Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
…that would be the tax that is already owed, but not yet collected — from employees of the federal government. We’re all equal, but some of us are more equal than others. Daily Caller, by way of Mr. Teach at Pirate’s Cove:
Citing figures indicating that more than 100,000 federal employees owe more than $1 billion in federal taxes, a House committee on Wednesday approved legislation that would require the firing of government workers who are “seriously tax delinquent.”
The legislation, introduced by Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, advanced through the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. It now has to pass the full House to be implemented into law.
“Most taxpayers file accurate tax returns and pay the taxes they owe on time, regardless of their income,” Chaffetz, a Republican, said during the hearing Wednesday. “Federal employees and individuals applying for federal employment should do the same.”
The Federal Employee Tax Accountability Act of 2013 requires the termination of employment for tax delinquent federal employees, while also prohibiting the hiring of new federal employees with a substantial amount of delinquent tax debt.
“The intent of the bill is simple,” Chaffetz said. “If you are a federal employee or applicant, you should be making a good faith effort to pay your taxes or to dispute them, as all taxpayers have the right to do.”
Chaffetz explained that the term “seriously tax delinquent” is defined as having an outstanding federal tax debt where a notice of lien has been publicly filed.
The bill exempts employees who can demonstrate financial hardships and an effort of working to settle tax liabilities.
Democrats on the committee opposed the bill. Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking member on the committee, said the legislation “seeks to demonize federal employees rather than ensure their compliance with tax obligations.”
“By requiring agencies to fire employees for not paying their taxes on time, the measure actually undermines the ability of the government to collect the unpaid taxes,” Cummings said. “It is much, much, much more difficult to recoup the delinquent taxes from someone who is unemployed.”
The article goes on to lay out Congressman Cummings’ alternative suggestions for resolving the delinquent tax issues.
Oh, oops, no wait. I made up that last part. It’s not there; I looked for it. And I looked for it because the first thought in my head was, if I were Elijah Cummings, I’d have spent a moment or two thinking about, gosh darn it if I really don’t want this to happen, I’m sure my words will carry much greater persuasive weight if I could offer a solution of my own.
These are really funny, strange people. When there’s a problem they want solved, and their solution involves sorting people out into these different levels of privilege, they’ll hold back nothing in getting that solution applied even if the problem is a non-problem, like for example the climate change scam. Although there are many others. But when elsewhere, there is a real problem, and the problem is that we’ve already been sorted out into these different levels of privilege, the “Everybody On Equal Footing” party doesn’t want that problem solved at all.
They won’t even acknowledge it. Rep. Cummings thinks the problem is getting hold of the billion dollars. Isn’t that cute?
The mystery is, to what extent were they ever devoted to equal privilege, equal rights, equal protection under the law and equal opportunity.
To what extent they are devoted to such things today, there’s no mystery at all. That much is crystal clear.
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I would believe Rep. Cummings’ good intentions if, in fact, any effort at all was in fact being made to collect any of this billion dollars in tax due and owing. The evidence strongly suggests that this isn’t the case, considering how well-recompensed public-sector workers tend to be and how large this debt is. And the clincher to me is that Cummings suggests that any efforts to find public records of tax leins and deliquencies would actually cost too much money… as if the IRS wasn’t already keeping these records. I mean, if tax enforcement is such a burden, why am I paying my debts? Why is anyone?
Also – there are 100,000 federal employees? That sounds like a terribly large number.
- nightfly | 03/22/2013 @ 12:30This is absurd. I work for the IRS, and we are absolutely required to make sure our taxes are PAID by April 15th, regardless of when we file. We can suffer from severely adverse punishments, as well as termination if we don’t. I do know of one guy, lazy as can be, that management was trying to get rid of for years. Because of the union and his ethic background, it was impossible to get rid of him. Until he decided he was too good to pay taxes one year. BOOM! He was gone before we could blink.
All other government employees should be held to the same standards. This is BS.
- james | 03/22/2013 @ 12:56Oh – and nightfly, there are nearly 100,000 federal employees at the IRS alone, much less places like the EPA, State Department, the rest of Treasury, etc.
- james | 03/22/2013 @ 12:57Right, and will somebody please let Congressman Cummings know the IRS doesn’t have that policy just because they’re afraid the government might go broke if the IRS employees don’t pay their tax bills. There’s a whole different layer of consideration here, of which he seems to be entirely unaware.
- mkfreeberg | 03/22/2013 @ 13:01