Intuit Turbo Tax Software for Tax Preparation includes the Free Edition, Basic, Deluxe, Premier, Home + Business Programs.

http://turbotax.bravejournal.com

So I have been doing research on teaching English in the east since last year and what I could gather Korea and Taiwan was the two best options.  I had difficulty locating information specific to South Africans as the English teaching market is flooded by Americans and Canadians.  And we Saffa’s are just different from those from the northern hemisphere.  Our culture and approach to life is just different.  Blog after blog after blog it dawned on me that Korea would be my best option.  Nicola and I even conducted a little experiment on facebook to help us decide between Korea and Taiwan.  We assigned both Korea and Taiwan a different color and made our statements that people had to choose one of these colors.  Although we only received about 20 responses before one of my friends spoiled the experiment by stating that she thought Korea was the best option the outcome of the experiment was KOREA!!!  So now in the final months before our departure I can truly say that I am well prepared for what lays ahead in 2010.  It’s a pity that we are going to miss the World Cup (well not really, I mean have you been to Jo’burg lately – its roadworks everywhere and building bridges and stadiums and and and (which is not a bad thing as its good for SA) its chaos), it’s not every day such a big events comes to South Africa.

In preparing for Korea I really searched for some South Africans in Korea and read up on their experiences.  Thanks to Facebook I stumbled upon the South Africans in Korea group (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2309967428&ref=ts) which has assisted me in so many ways.  The members of this group were always very eager to answer all of my question and I truly feel that the South Africans in Korea is truly a close knit community.   Hey maybe one of these days we could have a little Cape Town or Jo’burg town in the heart of Seoul.  That would be weird though.  Can you imagine a shebeen, corner café with fish and chips and a king pie, or even better a chicken licken.  Maybe someday!  Anyway back to the preparation, I came across a blog called SafKorea (http://safkorea.wordpress.com/) which has truly been an excellent resource.  The blogger (who since left Korea) has truly been amazing in posting all relevant information on his blog like how we Saffa’s are exempt from paying pension and tax to how to obtain the tax clearance certificate from the oh so greedy SARS!!!  My endless strolls through the digital passage ways of the internet led me to some other blogs that really gave me an idea of how certain Saffa’s experience the Korean culture! (oh and since I’m not in Korea yet I have no idea if South Africans refer to themselves as Saffas, but while I was living in the UK Saffa’s was our nickname).  Reading through these blogs really helped me in getting my mindset right for this endeavor because culture shock here I come!  Since I had to pack my bags for a whole year’s worth of stuff, I know that it is almost impossible to fit everything you need in just 20 kilos.  I learned this the hard way since I lived somewhat as a hobo those first three months in England! Luckily Emirates has a 30kg capacity, although University was too good for me so my clothes are all a size bigger now since then!  My recruiter advised me to let my parents ship most of my summer clothes to Korea once I get a confirmed address, as this will make the packing just such as easier task.  Apparently, and I will still confirm this, but you can ship a 20 kg package to Korea for about R500.  And that’s not too bad as buying new clothes and shoes of 20kg’s will be way more that just 500 bokke!  So I think I’ll ship my summer clothes, and by the time it reaches Korea it will be Spring and a nice way to say okay you may go to the beach now!

I think it is very important to embark on something like Korea consciously and fully prepared.  There is nothing that will truly prepare me for that moment I set foot on Korean soil but having a great knowledge on what lies ahead can only be beneficial!  Google is our friend and it should be used to learn as much as possible.  I mean I am very picky when it comes to food, and I am brutally honest when I say that the Korean dishes frighten me a wee bit, but hey try everything at least once, and then you spit! Ha ha! Anyway from my research I learned that Co-op has a lot of more familiar foods so at least I won’t go hungry, although a rice diet might do me some good!

Anyway the moral of the story is to be prepared.  As everything that I have learned over the past year from Korea might be completely irrelevant once I finally get there, but at least I can embark on this journey knowingly on what lays ahead and calm my s(e)oul!

Christo

The end of 2009 is just around the corner and that means one thing—the IRS wants to hear from you again.  Here are some of the tax law changes and planning opportunities for the future:

Extension of First Time Homebuyer Credit: The credit that was to expire Dec 1, 2009 is extended to May 1, 2010.  If you buy the home in 2010 before you file your 2009 income tax return you can request the refund on your 2009 tax return. The first time home buyer is eligible for a credit of 10% of the home purchase price up to a maximum credit of $8,000. The new act also offers a credit up to $6.500 for existing home buyers who have been in the same residence for 5 of the last 8 years and want to buy a different house.  Oh, and by the way there are a few extra strings attached to the extension of the credit such as you can’t be a dependent on someone else’s tax return and claim the credit, you must be over 18, you can’t buy a house over $800,000, etc.   Oh, and one morelittle additional detail.  It appears there was some fraud in the first tax credit program so now you get to submit a nice pile of paperwork proving you qualify for the extended credit.

Net operating loss rules: With the bad economy many businesses may be showing a loss.  If you are one of those unfortunate businesses you now have the option for losses incurred in 2009 to carry those losses back 2 years or 5 years and get refunds of taxes you paid on those prior years.  If you don’t want to carry the loss back you can elect to carry it all forward to future years.  This election must be made when you file your tax return so do a little planning before you finalize your return.

Unemployment: The first $2,400 in unemployment benefits is non taxable in 2009.

Sales tax on a car: In the past you could deduct state sales tax only if you itemized deductions and the sales tax exceeded your state income tax deduction.  New rules allow you to deduct the sales tax on a new car purchase up to $49,500 even if you don’t itemize.

Tuition tax credit: The Hope credit was previously only available the first two years of college.  The credit has been increased to a $2,500 tax credit and now expanded to the first four years of college.

Cancellation of debt: With the current recession, many people have been unable to pay certain debts and had them written off.  The general rule is cancellation of debt is not taxable if you are insolvent before and after the debt is forgiven.  For those who are solvent, they now can elect to pay the tax on cancellation of debt over a five year period.

Roth IRAs: With the decline in the stock market many people considered converting a regular IRA to a Roth and paying the tax on the conversion.  If you did that, be careful,  because withdrawals from the Roth in the first 5 years are subject to a 10% penalty.  If you decide to wait and convert to a Roth in 2010 you pay the tax over two years, 2011 and 2012.  Starting in 2010 high income individuals can purchase a Roth IRA for the first time.  To get a head start you can purchase a nondeductible IRA in 2009 and convert it to a Roth in 2010.

Stock losses: Even though the market has come back substantially from when it bottomed back in March 2009, you still may be holding stocks that are worth less than you paid for them.  Sell those stocks before Dec 31 so you have the tax losses to deduct against capital gains and if you want to buy them back wait at least 30 days.  If you can’t deduct all the losses this year they will carry over indefinitely to future years and offset gains in those years.

Social Security: The social security program will pay out more in benefits than it collects from workers this year.  This is the first time this has happened in many years, so sooner or later congress is going to have to fix the program.

50% bonus depreciation extended through 2009 on purchases of new equipment.

