So... How did you feel filing your taxes?

Happy to help the cause? Warm and cushy?

Angry for entitlements?

Upset at how our dollars are being spent?

Happy to pay down the debt?

As an obligation so, just do it and grin.

We overpaid last year. That was a welcome relief.

I don't mind paying taxes... much. We live in a great country and have decent infrastructure, security, and education facilities. (I didn't say it was the best in any of the categories, but I am happy to be here.)

I understand taxes, too, but get riled about how our dollars are "spent".

Infrastructure? Did you ever see the History Channel's expose' on our infrastructure?

It's scarey and maddening.

http://amhistory.si.edu/onthemove/themes/story_47_1.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBSPcIGGcIc

I don't mind paying our "fair share". The problem is with the way it's spent AND that so many are paying NOTHING and are in fact getting large rebates back after paying nothing. We've got half the country supporting the other half that are paying nothing. I'm sorry, but that is just wrong and there's not a damn "fair" thing about it.

IRS claims it can read your e-mail without a warrant

The ACLU has obtained internal IRS documents that say Americans enjoy "generally no privacy" in their e-mail messages, Facebook chats, and other electronic communications.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57578839-38/irs-claims-it-can-read-your-e-mail-without-a-warrant/

Quote :

The Internal Revenue Service doesn't believe it needs a search warrant to read your e-mail.

Newly disclosed documents prepared by IRS lawyers says that Americans enjoy "generally no privacy" in their e-mail, Facebook chats, Twitter direct messages, and similar online communications -- meaning that they can be perused without obtaining a search warrant signed by a judge.

That places the IRS at odds with a growing sentiment among many judges and legislators who believe that Americans' e-mail messages should be protected from warrantless search and seizure. They say e-mail should be protected by the same Fourth Amendment privacy standards that require search warrants for hard drives in someone's home, or a physical letter in a filing cabinet.

An IRS 2009 Search Warrant Handbook obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union argues that "emails and other transmissions generally lose their reasonable expectation of privacy and thus their Fourth Amendment protection once they have been sent from an individual's computer." The handbook was prepared by the Office of Chief Counsel for the Criminal Tax Division and obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

Nathan Wessler, a staff attorney at the ACLU's Speech, Privacy & Technology Project, says the IRS's view of privacy rights violates the Fourth Amendment:

"Let's hope you never end up on the wrong end of an IRS criminal tax investigation. But if you do, you should be able to trust that the IRS will obey the Fourth Amendment when it seeks the contents of your private emails. Until now, that hasn't been the case. The IRS should let the American public know whether it obtains warrants across the board when accessing people's email. And even more important, the IRS should formally amend its policies to require its agents to obtain warrants when seeking the contents of emails, without regard to their age."

The IRS did not immediately respond to a request from CNET asking whether it is the agency's position that a search warrant is required for e-mail and similar communications.

The IRS continued to take the same position, the documents indicate, even after a federal appeals court ruled in the 2010 case U.S. v. Warshak that Americans have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their e-mail. A few e-mail providers, including Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Facebook, but not all, have taken the position that Warshak mandates warrants for e-mail.

Before the Warshak decision, the general rule since 1986 had been that police could obtain Americans' e-mail messages that were more than 180 days old with an administrative subpoena or what's known as a 2703(d) order, both of which lack a warrant's probable cause requirement.

The rule was adopted in the era of telephone modems, BBSs, and UUCP links, long before gigabytes of e-mail stored in the cloud was ever envisioned. Since then, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Warshak, technology had changed dramatically: "Since the advent of e-mail, the telephone call and the letter have waned in importance, and an explosion of Internet-based communication has taken place. People are now able to send sensitive and intimate information, instantaneously, to friends, family, and colleagues half a world away... By obtaining access to someone's e-mail, government agents gain the ability to peer deeply into his activities."

A March 2011 update to the IRS manual, published four months after the Warshak decision, says that nothing has changed and that "investigators can obtain everything in an account except for unopened e-mail or voice mail stored with a provider for 180 days or less" without a warrant. An October 2011 memorandum (PDF) from IRS senior counsel William Spatz took a similar position.

A phalanx of companies, including Amazon, Apple, AT&T, eBay, Google, Intel, Microsoft, and Twitter, as well as liberal, conservative, and libertarian advocacy groups, have asked Congress to update the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act to make it clear that law enforcement needs warrants to access private communications and the locations of mobile devices.

In November, a Senate panel approved the e-mail warrant requirement, and last month Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat whose district includes the heart of Silicon Valley, introduced similar legislation in the House of Representatives. The Justice Department indicated last month it will drop its opposition to an e-mail warrant requirement.

Neko, I could not agree more.

Eric, that's more than disturbing. I'd gather from your post that the people who don't even bother filing are off the radar? Only us idiots who do are on?

stormwatch89 wrote:

Neko, I could not agree more.

Eric, that's more than disturbing. I'd gather from your post that the people who don't even bother filing are off the radar? Only us idiots who do are on?

I hope the courts slap 'em around... pretty bad.

The arrogant bastards ignore recent court decisions. I hope heads will roll.

Nobody is off the radar, Stormy. If the thugs at the IRS find you are not filing returns and should... head for the hills!

Eric wrote:

stormwatch89 wrote:

Neko, I could not agree more.

Eric, that's more than disturbing. I'd gather from your post that the people who don't even bother filing are off the radar? Only us idiots who do are on?

