I’m still on the weak and tired side, but I’ve started to exercise by walking laps in the hallways inside to avoid the stairs to begin to rebuild my strength. I have another article today as well. That’s two days in a row. Woooo Hoooo!
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:58 (average 4:20) :-( To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From MoveOn: This Is The One Video That Conservatives Hope You Don’t Click On Today
We need to pass this and expand it to include LGBT families.
From Huffington Post: The likelihood of a knockdown fight over the filibuster this summer increased on Tuesday as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) pulled back a vote on the confirmation of Richard Cordray to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Cordray is a contentious nominee because 43 Republicans have demanded changes to the structure of the CFPB before they will approve any nominee to run it. That means Republicans can deny Democrats the 60 votes needed to begin debate on a CFPB nominee. President Barack Obama gave Cordray a recess appointment in January 2012, which Republicans have challenged as illegal, citing a recent court case that invalidated other recess appointments.
Reid indicated Tuesday that he would bring Cordray’s nomination to a vote in July, and a Senate Democratic aide said that vote will come at a time when Reid is ready to launch into a broader fight over all of Obama’s stalled nominees. The "plan is to wait until immigration is complete before engaging in total all-out nom[ination] fight," said the aide.
Based on historical precedent, I fear it’s far more likely that Reid, the Nevada Leg Hound, will hump a few GOP legs begging for votes, whine, roll over, and play dead.
From NY Times: \…A study by the Congressional Research Service found that subsidiaries of United States corporations operating in the top five tax havens (the Netherlands, Ireland, Bermuda, Switzerland and Luxembourg) generated 43 percent of their foreign profits in those countries in 2008, but had only 4 percent of their foreign employees and 7 percent of their foreign investment located there.
All in all, it is a race to the bottom on the part of revenue-starved governments eager to attract even a relatively small number of new jobs.
As a consequence, the effective corporate tax rate in the United States fell to 17.8 percent in 2012 from 42.5 percent in 1960, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis…
In return for the privilege of doing business in the US, all corporations, foreign and domestic, should pay US tax at the prevailing rate on all income, regardless of where that income is accounted. To properly avoid double taxation they should also receive a 100% tax credit for all taxes paid to foreign governments on the same income. I see no other feasible way to take away their incentive to offshore US profit to evade US taxes.
Cartoon:
Now, if we can just get Congressional Republicans to believe it.
11 Responses to “Open Thread–5/24/2013”
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"In return for the privilege of doing business in the US, all corporations, foreign and domestic, should pay US tax at the prevailing rate on all income, regardless of where that income is accounted. To properly avoid double taxation they should also receive a 100% tax credit for all taxes paid to foreign governments on the same income. I see no other feasible way to take away their incentive to offshore US profit to evade US taxes." Exactly TomCat – it is the only way.
Thanks Pat.
We ask outsourcers to pay NO taxes here because they pay taxes in the country in which they manufacture. So, in reality, the Chinese are getting American tax dollars. That, in my opinion, is grounds for treason.
2:29 Holy Heineken! I think this was my fastest time ever on a puzzle.
3:21 "Got yur ears on Smokey? Dere's a Heinenken rig roll'n through leav'n rubber on the road! Had "Patty" on the door! 10-4 good buddy!"
3:36 Not even close on this one. Patty drank us all under the table.
Dang! I have not had a drink in eight years, but that's enough to tempt me! 😉
I'm glad you're feeling better. Just remember to take it slow! Exercise is good but don't overdo things.
MoveOn ~ It is our fight because we are all members of the human race.
HuffPo ~ Harry better turn into a pit bull instead of a RepublicanT leg-humping chihuahua before the fight starts.
NY Times ~ What a tangled web the Tax Code is!
Cartoon ~ Lots of luck getting the science deniers to believe truths.
Thanks, Patty. That's the plan.
Amen!
Fat chance!
Amen again!
So right!
Puzzle — 3:21 "Got yur ears on Smokey? Dere's a Heinenken rig roll'n through leav'n rubber on the road! Had "Patty" on the door! 10-4 good buddy!"
MoveOn — Liz Warren: "It's our fight because we are connected and if we stick together, there are 99% of us and only 1% of them."
No thought required — when 1% can dictate policy etc to the 99% of Americans, there is something tragically wrong and very lopsided!
Huffington Post — I think Reid is losing, or has already lost his marbles! He's made several gentlemen's agreements with McTurtle and I think he'll do it again. Personally, make the damn GOP juggle two or more things at the same time. Maybe something will get accomplished.
Question: I seem to recall that on some legislation, Reid has voted against something that the Dems wanted just so the Dems could bring it to a vote again. However, in the House, if I remember correctly, the Republican/Teabaggers have brought up the repeal of Obamacare 37 times, even though the repeal has failed.each time. How can they do that when Reid can't? Is it just a matter of different rules for the two chambers?
NY Times — My tiny little bit of foreign income, which has income tax deducted at source, is treated so that the foreign tax is deducted from the domestic tax owing. Corporations should be no different. That is why I think that there has to be a global solution to this mess. This bull puckey of Google, a US corporation, negotiating with Ireland for a 2% tax rate is plain unethical and heinous.
Cartoon — Don't tell the Republican/Teabaggers that. I hear they are still trying to convince people that they are the centre of the universe! and omniscient! Hell, they'd probably ban any book that made mention of Copernicus!
As fast as she was going, I hope she was sober!
Amen!
I agree, Gentlemen's agreements are worthless when made with people that have no honor or integrity.
Same here for individuals. Foreign income counts as income, and foreign taxes are a tax credit.
LOL! Perhaps we should start with flat earth! 😉