Work opportunity tax credit has been expanded to include hiring in 2009 and 2010 of unemployed veterans and unemployed youth age 16 to 25.  This is a great tax credit but you must get paperwork completed at the time you hire the individual.

Nonbusiness energy credit has been expanded from 10% to 30% of purchases with a cap of $1,500 for 2009 and 2010.

Steven A. Feinberg – www.AppletreeBusiness.com – Get Appletree Blog via Email!

While the most obvious way to save money on your home is by securing a low mortgage rate, savvy homeowners can also reap financial benefits from the latest energy-efficient products and environmentally-friendly technology. Whether you install solar panels, a “green” heating and cooling system, or explore new uses for old materials, it pays to supplement low home mortgage rates with money-saving ideas.

interest paid on these types of loans may be tax-deductible and provide another financial break! Shopping Smarter Selecting “green” appliances is easier, thanks to the Energy Star system, which is designed to help consumers identify energy-efficient models. Other innovative choices include money-saving tankless water heaters and energy-efficient features such as hybrid cars and home insulation, and heating/cooling systems. If the cost of updating your home is by securing a low mortgage rate, savvy homeowners can also reap financial benefits from the latest energy-efficient products and technology go a long way to save money on your home is intimidating, you might take advantage of today’s low home mortgage rates with money-saving ideas.

Energy Audit You can hire a professional to evaluate your home’s energy efficiency, or perform your own inspection. The areas most likely to give you trouble are inadequate water heater and home appliances. Your potential savings are impressive, particularly coupled with any additional tax incentives your state may offer for choosing energy-efficient products. To learn more about state tax rebates, check with your state government office. Products that qualify for federal tax credits for buying energy-efficient products such as hybrid cars and home insulation, and heating/cooling systems.

If the cost of updating your home is by securing a low mortgage rate, savvy homeowners can also reap financial benefits from the latest energy-efficient products and environmentally-friendly technology. Whether you install solar panels, a “green” heating and cooling system, or explore new uses for old materials, it pays to supplement low home mortgage rates and apply for a home equity or line of credit loan (HELOC). The interest paid on these types of loans may be tax-deductible and provide another financial break! Shopping Smarter Selecting “green” appliances is easier, thanks to the U.

S. Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency, new homes that qualify for the Energy Star system, which is designed to help consumers identify energy-efficient models. Other innovative choices include money-saving tankless water heaters and energy-efficient features such as hybrid cars and home appliances.

Independence would encourage business growth

A more competitive and efficient tax regime is one of the many benefits independence can bring for Scottish businesses, John Swinney said today.

The Finance Secretary was speaking following the publication of Taking Forward our National Conversation: Supporting Business and Enterprise which finds that only the full powers of fiscal autonomy can end the decades of economic underperformance that have held Scotland back.

Key points from the paper include:

• Independence would allow the Scottish Government to introduce a more competitive tax regime which would be more transparent and less costly to administer
• Full financial powers would allow the Scottish Government to borrow to invest in vital, long term infrastructure projects – particularly in terms of Scotland’s transport network

Mr Swinney said:

“For far too long Scotland’s economy has underperformed, held back by constitutional arrangements that have restricted growth, rather than encouraged it.

“The current recession only serves to bring into sharp relief how poorly served Scotland is by the current devolution settlement.

“This paper highlights how independence could help us deliver greater growth in the long term and act more comprehensively to combat the downturn in the short term.

“Independence would ensure that it was within the Scottish Government’s powers both to cut taxes like corporation tax and to introduce a more efficient, transparent system that is less costly to administer.

“For example the UK spent nearly twice as much as Norway, and almost two thirds more than Finland, on tax administration as a proportion of GDP in 2007.

Its conclusion is that only independence allows Scotland the freedom to use the full levers of government to create a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable economic growth. The document makes clear that business and enterprise benefits would emerge from outcome-focused reform of, for example: fiscal and tax policy and collection arrangements; competition and consumer policy; financial services regulation; promotion of international trade; skills and immigration; and transport infrastructure. An independent Scotland would enable government to be more responsive to local economic needs. There would be an opportunity for more effective and streamlined decision making processes, allowing government to work closely with the business community to create the conditions for successful businesses and for talented people to live, learn, visit, work and remain in a more prosperous nation underpinned by higher levels of sustainable economic growth.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2009/11/26152655

IMHO

Scotlands prosperity under Independance is pretty much an assured thing and has been know as a SURE thing for a long long time. Endless Tory , Labour and Liberal LIARS have betrayed and LIED to the people of Scotland.

View from the LEFT

“LABOUR ministers were warned in a secret Whitehall dossier 30 years ago of the powerful case for Scotland becoming independent with booming oil revenues, but the information was kept confidential by Harold Wilson’s government to keep nationalism at bay.

The dossier, most of which was written by a leading government economist in 1974 and 1975, sets out how Scotland would have had one of the strongest currencies in Europe, attracting international capital into its banks in the same way as Switzerland.

It argued Scotland could quickly become one of Europe’s strongest economies with “embarrassingly” large tax surpluses.”

View from the RIGHT

“Adam Smith Institute, Friday, April 27, 2007

The Scottish economy could enjoy record growth if Scotland became independent, leaving the average Scot many thousands of pounds better off each year. This is the finding of a research Briefing Paper published today by the Adam Smith Institute, the free market economic think tank.”

It is a well know FACT that unionism causes UNEMPLOYMENT and a BAD BUSINESS CLIMATE in Scotland

The Governor of the Bank of England, Eddie George has provoked outrage with his comment that job losses in the north were an acceptable price to pay for curbing inflation in the south.

Mr George was quick to add that while rising unemployment in the north-east is undesirable, “monetary policy can only target the economy as a whole, not particular regions or sectors, however uncomfortable that reality might be.”

Job cuts have been rife in the north of the UK with manufacturers Fujitsu, Siemens, Vickers, SR Gent, Grove Cranes together slashing 3,500 jobs.

But many economists believe that we need a certain level of unemployment to control inflation.

Is it fair that those in the North should suffer for the prosperity of the South? Is it time the Bank of England made a significant cut in interest rates?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/198830.stm

It also caused a POPULATION EXODUS!!

5,116,900 (2006 est)

5,094,800 (2005 est)

5,078,400 (2004 est)

5,057,400 (2003 est)

5,054,800 (2002 est)

5,062,011 (2001 est)

5,083,000 (1991 est)

5,180,200 (1981 est)

5,234,000 (1971 est)

5,201,000 (1961 est)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_of_Scotland

Would the LAST Scot to leave the Union please switch the lights out….Notice the increase in population since the arrival of devolution.

It is time for Scotland to take it RIGHTFUL place as an Independant European Nation and stand on its own two feet and make its own choices. Not just get dragged along on some London financed fiasco and then stand there and say the political equivilant of “Big boy did it ,and ran away…” 

In this time of global credit crunch ,giving the purse strings of the household to the very people that bankrupted the whole nation is an insane policy , SCOTLAND WILL BE SACRIFICED TO SAVE THE CITY if it is deemed nessesary. Scotland has a lot of potential in the modern world , at the front of alternative energy and at the technological and medical cutting edge. Argoculture and tourism and traditional crafts also are strong. I wonder what Englands economy will run on? With NO manufacturing industry and all the economic eggs in one financial sector basket that is hanging on a BORROWED thread ,its not looking a rosey future for the UK or the English economies. Selling Scottish Oil for American dollars will also NOT be an option anymore.