I hope the courts slap 'em around... pretty bad.

The arrogant bastards ignore recent court decisions. I hope heads will roll.

Nobody is off the radar, Stormy. If the thugs at the IRS find you are not filing returns and should... head for the hills!

Hon, I hear ya. Believe me, I file, file and refile!

No one wants IRS on their tail!

I hate the IRS. There, I've said it. I watched it control my parents' lives for years.

My Dad hated the IRS, too. My Dad passed away on April 15 back in '91. Everyone in our family remains convinced the chose that day to pass on just so he could stick it to the IRS. It was his way of shooting them the bird, so to speak.


In EDIT: It takes a lot for me to write that I "hate" anything. That's a word I rarely use. That should tell you something about the depth of feeling I have for the IRS.

PBulldog2 wrote:

I hate the IRS. There, I've said it. I watched it control my parents' lives for years.

My Dad hated the IRS, too. My Dad passed away on April 15 back in '91. Everyone in our family remains convinced the chose that day to pass on just so he could stick it to the IRS. It was his way of shooting them the bird, so to speak.


In EDIT: It takes a lot for me to write that I "hate" anything. That's a word I rarely use. That should tell you something about the depth of feeling I have for the IRS.

PB, my Dad died on April 15 too! I have at times smiled at his bizarre sense of humor as well.

Yes, we are allowed to use the word "hate" when it comes to IRS

Our Dad's did it right!

Everything I see on the news says that the IRS is becoming even more powerful.

I believe that paying taxes is the right thing to do. I believe everyone or at least most everyone should pay something, within reason. Not 0% but not 40%+ either. More and more I am thinking that a federal sales tax is the way to go. It would do away with a lot of the IRS nonsense. Everyone would pay at least something. Businesses would have to comply but they already have to, with the state and local sales taxes.

Just my rambling thoughts...there is probably a down side to going with a federal sales tax but how much more screwed up can taxes be??

I ramble with you Neko.

Most disturbing of all was hearing Obama only paid 18% this year on over 600g of income.

How can that be with all his blabber about "paying our fair share"?

Rambling with you!

If 18% is "fair" for Obama, then what does he think is "fair" for other "rich" people???

I think we'd both be happy to pay 18%.

Good heavens, he disgusts me..

I would love paying only 18%...... I have wanted a national sales tax for years. At least that way, the illegals and everybody else will be paying every time they buy something.

Yes, exactly. Everyone would pay something. But then you'd have to think about whether you really want to tax home sales, car sales and groceries. I do think I would exempt a few things.

OK, tax day is over, and I'm in a better frame of mind. At least I didn't throw my computer out the window.

Next comes the first installment of homeowner's insurance. Shall we start a new thread about that?

I have a headache.

PBulldog2 wrote:

OK, tax day is over, and I'm in a better frame of mind. At least I didn't throw my computer out the window.

Next comes the first installment of homeowner's insurance. Shall we start a new thread about that?

I have a headache.

Oh nooooooooooo, PB! Not HO3's.........No, No, NO! Purdy Please!

Neko, I remember reading that there's a new 3.75% tax (me thinks) included in Obamacare (of all places) on home sales?
We already have capital gains tax on home sales with some exceptions.

We do pay sales tax on cars, already.

Food might still be exempt, but I still like the Fair Tax Idea. Accountants probably don't.

What sucks is that you have to pay tax on the profit on the sale of a home, but you absolutely cannot claim a loss on the sale of your home.

I couldn't believe it, but 'tis true.

Eric wrote:

What sucks is that you have to pay tax on the profit on the sale of a home, but you absolutely cannot claim a loss on the sale of your home.

I couldn't believe it, but 'tis true.

I know! Right? How "fair" is that???????

All very true. I cannot see adding federal taxes on top of state and local taxes to car sales...and I cannot see putting a federal tax on home sales. That would just kill an already struggling housing market.

Capital gains taxes on the sale of a home...been there, paid it....I sympathize! And if you live in a state with a state income tax--you can get a double whammy on being taxed on the sale of a home.

There is NOTHING fair about any of this as long as we have 47% who pay NOTHING!!

nekochan wrote:

All very true. I cannot see adding federal taxes on top of state and local taxes to car sales...and I cannot see putting a federal tax on home sales. That would just kill an already struggling housing market.

Capital gains taxes on the sale of a home...been there, paid it....I sympathize! And if you live in a state with a state income tax--you can get a double whammy on being taxed on the sale of a home.

There is NOTHING fair about any of this as long as we have 47% who pay NOTHING!!

Perfect.

Jake92 wrote:

I would love paying only 18%...... I have wanted a national sales tax for years. At least that way, the illegals and everybody else will be paying every time they buy something.

A flat tax is the only fair way to go, in my opinion.

I think medicines, homes, and food should be exempt from taxes. We already pay a sales tax on most other things including cars.. The biggest reason for a sales tax is so everybody pays something, even the illegals and everybody else that hasn't paid a penny in years.. Legalize pot and tax that too!!!!!!!

Melissa B wrote:

Jake92 wrote:

I would love paying only 18%...... I have wanted a national sales tax for years. At least that way, the illegals and everybody else will be paying every time they buy something.

A flat tax is the only fair way to go, in my opinion.

Seems like a lot of us agree.

What now? Write our Congressman?