Reid claimed on camera that income taxes are “voluntary.” He must have accidentally described the way members of Congress view taxes, you know kind of like how they view insider trading.
As you watch, try not to get too distracted by Jan Helfeld’s tie. Where can you even buy something like that?!
YouTube Added: 23.08.2008
Description:
Jan Helfeld interviews Senator Harry Reid about redistributive taxes.
Read moreHarry Reid Claimed Income Taxes Are ‘VOLUNTARY’ (Video)
– Uncollected Greek Taxes Rise To Record €60 Billion, One Third Of Greek GDP (ZeroHedge, Aug 5, 2013):
While Europe, and especially Germany has been understandably “displeased” with having to provide billions in bailout upon bailout funding to Greece every year starting in 2010, all the more so following recent news that Greece has already spent some 75% of its bank bailout cash with no discernible improvement in its economy to show for it, Europes’ taxpayers will unlikely be any more pleased to learn that as of the end of June, a whopping €60 billion in past due taxes (an all time record) was owed by Greek businesses and individuals to the state. This is an amount that is 20% greater than the entire external cash handed over by the Troika to keep Greek banks afloat, and represents nearly 30% of imploding Greek GDP.
Perhaps instead of spending money on trips by its premier and/or think-tanks on how to mutually assure itself another few billion in Troika cash to plug this budget hole or that, Greece should invest a few grand to buy the ink it needs to print tax forms, streamlining its tax collection department (on those days it is isn’t on strike of course) and generate some real IRR.
Kathimerini has the full story:
Taxpayers’ and businesses’ outstanding debts to the state increased by 3.7 billion euros this year to reach a record 59.77 billion euros at the end of June.
There was an increase of 613 million euros between May and June alone, the general secretariat for public revenues said.
Read moreGreece: Uncollected Taxes Rise To Record €60 BILLION, One Third Of Greek GDP
– Anglo-Irish Picked Bailout Number “Out Of My Arse” To Force Shared Taxpayer Sacrifice (ZeroHedge, June 24, 2013):
The Irish people, who sacrificed their sovereignty and billions of Euros, are waking this morning to a stunning revelation that the bailout to save Anglo-Irish was engineered by the Bank’s leadership to game as much money as possible from the central bank. The Irish Independent has secret recordings from the period in 2008 – below – that show senior management luring the State into giving it billions as they admit the EUR 7 billion number was “picked out of my arse.”
The bottom-line is that the bank knew they were in trouble and so decided to game the Central Bank and their regulators knowing that once the State began the flow of money, it would be unable to stop: “If they (Central Bank) saw the enormity of it up front, they might decide they have a choice. You know what I mean? They might say the cost to the taxpayer is too high . . . if it doesn’t look too big at the outset… if it looks big, big enough to be important, but not too big that it kind of spoils everything, then, then I think you have a chance. So I think it can creep up… [once] they have skin in the game.” Will there be an Irish Spring as the conspiracy theory of the banking bailout now become conspiracy fact?
Taped telephone recordings (from the bank’s own systems) from inside doomed Anglo Irish Bank reveal for the first time how the bank’s top executives lied to the Government about the true extent of losses at the institution.
…
Anglo itself was within days of complete meltdown – and in the years ahead would eat up €30bn of taxpayer money. Mr Bowe speaks about how the State had been asked for €7bn to bail out Anglo – but Anglo’s negotiators knew all along this was not enough to save the bank.
…
The plan was that once the State began the flow of money, it would be unable to stop.
Mr Bowe is asked by Mr Fitzgerald how they had come up with the figure of €7bn. He laughs as he is taped saying: “Just, as Drummer (then-CEO David Drumm) would say, ‘picked it out of my arse’.”
– The Waste List: 66 Crazy Ways That The U.S. Government Is Wasting Your Hard-Earned Money (Economic Collapse, June 20, 2013):
Why did the U.S. government spend 2.6 million dollars to train Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly? Why did the U.S. government spend $175,587 “to determine if cocaine makes Japanese quail engage in sexually risky behavior”? Why did the U.S. government spend nearly a million dollars on a new soccer field for detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay? This week when I saw that the IRS was about to pay out 70 million dollars in bonuses to their employees and that the U.S. government was going to be leaving 7 billion dollars worth of military equipment behind in Afghanistan, it caused me to reflect on all of the other crazy ways that the government has been wasting our money in recent years. So I decided to go back through my previous articles and put together a list. I call it “The Waste List”. Even though our politicians insist that there is very little that can still be cut out of the budget, the truth is that the federal budget is absolutely drowning in pork.
The following are 66 crazy ways that the U.S. government is wasting your hard-earned money…
Read moreThe Waste List: 66 Crazy Ways The U.S. Government Is Wasting Your Hard-Earned Money
– Dolce And Gabbana Sentenced To 20 Months In Jail For Hundreds Of Millions In Tax Evasion (ZeroHedge, June 19, 2013):
The latest casualty of Europe’s berserk pursuit of tax evaders everywhere: not some Russian oligarch with a $1 billion Cypriot bank account but famous Italian designers, Dolce and Gabbana. WSJ reports that a Milan court has convicted the designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana of tax evasion. The pair were found guilty Wednesday of failing to declare €1 billion ($1.3 billion) in income tax to authorities. The court sentenced them both to one year and eight months in jail. Prosecutors argued that the pair had evaded taxes on income of €416 million each and €200 million through a Luxembourg-based company. The statute of limitations ran out on a charge of misrepresenting income. The designers have denied the charges.
– Revealed: £2bn cost of failed Sellafield plant (Independent, June 9, 2013):
Internal review deals blow to the Government’s hope of commissioning new mixed-oxide facility
A controversial nuclear fuel plant that was closed down two years ago left taxpayers with a £2.2bn bill instead of turning a healthy profit, an government report has admitted.
An internal report revealing the full extent of the failure of the SellafieldMixed-Oxide (MOX) plant concluded that the facility was “not fit for purpose” and its performance over a decade was “very poor”.
The report is embarrassing for the Government which is proposing to build a new MOX plant at Sellafield to deal with Britain’s civil plutonium stockpile – the biggest in the world.
Campaigners and MPs claimed yesterday that the report’s account of the events at Sellafield fatally undermined the case for any further attempts to profit from the MOX process, which uses reprocessed plutonium to make fuel for civil nuclear power plants.
Read moreRevealed: £2 Billion Cost Of FAILED Sellafield MOX Plant
– The IRS Claims it Can’t Find its Own Receipts (Liberty Blitzkrieg, June 5, 2013):
At this point we have all heard of the IRS being caught redhanded with regard to its political targeting, but revelations of corruption and cronyism get worse and worse each day. Yesterday, we found out that the IRS has wasted tens of millions of dollars on hundreds of conferences over the past few years. Conferences where in one instance $17,000 was spent to make paintings of Michael Jordan, Albert Einstein and Bono. Believe it or not, the story gets even better.
We actually don’t even know how much taxpayer money the IRS has blown. Why? They didn’t keep their receipts. You couldn’t make this stuff up.