It is time for an Indepandant Scotland with a National Bank of Scotland that prints its own governments, pound notes. NO Scottish version of the Fereral Reserve OR the Bank of England and NO Euro please! I would also support a referendum on EU membership for the Indepandant Republic of Scotland as I am not happy with the way the EU is going.

For more on the subject of Scottish Independance please check these blogs

http://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2009/09/07/ten-good-reasons-for-scottish-independence/

http://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2009/11/01/more-good-reasons-for-scottish-independance/

SOAR ALBA

So the decision is in. Or rather, we stumbled across the decision. A small lump sum muscled its way into our bank account unannounced. It was labelled “Deposit Scheme”. And the numbers were wrong. They’d given him half the disputed amount. That’s nearly 500 quid. As far as we can tell, that’s 500 quid for a screw for the oven and some paint.

We rang them, obviously, the deposit people. And they said they “knew nothing”. Of course, why would they? “Ring the agents” they said. And they went back to downloading porn and eating Skips with big clammy fat hands oiled with the hand cream in the toilets paid for my the tax money they are given to do FUCK ALL when asked to adjudicate people’s deposit disputes

It’s no surprise, you know, that the amount is roughly half. They probably think it’s clever. Not enough to piss either person off enough for them to complain. 50:50. That’s fair. Yeah, caus that’s the sort of intelligence we are working with here. The TDS seems to be some sub-species of human intelligence where they think that despite having unarguable documentary proof that we did not owe any money and were due our entire deposit back, a 50:50 arrangement is fair.

It’s not

Because our ex-landlord is a scar along the centre of his head away from being a massive penis. Actually, fuck it, he is still a massive penis, whether he actually resembles one or not (which he sort of does, minus a scar along the centre of his head). HE ignored every rule in the contract and then added some new rules for his own fun. He’s a massive cunt.

But the options, alas, are limited. We are bound by what the half-brains at TDS decided. Of course, there are options…

1 Find the ex-landlord and egg his face. Ok, so we wouldn’t have any money back, but I’d have a massive fucking smile on my face.

2 Complain to the TDS. That would be like asking an X-Factor contestant to quantify there effort in a percentage less than 100%. Pretty fucking pointless.

3 Take them to court. All of them. Well, yes, that would be lovely, but the only winner here would be the lawyers who would be able to buy a nice new merc in which to fuck prostitutes.

4 Cry. And collect the tears to drown the ex-landlord. Tempting, but the saltiness of my tears and proliferation of gusty wind may mean quick evaporation by the time I found him and all I’d have left was some mushy salt crystals. Oh, and men don’t cry innit.

5 Put up with it and get on with my life. Ah the higher ground. So unsatisfying. And not even really higher ground. People are wrong, childish impulsive insults are much more appropriate than a David Mitchell-esque witty comment and a purposeful walk in the opposite direction. Shouting twat and throwing someone the finger is the more adult response. Surely

In the end of course the only thing I am likely to do is live out revenge fantasies on this blog and probably get locked up under some obscure terrorist legislation before being deported to the US of A for some interrogation and jail time. Caus that’s how the world works these days.

The world sucks. And my ex-landlord is the lucky cock it’s sucking.

Climate Change minister Penny Wong, has been playing hard ball against the Liberals of their stances on the E.T.S. bill which only have ended in drama.

The drama turns out to be a opera event, there goes the underscore and the overture. You just have to wait for the fat lady to sing!

That’s what I’d be expecting on monday, where the leadership is taking place between Malcom Turnbull and his opponents.

If Penny Wong and her college Kevin Rudd, was serious about tackeling climate change they might as well just encourage or build some new green electricity farms instead a tax on industries.

How effective will compensation to households and others is really going to help them cope with increases in electricity and utilities bills, good and services?

Will the compensation component also cover for the inflation created by the R.B.A? or the expansion of credit? or even fixed prices on good and services?

I want to know how they can really justified of passing the E.T.S. without any clear idea of how exactly the compensation aspect will play out?

Until next week for the answers, when the develops into detail!

Cheers

Khoa Huynh. As I’m happy to blog on a Friday night when I’m suppose to be going out, but decided to stay instead.

Some US president have  used tax for financing their war. Today Obama also used it for financing eight year war in Afghanistan. US has borrow some money for war so they have to pay the debt with tax. It si just a mathematics problem. The government does not have money so the citizen will pay it.

The democrat senator group arrange proposal for surtax proposal. Obey who is also the group leader proposed additional one percent surtax for any US citizen who is making less than $ 100,00 per year.

The problem of budgeting is bulking because US is to deploy around 40,000 troops in Afghanistan which will need at least 40 billions dollars.

What bills are and documents connected with it which one should appropriately lead know all companies.  Not every however must for it worry. A lot from these companies he is renting, because appropriate different company to this destination. A bookkeeping office is a right business partner. Accounting office thanks to the help of the office it isn’t necessary already to spend long hours often on seeking the information about taxing rates or also enumerating amounts which one should pay. It is worthwhile making it since penalties connected with mistakes are very high. Many companies became convinced, that incorrect data to the disadvantage of the tax office these are punishments which are able to eliminate the company from the market. Such a scenario is available therefore so much it is worthwhile leaning towards choice of commissioning of everyone to the formality it of type. A bookkeeping office is at present most frequent choice for people valuing the comfort, the certainty and the safety for oneself. Nobody else is in the state to provide with it. Even having the general wisdom to this topic doesn’t protect us in one hundred per cent. He will be enough, because not-acquainting oneself with new act whether the mistake would already be some point. It is worthwhile recalling that the bookkeeping office has the guarantee by insuring which in case of the mistake the payment assures as punishment. It is of course an extreme case which can happen once for a dozen or so years. However very fact has such an information provides with the safety and the psychological peace. It isn’t worthwhile risking peculiarly that very services which such an office offers aren’t quite expensive and looking already at the time which was devoted so far seem zero. However not everyone realizes that so a lot it can provide to him. At present even companies which monthly are issuing a few invoices are using it. They could, so to give it strange, but there is this professional approach which today is valued as a result.

TaxCut is a great tax software manufacturer of quality easy to use tax return preparation products

http://taxcut.bravejournal.com

Just a year after the global downturn  derailed  Dubai’s explosive growth, the  city is now  so  swamped  in  debt that  it’s  asking  for a  six-month  reprieve  on  paying  its bills.

Dubai Debt Fears Grip World Markets

This has cast a shadow on a world only just emerging from the worst economic crisis since the 1930s,  knocking markets  from Sydney to Sao Paulo and raising questions about Dubai’s reputation  as a magnet for international investment.

For India, which has tens of thousands of its citizens living  and working in the emirate,  the concerns are more direct:  thousands of its expats staring at job losses and  the economy, sharply reduced trade.

India, which gets nearly a quarter of the remittances from the United Arab Emirates and  has lakhs of laborers working in the region, could be worse off than most other nations  if the crisis escalates into a full-blown one  like the Russian or Argentinean crises of the past.

India’s exports to the UAE stood at $23.92 billion in FY09.

It is very likely that we may see one more leg of job losses in Dubai.

The only consolation for the region is that Abu Dhabi is booming.

Indian shares and the rupee fell in sync with other global markets where investors are fleeing for safety after Dubai debt trap concerns.

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Friday tumbled over 451.63 points to 16,403.30 points in the first ten minutes of trading on hectic selling by funds in line with weak global cues and concerns over Dubai’s debt.

Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty dropped by 140.50 points to 4865.05 points.

Brokers said the selling focus was more on banking and realty stocks after Dubai’s debt problems revived concerns about the global financial system and rattled markets across Europe and Asia.

Indian rupee fell 24 paisa to 46.55 against the dollar.  The MSCI Emerging Markets Index lost 1.4%.

Most European indices were about 2% lower after Asia tumbled.

The Shanghai Composite Index slumped 3.6%, its biggest drop since August, and Brazil’s Bovespa Index slipped 1.1%. U.S. markets were closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Credit-default swaps tied to debt sold by Dubai rose as much as 131 basis points to 571.

“Dubai isn’t doing risk appetite any favours at all and the markets remain in a vulnerable state of mind,” said Market analysts.

“We’re still in an environment where we’re vulnerable to financial shocks of any sort and this is one of those.”

I couldn’t say it any better, so I just highlighted the salient points.

God Bless

A National Nightmare, Indeed

By David Limbaugh
November 24, 2009

In a Democratic fundraising speech in Iowa over the weekend, Vice President Joe Biden told party loyalists that opponents of the Obama administration’s agenda “should be worried about us, for we are their worst nightmare.” Duh.

Finally we can agree on something, Joe. Even the liberal New York Times reports that at the current level of federal spending, the annual interest on the national debt will exceed $700 billion by 2019 — compared with $202 billion this year. Some forecasters predict it will be much higher. This additional half-trillion dollars a year in interest is more than our current combined expenditures on education, energy, homeland security and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Oh, and the Times isn’t even factoring in the cap-and-trade nightmare you and Barack have in store for us, Joe — you know, that urgent legislation to catapult the nation back into Third World status based on hysteria generated by fraudulent science and corrupt zealots and politicians.

Nor is the Times including in its calculations the additional debt that would result from Obamacare.

Joe, when The New York Times is sounding the warnings over the exploding national debt, you and Barack insist not only on not reversing your disastrous course but also on making it worse. How can reasonable people assume anything other than that you are trying to run this nation into the ground financially?

Don’t dare keep telling us your hyper-ambitious spending is a necessary evil required to deliver us from a financial crisis you inherited. Whatever crisis we face is debt-related, purely and simply. Everything else is manageable. Yet you all are deliberately increasing our indebtedness as far as the eye can see, without the slightest pretense of scaling back in this millennium. In fact, you are laboring to establish further entitlements and institutional changes that would generate exponential burdens on our debt and would be enormously difficult for any responsible and financially sane successor to undo, much less reverse.

Adding insult to injury, you are spending this money not to improve (“stimulate”) the economy — which even the most politically and economically illiterate should now realize — but to restructure American society, dismantle our free enterprise system and impose in its place a command-control economy and political system — in which life’s decisions, including over our private health care, are dictated from Washington.

But while you and Barack are hoisting your wrecking ball, could you please spare us the pseudo-sanctimony and transparent populism in telling us that it will take “grit and determination” to outlast the “special interests” on Wall Street and the insurance industry to pass your destructive agenda?

You both know better. When you have to bribe Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., with a larcenous $300 million addition to your Senate bill (I know, you’re pretending it’s just Harry Reid’s bill) that’s specifically earmarked just for her state — at the expense of the rest of the states and the national interest — something smells to high heaven. You could at least have the decency to admit this provision to raise the bill’s cost by increasing Medicaid subsidies for “certain states recovering from a major disaster” is not even motivated to help Louisiana, but to buy Landrieu’s vote. And you want to talk to us, Joe, about the corruption of special interests?

Special interests, Joe? Is that how you describe 56 percent of the American people, who now oppose Obama’s plan? And that’s without even knowing the half of it. Or maybe you would describe them as dangerous protesters or domestic terrorists?

But, Joe, I do applaud you for your candor in telling your fawning supporters, “I can tell you with absolute certainty: (Barack’s) resolve has never waivered for one instant.”

Bull’s-eye, Joe. You and Barack believe you know better than the American people what is good for them, and you only care what they think to the extent that it makes your job more difficult when they oppose you.

But if you told the truth about your plan — that it would cost dramatically more than you pretend (especially considering that the benefits wouldn’t begin to be paid until 2014 and that taxes would increase almost immediately); that the public option would subsume private care; that the federal government would ration care; that medical choice would be drastically reduced; that you are still trying to secure federal funding for abortion; that you intend to cover currently illegal immigrants; that after all your hype about promoting this bill to achieve universal coverage, millions would remain uninsured and penalized, to boot; that medical quality would be seriously reduced; and that overall costs would increase — your support for the bill would be in the single digits.

So keep chanting it, Joe; you are indeed a national nightmare.

—

David Limbaugh is a writer, author and attorney. His book “Bankrupt: The Intellectual and Moral Bankruptcy of Today’s Democratic Party” was released recently in paperback. To find out more about David Limbaugh, please visit his Web site at www.DavidLimbaugh.com.

Wakefield, Massachusetts votes itself a new tax

The 2009 Regular Town Meeting proved to be a taxing one – and not just for those who hung in for the entire three and a half hours. Town Meeting backed two new local taxes: one that will bring the tax on a restaurant meal in Wakefield to 7 percent and another that hikes the hotel occupancy tax from 4 to 6 percent. So it was a taxing Town Meeting even if you didn’t sit through it.

Over the years, Wakefield voters have shown themselves to be reliably frugal when they go to the polls, handily voting down Prop. 2½ overrides and outsized budgets. Town Meeting, on the other hand, has tended to be looser with the public purse strings.

So this week, Town Meeting approved a .75 percent local option meals tax that will be added to the present 6.25 percent meals tax that was just increased from 5 percent last August 1. At the same time, the state hiked the sales tax from 5 percent to 6.25 percent.

The state also decided to give cities and towns the “option” to levy an additional .75 percent local meals tax, making it 7 percent in communities that approved it. Wakefield is now one of those communities. The state will collect the additional .75 percent along with its own meals tax and then return the local funds to the town on a quarterly basis.

But not everyone at Town Meeting was on board with the new tax.

“The state does not honor its commitments,” Former FinCom Chairman Marc Luca said, pointing to Chapter 70 local aid and the Quinn Bill as examples. He also noted that the state had just hiked alcohol and tobacco taxes. “The taxes just don’t end,” Luca observed, and most would be hard-pressed to prove him wrong.

Luca also pointed to the number of restaurants on Water St. alone that have failed recently, notably Toody’s and Dettorre’s. “I just don’t see the economic environment being able to sustain new businesses at a higher tax rate,” he said.

Several speakers in favor of the local option meals tax suggested that consumers “wouldn’t notice” an additional 37 cents on a $50 restaurant bill or even 75 cents on a $100 tab. But let’s not forget that just last August the state hiked its portion of the meals tax from 5 to 6.25 percent. It’s easy to say that you won’t notice one or the other, but these increases do not exist independent of each other.

Wakefield’s meals tax has now increased 2 percent since last August. That’s $2 on a $100 restaurant bill. Will people notice that? Maybe it won’t matter to the childless yuppie couple with the six-figure income, but what about the blue collar working class (assuming they’re still working in this economy) family of five? Will they miss the $2?

Grafton St. resident Dan Brown noted that the meals tax in Massachusetts had its genesis as a “temporary” tax. He also reviewed the history of other “temporary” taxes and fees in the state. On the question of whether a local option tax could be repealed if the state failed to give all the money back to Wakefield, Brown did not mince words.

“Hell will freeze over before this or any other tax is repealed,” he said.

When the Board of Selectmen held its public hearing on September 14 on the local option meals tax, no residents showed up, despite the fact that the hearing was well-publicized, including a front page story in the Wakefield Daily Item. Then, at Town Meeting, Wakefield citizens made a decision to vote themselves a new tax.

Will the day come when the residents of Wakefield, Massachusetts will decide that they are paying enough taxes? Maybe. But as of this week, that day has not yet arrived.

[This column originally appeared in the November 19, 2009 Wakefield Daily Item.]

After a long pause in my writing these posts, I am back with a goal. I would like to have at least 3 posts a week (thats a 7 day week of course). I currently a college student, working  full time ( 8-5 Mon – Fri) while attempting to learn how to program for the iPhone, Android (thats another story, maybe ill blog that eventually) and general C++. All in all, I am quite busy, BUT, this blog is still a very strong interest of mine. SO, with that said, lets see how it goes!

Moving on, I am currently working on 2 application idea’s, both novelty and not TOO important. However, before I can sell anything, I must submit my banking and ::cringe:: tax information. I glanced at the required info and it actually looked pretty simple, which scares me. Taxes are not simple. With that said, we shall see what happens when I actually begin filling the forms out. I will post a walk through/review of my experience once I am ready. Expect this in a week or so.

Also, feedback would be great! Ask me questions, give info, tell me to go away, I dont care, as long as there is a form of communication! I will answer all questions with a new post, even if it is one question per post. Anyone who would like to share a story or there own advice, email me at iphonedev4me@gmail.com and I will gladly create a new post with credit to you!

On a final note, happy Thanksgiving!

The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 640

“Phnom Penh: Cambodian families lose between US$35 and US$40 million because of the global economic crisis, resulting in unemployment for 20% to 30% of the workers in the garment and construction sectors, and in tourism. As it is mainly the poor who are facing the impact, the United Nations released a report offering suggestions that can help reduce those impacts.

“In the statement, the UN said that what Cambodia can do to reduce the impacts of the global economic downturn becomes more an emergency topic, as the basis of fast economic growth in the past in the garment industry and in tourism is suffering from the recession of the global economy. 20% to 30% of the workers in the garment and construction sectors and in the tourism industry lost their jobs since late 2008, making them lose between US$35 and US$40 million to be sent to their homes. Impoverished people, mostly women in the garment sector, suffer from the declining economy.

“From a small village in Kompong Cham, 30% to 40% of the people had left their village to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap to find jobs, but now they gradually return home. After two years in Phnom Penh, Mr. Chun Phon and Rany, his wife, lost their jobs at a construction site. They had earned about US$150 per month and could send about US$100 back home to support their children in the village. Rany said, ‘The money that we can now find is just enough only to survive.’

“Such cases are occurring all over the country, while foreign investment for construction projects is decreasing, buying orders for garment products drop, and the number of tourists is declining also. This downturn is not only a challenge for individuals, but also for the growth of Cambodia to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

“The most serious impact from the economic downturn is happening to poor people and to people living near the poverty line, especially those having debts to repay face more difficulties. Such cases happen mostly in rural areas, from where many vulnerable people migrate to the cities to seek employment. Women are among the most vulnerable people, suffering from the impact of this crisis. After they lose their jobs in garment factories or in the construction sector, because of the lack of other professional skills, most women who continue to live in the city have no choice but to work in the entertainment service industry. The report pointed out that also the children of those women suffer under the burden of the impact of the economic downturn.

“The UN had conducted a study to learn more about the impact of the global economic downturn in Cambodia, as well as to identify different measures to reduce the impact on human development already achieved, and to restart development to alleviate poverty, and to be prepared for the future. This report estimated the impact caused by this crisis at the national level as well as the impact on individual Cambodians. The report mentioned policy choices that can help to minimize the impact, including equal rights to receive incentives through lower taxes, structural reforms to improve the competitiveness of the country in the world, and reforms to develop mixed systems for national social protection, to lessen the impact of the economic downturn in the short term, and to bring sustainable and equitable growth back in the long term.

“The UN Resident Representative for Cambodia, Mr Douglas Broderick, noticed, ‘A social safety network is no longer considered as a luxury, as before, where only rich countries had the ability to maintain such networks. Such networks are also related to the success of not-so developed countries.’ However, he remarked, ‘On average, the expenses for safety networks in developing countries are from 1% to 2% of the GDP, but the resources allocated at present in Cambodia are less than 1%.’

“The global economic downturn creates also opportunities to accelerate reforms to prepare for the future, and to improve the competitiveness of Cambodia in the world. Recent events encourage such reforms. The UN vows to cooperate with the Royal Government of Cambodia to accomplish the country’s development goals. The global economic downturn poses new obstacles and political challenges, but provides also opportunities that cannot be overlooked.

“Phon and Rany are so worried about what to do in the future. Rany said, ‘We do not have rice fields, and now we only have little money… we need it for everyday expenses and for our children.’” Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.17, #5057, 26.11.2009

Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Thursday, 26 November 2009

Areyathor, Vol.16, #1420, 26-27.11.2009

• Cambodia and Laos Signed a Border Agreement [during the visit of the Laotian Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh, both sides decided to consider many temporary border markers as final border markers]

Deum Ampil, Vol.3, #346, 26.11.2009

• [Twenty one] Japanese Investors Visit Cambodia [to study the potential of the economy and of investments in Cambodia]
• Corruption of Tens of Thousands of Dollars Disclosed at the Chamkar Doung Royal University of Agriculture [lecturers, civil servants, and staff of this university had came to the headquarter of Deum Ampil to discribe the corruption of the rector, Mr. Chan Nareth, accusing him of being involved in corruption, taking US$300,000 to US$400,000 each year]

Kampuchea Thmey, Vol.8, #2108, 26.11.2009

• [Former Tuol Sleng prison chief] Duch’s Lawyers Suggested to Include Armed Conflict [between Cambodia and Vietnam] into the Case 002 [but not in Duch's case, claiming that Duch was not involved in war crimes]
• [Philippine President] Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Promised to Find Justice for the Victims of the Massacre of 52 People [related to elections]

Khmer Machas Srok, Vol.3, #1820, 26.11.2009

• [Chairperson of the Commission on Economy, Finance, Banking and Audit of the National Assembly] Cheam Yeap: The Government Is Preparing a Law to Collect House and Land Taxes
• The Government Should Reduce Advisers, but Should Keep Contracted Teachers [according to the Sam Rainsy Party and the Cambodian Independent Teachers' Association - the Ministry of Education, Youth, Sports ordered to reduce the number of contracted teachers by 50%, more than 10,000 teachers, in 2009 and 2010]

Koh Santepheap, Vol.42, #6815, 26.11.2009

• The Court Hearing of the Tiger Head Group That Planted a Bomb in Front of the Ministry of Defense Is Delayed until 3 December 2009
• During a Two-Days Crackdown on Hectic Wood Transports, Three Cubic Meters of Wood and an Old Car Were Seized [Kompong Chhnang]

Phnom Penh Post [Khmer Edition], Vol.1, #54, 26.11.2009

• Prosecutors at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal Asked to Jail [former Tuol Sleng prison chief] Duch for 40 Years for His Serious Crimes [where 15,000 people were killed]
• The Kompong Thom Authorities Delay Using Force to Evict Disabled People from the Kraya Commune [to take the land for a Vietnamese company]

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.17, #5057, 26.11.2009

• Cambodian Workers Lose Up to US$40 Million Due to the Economic Crisis
• Five Foreigners [three Thais and two Chinese] Are in Debt because of Losing while Gambling in a Casino – They Were Detained in a House in Poipet [three suspects were apprehended and two others escaped]
• The President of the National Assembly, Samdech Heng Samrin, Asked Luxembourg to Expand Investments in Cambodia [the export of Cambodia to Luxembourg amounted to more than US$10 million in 2008 while the import was only about US$7 million]

Sereypheap Thmey, Vol.17, #1820, 26.11.2009

• A Committee Demands the Release of [11] Villagers [arrested in a land dispute in Kraya commune in Kompong Thom; while local authorities plan to arrest 20 more villagers]

Have a look at the last editorial – you can access it directly from the main page of the Mirror.
And please recommend us also to your colleagues and friends.

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(What to change)

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The problem with gambling is that it is a personality trait. People who are gamblers gamble, it is what they do. They are always looking for a way to game the system. Any system, any time, anywhere.

Which is fine if they want to play their games with each other, but unfortunately that’s not where it ends, they want to play with anything and everything. They want to play with the rest of us and if they can game and manipulate us then they couldn’t be happier.

Quite frankly, we can’t afford to let them, we need to ring-fence off that sort of behaviour from the rest of society and the economy. Gambling isn’t going away, so get used to it, get wise to it and learn how to deal with it effectively. There needs to be some fairly serious changes.

As I said in my post “Surplus“ our modern societies have enormous surpluses, and yet we have still managed to make a pigs ear of it all. And it is because we have let the lunatics run the asylum. Or more specifically, we have let the gamblers free rein to gamble with our economies and with our money.

It is like giving crack to an addict, they will snort it up until it kills them. Ohh – and us at the same time, in case you haven’t noticed.

Why would the serious gamblers bother gambling at a casino? The game is rigged and frankly that’s penny-ante chump change anyway. If they can gamble on the worlds financial markets, that’s where the really serious money is, trillions of dollars of it. What’s more, that is a game where they can get to set it all up and rig it so that they are the House, they make the rules and can guarantee their cut. Can we say Goldman Sachs anyone? Their preferred casino town isn’t Las Vegas, its Wall Street and City of London.

So, we have addicts controlling our lives and livelihoods. You know what, that’s not too smart! We are going to have to find a solution to this because as we are finally starting to see, we can’t afford not to.

Its just not going to be easy, the whole essence of a gambler is that they are always looking for a loophole, an opening and an opportunity to get around the system, the rules and the regulations. They inherently don’t like the safe and stable and the regulation modestly profitable approach. They are always trying to sniff out a scheme, a scam or a subterfuge to escape the rules, justify their behaviour, or otherwise bias the situation to their advantage.

Which is unfortunately why my favourite idea to deal with this just wouldn’t work. I reckon they need to be licensed. You don’t get to be allowed to gamble unless you are a registered and licensed gambler, but if you are a licensed gambler then you would be excluded from working in certain types of jobs. Like dealing and trading with other peoples money for example. See, simple and elegant – and unworkable. If there was money to be made by cheating the system, then these are exactly the people who have the psychological makeup to want to try to.

Still, that doesn’t mean that mean we shouldn’t try and regulate to license gamblers and licence gambling operations. We already have laws and regulations to manage Casino’s and that is entirely appropriate. Equally there are certain types of trading environments and markets that need to be properly monitored and regulated in the recognition that if left to their own devices they will become populated by people motivated to also make these into just another casino. Things like currency markets, share and commodities markets, futures and hedging contracts, and derivatives are all sitting ducks ripe for exploitation. Unless they are regulated in such a way as to exclude gambling behaviour, then they will attract risky behaviour and attempts to subvert the rules and regulations to allow the gamblers in. In the United States the prime example of that is the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act. That Act was a package of regulations introduced in the wake of the Great Depression specifically to address the causes of the rampant speculation, insider trading and convergence of financial control that had precipitated the whole mess. 70 years later there is effectively no-one left alive that lived through that last catastrophe and is old enough to remember exactly what had happened. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. So at this point the sharks and shysters were able to manoeuvre a repeal of the rules that had prevented then from gaming the system the way they wanted too. There were good reasons for not letting them do these things, and now we get to see all over again why it is a bad idea to let the gamblers set the rules.

Re-regulating would entail a whole lot of bleating about interference in markets, economic socialism, blocks to market efficiencies and constraints on the availability of capital for worthwhile investment opportunities. All of that is almost entirely a smokescreen of course. It has just fractionally enough creditability to cast doubt, but far and away it is mostly just whining by the gamblers that you aren’t letting them do what they like. Therefore, if they can play a public relations and political game to get their way then they will, that’s all par for the course . And if they have got a bit of money to slosh around to grease the wheels, that’s all to the good too, that’s how it has been played for centuries. A bit like prostitution, this is one of the oldest games around.

If we are not aware the game is being played and we don’t have the right rules and structures in place to constrain them, then these junkies will play us. I don’t know why so many people respect and bow to the super wealthy, the billionaires and the like. Well apart from the obvious reasons of course, these are the people with the money, power and patronage to disperse and it’s not so terribly hard to buy many people. But just take a bit of a look at the bigger picture for a moment and add up the facts. How many of the worlds billionaires made their money through financial wheeling and dealing, as opposed to actually productive industrial and commercial enterprises. People in law enforcement who have dealt with narcotics trafficking come around to the thinking that the most dangerous and destructive people involved isn’t the drug addicts, it is the money addicts, because they will push anything, hurt or exploit anyone, in order to secure their money fix. Just because these types may wear suits and ties and work on Wall Street doesn’t mean they too aren’t dangerous, they most certainly are. They are not constrained by rational evaluations of risk like the rest of us and they have no compunctions about systematically undermining the system if they can get theirs. People addicted to money are junkies and will do anything to get their fix. It would be an interesting exercise to test all the senior financial executive for psychopathic personality traits. Being a psychopath doesn’t inherently mean you want to kill people and eat their brains, but it does mean they will have little to no sympathy or empathy for anyone else. It is all about them. While that can make then very focused and driven people who can make things happen, you really don’t want them running the show.

So that leaves us with the quandary of how to structure the system, the economy and our society in order to best manage this issue and mitigate any damage. This isn’t an issue that is going to go away, it is build into our nature and indeed can have some positive advantages. Gambling covers a very wide spectrum of behaviour, from drink driving to rock climbing and from the pokies to the share-market. Most gambling is extensions of legitimate and even conservative practises, but taken to extremes. It is the money side of gambling I am interested in here. Money markets were set up to provide legitimate avenues for the productive investment of finances and capital. Unfortunately if there is more money to be made in gaming the system than in building productive enterprises, guess what happens. Our problem is how to demarcate between what is reasonable and acceptable and what is not. How to accommodate a inherent human instinct and how to structure the system so it is not subverted by it.

Lotto is an interesting example of a state administered gambling scheme that offers a game of chance, taxes the process pretty heavily and then distributes the revenue into worthy social organisations. All in all it actually works pretty well. Casino’s are another sort of ring fenced gambling operation; although it is interesting just how much peripheral offending occurs around them, they tend to be a bit of a crime magnet – surprise, surprise. One quite useful approach is to impose a hefty tax on gambling, such tax’s can generate useful revenues and remove a certain degree of the attraction. A sin tax creates a handy addition to social services revenues and can help to balance the harmful side affects on an individual level. But on a larger scale it can further assist by removing much of the incentives. Buying and selling in order to take a percentage profit on price differentials isn’t gambling per-se necessarily, it’s called arbitrage and proponents will argue that in theory it is a useful market mechanism for creating efficient markets, price discovery and correcting distortions in markets. There is some justice to all of that, but once again it all depends. It can just as easily work counter to those objectives if it instead becomes a gambling operation. Far too often that is exactly what happens. There is no easy answers or quick fix, but a transaction tax could significantly reduce the incidence of gambling by limiting the incentives.

In the end the incentives are what any solution will have to address, removing the profit from the gamble. Although, how do you differentiate between what is a normal and acceptable business operation and one where there can be no assurance, or even expectation of successful resolution of risk? If there is only the hope that it will be possible to enter and exit the game in a manner that can take a profit before the system collapses, it is speculation, trying to time the market on a gamble. In theory at least, if it was only their own money at risk and that was the end of it, I would leave them to it. One solution could be to regulate who may operate in any type of market. For instance, commodities markets could be limited to actual market participants, Hedge-funds and the like, which are just interested in speculative trading positions could be either excluded completely or taxed so heavily as to remove any incentive to participate.

Another approach that there is a definitely need for, is proper retrospective action. In the event of outright fraud, Ponzi schemes and the like, where it is mathematically certain that when the music stops there will be big loses; there needs to be mechanisms for effectively reaching back and confiscating the proceeds of the crime. It is axiomatic that the worst type of junkie gambler will attempt to lay off their loses onto any stooge they can find. The best of them are master at this trick, just look at all the big Wall Street banksters getting bail-outs, they do it because it simply pays so damn well. These guys should be bankrupt, in jail or both, instead they have now got your money. Interestingly, there exist plenty of laws that should do exactly what I am advocating, and yet somehow they don’t ever get applied. Ahh, the convergence of money, politics and corruption, that’s always a hard one to beat. But assuming you can manage a revolution to remove all the crooks and cronies, then we need to ensure we investigate and reach back as far as it takes to confiscate all the ill-gotten gains. There is a lot of damage to pay for afterall.

Unfortunately it is always going to be an ongoing battle countering the scheming and excesses of gamblers, but it is also a fight we can not afford to loose. Our societies should be enjoying the fruits of our stunning productivity and surpluses. Instead, the gains have been privatised and the loses socialised. The change that needs to occur is that we need to be actively aware of the threat that Junkie Gamblers pose and be prepared to deal with them. The cost of doing nothing or neglecting it is a disastrous corruption of our political and economic systems, bubble economies and boom/bust cycles. Managed appropriately, gambling does actually have a very important place. It is what leads us on to try new and different things, some of which work out, some of which don’t. On a small scale, we are all gamblers and a flutter on Lotto for instance is neither here nor there; most of us can control and manage how and when we gamble. The thing is, gambling is much like fire; it makes for a good servant, but a terrible master.

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This blog is primarily used to open up discussion about what tax relief social enterprises should get (if any) and what form such relief might take. I am a Chartered Tax Adviser and also social enterprise practitioner – I know both sides of the fence.

I will now introduce my idea for Social Value Tax Credits (“SVTC”); the basic theory behind them and possible areas of impact / details that need further consideration at a later stage. I am writing this in layman’s terms as much as possible but inevitably there will be some “tax-speak”. If there’s something you don’t understand, tweet me @InspirateCIC

The Basic Concept

The underlying principle of this proposal is to build into UK tax legislation allowance for and recognition of the non-financial performance and impact of any business entity. The idea is to measure the social impact of an organisation and introduce specific legislation that allows the financial equivalent of this impact to be deductible from the taxable profits of the business. To whit:

Taxable Profits = Profits Before Tax – Financial Equivalent of Social Value Created

I strongly believe that these SVTC should be claimable by all taxable entities, to avoid any favouritism or protectionist allegations. I also believe that all businesses deliver some social value (and I am not alone in holding this belief), meaning that all businesses can and should be eligible to make a claim for SVTC. Some effects of this and the subsequent required changes are:-

• All businesses (including large plcs) would suddenly have significantly lower taxable profits and so to compensate for this and protect tax revenue the Mainstream Corporation Tax Rate would have to be significantly increased
• Charities will loose their tax exemptions; instead they will become taxable on their surpluses (the same as a profit-making business) but with the intention that their SVTC would eliminate their taxable profit

With these changes the financial effect for both business and charities has been minimal, their tax liabilities should remain roughly what they were before. However – the tax system now includes financial incentive to create social value as well as financial value. This is crucial in the wake of the current recession, to align the aims of capitalism with society’s aims for happiness and quality of life.

Social Enterprises will also be eligible to make claims for SVTC (of course) meaning that any who make profits will be given credit for the social value they create and pay a lower tax bill on their financial profits. However, many social enterprises (and social firms in particular) do not make profit so their SVTC will simply increase their losses carried forward for future relief against profits. This is where the repayable element of the SVTC comes in.

Following the precendent set by the existing Research & Development Tax Credit Claim, organisations would be able to surrender their SVTC to the Government in exchange for a repayment of their PAYE and NI liabilities for the period. The R&D claim supports loss-making companies by giving governmental financial support to encourage their activities. SVTC will do the same thing, by providing financial support to social enterprises to encourage and support them with creating further social value in the future:

Tax Refund Due = SVTC % Rate  * (Social Value Created – Profits Before Tax)

The actual formula would be more complex and have certain safeguards and restrictions built into it, but this is the essential idea.

Areas for Consideration

• Profit making busineses will relish the idea of getting a tax deduction for the social value they create and inevitably will aim to exploit this credit to the full. Are any of the current measures of social value creation (such as Social Return on Investment ["SROI"] ) robust enough to stand up to this exploitation?
• Will SVTC encourage the creation of social value, or merely the exploitation of these credits?
• As Social Value is so difficult to measure, should a tax credit based on the costs of the organisation’s social activities be introduced? Would this be more robust against exploitation?
• The implementation of SVTC would be intended to be fiscally neutral for business as a whole, but inevitably some businesses will fare better than others. Arms Dealers may find themselves facing a tax bill, Tescos might not. What pitfalls should we be aware of ? How much social value does an investment bank actually create anyway?
• HM Revenue & Customs will suddenly become the Judge and Jury over the amount of social value created by an organisation – is this a good thing? It would be a significant change in culture and widening of scope for them.
• Unless charities create more social value than the financial resources they consume, they will suddenly be facing a tax bill. On the plus side this will push them to ensure they are actually creating social value and so encourage better performance, on the down side I expect they will resist these changes tooth and nail.
• Social enterprises will now enjoy direct financial support from Government for the social value they create, do they have the capability to make use of this?
• Should Individuals also be given SVTC to take into account any volunteering or social value they create?
• Should the credits also be available to those who are self-employed or in a business partnership of some kind?
• SROI is a long process to accomplish – will SVTC be worth the regulatory burden?

Summary

If society wishes organisations and Government to work together to build happiness and quality of life as well as financial growth, we need to incentivise and measure the social value they create. Tools such as SROI give us good but not infallible measures of social value creation, what is currently completely lacking is an real incentive for old-school capitalist organisations to create social value.

SVTC will give a deduction from taxable profits for the social value an organisation creates. The credits will be refundable, meaning a tax refund can be claimed to assist with the costs of running the organisation.

Social Value Tax Credits give business reason to create social value, in terms old-school capitalists understand – tax savings. The credits will also incentivise charities to perform better and create more social value. The refundable element of the SVTC will support social enterprises on an on-going long-term basis.

Please let me know your initial thoughts on Social Value Tax Credits, either by commenting here (or on one of the forums I’m using) or tweeting @InspirateCIC or emailing me on alastairirvine@inspirate.org

Future editions of this blog will concern the areas of consideration above, respond to feedback received on the concept and develop the idea into something workable. I will also comment on some of the other ideas concerning tax support for social enterprises as they emerge.

Oops, don’t let Australia’s Rudd see this. Truth is, every home only needs one phone line with no old-world dialtone. That would reduce the damage though it’s cold comfort.

£6 broadband levy may be trebled for homes with multiple lines – Times Online

The Associated Press reports on Michigan state Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith’s proposal to restructure her state’s tax code in order to raise $6.5 billion. Here are some of the highlights:

– Extend the sales tax to services and reduce the overall tax rate from 6 percent to 5.5 percent.

– Eliminate the 22 percent surcharge on the Michigan Business Tax.

– Replace the state’s 4.35 percent flat income tax rate with a graduated income tax rate of 4 percent for individuals making zero to $45,000, 7 percent for individuals making $45,000 to $60,000 and 9.75 percent for individuals making more than $60,000 (income brackets would be doubled for joint filers). Some of the tax would be offset for those who itemize deductions on their federal income tax forms.

– Eliminate $3 billion in business tax exemptions.

– Create a new income tax credit that would cover all tuition paid to state universities, community colleges and vocational schools. The credit also would apply to preschool costs.

– Set aside $500 million from the elimination of the business tax exemptions for public education, erasing all the cuts made this fall.

The three glaring points include the elimination of business tax exemptions (which will raise the effective tax rate for businesses), creation of a more progressive tax system (which will punish production), and guarantee of free education for Ameircan citizens.

Any rise in taxes for business is of course a terrible idea for multiple reasons. The first is that the less income a business has, the less money it has to spend on new jobs and capital investments (i.e. those things that would increase the quality of life for Michigan residents). The second is that it will provide incentive for businesses to relocate to other, lower-taxing states and discourage new businesses from forming in Michigan.

Apart from undermining individual liberty, a progressive tax system punishes production and discourages economic growth by discouraging capital investment. Call it supply-side or trickle down economics if you’d like, but a slanderous name does not render these basic economic principles false.

Finally, education is a scarce good. There are not enough facilities, teachers, etc. to provide every single person with a college degree. Granted, this may (and hopefully will) change over time, but the supply of education would – in a free market – gradually adjust with increasing demand as quality of life improves and more consumers can afford it. But with a price ceiling effectively set at $0, there will be shortages in the supply of education because of the artificially low demand. This is econ 101 – price ceilings create shortages. A tax credit for education means that an individual will be able to deduct the entire cost of education from his final tax liability, rendering the cost of education $0 by the time all is said and done. And none of the above reasons against free education even touches on the questions “by what right?” and “at whose expense?” (Ayn Rand, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal)

Michigan, by no stretch of the imagination, has a fantastic record when it comes to its tax code. But this proposal goes so far that “stupid”may be the only appropriate description.

Catherine Rampell explains:

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development today released new data on tax burdens in its 30 member countries. Across the organization, overall tax revenue totaled an estimated 35.2 percent of gross domestic product in 2008, down half a percentage point from 2007. The organization expects that tax burdens will fall further in 2009.

Denmark had the highest total tax revenue as a percentage of G.D.P., at 48.3 percent, followed by Sweden at 47.1 percent. Turkey and Mexico had the smallest tax burdens, at 23.5 percent and 21.1 percent, respectively.

In the United States, tax revenues represented 26.9 percent of total output last year.

Not every company independently of whether she is big or small can and he is able to lead one’s own bookkeeping. For first not all are employing people, which appropriately to take the bookkeeping up, or aren’t simply able to create of such workstations. Then a chosen arithmetic bureau is dealing with the bookkeeping. The office usually gives to tax activity in the scope conducted advice. So among others a verification and keeping tax books, keeping personnel documentation are in his management. For entrepreneurs beginning only their activity he is advising in choice of taxing the most beneficial form, he is helping make loan applications out whether even he/she is registering it with the Office Tax and in ZUS -ie. Commissioning the lead and the register of personnel matters results in it that the bookkeeping bureau will be dealing with the lead of personal records, connected with preparing documents with establishing and solving labour relations, keeping the register of the time and of the schedule of the work or also a register of the management of clothes and the working footwear. Moreover making works out by lists and making declarations of income out for them will also belong to his duties, not only for employed permanently, but also for of the ones making the agreement instructions or a specific-task contract. Such a bookkeeping bureau is also dealing with the record-keeping ZUS, it means with making out the declaration ZUS (preparing RMUA reports in monthly periods) and with keeping benefit documentation (, family, motherly sickness benefits). Commissioning these duties to the appropriate arithmetic bureau is for employers great lightening, because personnel matters are filling up the plenty of enough complicated documents.