Taxing Thoughts

Dividend Voodoo

By Warren Buffett
Tuesday, May 20, 2003; Page A19

The annual Forbes 400 lists prove that — with occasional blips — the rich do indeed get richer. Nonetheless, the Senate voted last week to supply major aid to the rich in their pursuit of even greater wealth.

The Senate decided that the dividends an individual receives should be 50 percent free of tax in 2003, 100 percent tax-free in 2004 through 2006 and then again fully taxable in 2007. The mental flexibility the Senate demonstrated in crafting these zigzags is breathtaking. What it has put in motion, though, is clear: If enacted, these changes would further tilt the tax scales toward the rich.

Brad Delong summarizes a Paul Krugman article on last year’s Presidential State of the Union Speech.

Remember Last Year?

Paul Krugman reminds us of the things George W. Bush said in his last State of the Union Address that turned out not to be so:

* …the axis of evil… a phrase… that has vanished from Mr. Bush’s vocabulary…
* …the name of that guy he promised to bring in dead or alive…
* …he assured those who worried about red ink that “our budget will run a deficit that will be small and short-lived”…
* …”my economic security plan can be summed up in one word: jobs”…
* …can Mr. Bush convince us that his latest tax cut is just the tonic the economy needs? There are several reasons to doubt whether he can pull it off. For one thing, economists outside the administration, even those who always find ways to praise whatever he proposes, can’t see what this tax cut has to do with the economy’s immediate problems. This has led to a striking dissonance…

Talking Points Memo has two articles on how the liberal media has given the republican party a pass on its connections to China.

May 8th, 2003 — 2:06 PM
There’s only so much oxygen in the media universe at any one time. And much of it, understandably, is being taken up now by Iraq, Iran and North Korea. But if that weren’t the case, you’d think there’d be a lot more attention to the fact that a prominent Republican activist and fundraiser has been arrested on suspicion of being a double-agent for the People’s Republic of China.

In a day or two, I will be posting my comments on Mike Brewster’s article, which follows below, about what the Public Accounting Oversight Board should do.

Tax ’services’ must be challenged

Commentary: Accounting board should confront Big Four

By Mike Brewster
Last Update: 12:06 AM ET May 6, 2003

EDITOR’S NOTE: Mike Brewster is author of the recently released “Unaccountable: How the Accounting Profession Forfeited A Public Trust.”

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) — For the first time in 70 years, auditors won’t be writing the rules that govern public company audits.

Late last month the SEC officially recognized the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), the new accounting watchdog formed under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Why has it taken the Democrats nearly a week to question the costs affiliated with President Bush’s trip to the USS Lincoln? I posted about it last week at Presidential Finances! It is now estimated that President Bush’s trip to the USS Lincoln (a ship that was 30 miles offshore and docked the next day in San Diego) cost the taxpayers nearly $1 million dollars to pay for “an extra day of air patrols, keeping the crew at sea, presidential security and flying Bush to the ship.”

Brad DeLong recently had a problem remembering his password to Timbuktu Pro X. I had the following response:

I’ve run into this problem before. My solution was to create an Excel Spredsheet with all of my passwords and the corresponding programs/websites. Normally, this would be a serious security risk, but since I am the only person who uses my computer (although, occasionally my spouse uses my computer) I put the Spreadsheet file in a really obscure directory (not My Documents or Mac’s equivalent) that I only know. Whenever I forget a password I know where to look.

Of course, there is always the chance that my computer could get hacked and someone could gain access, but there is added security by using an obscure directory.

How does the Bush administration know that Saddam was producing WMD, but seems incapable of finding any? Yet, they did not forsee Saddam stealing One BILLION Dollars ($900M in US currency and $100M in Euros) from an Iraqi bank and why don’t they know where it is? Is it that hard to find three tractor trailers full of cash?

Even Warren Buffet is against the Bush tax cuts!

The second richest man in the world, Mr Buffett, known as the “Sage of Omaha”, criticised plans for tax cuts that he said were designed to fleece the poor and reward the rich.

“I am not for the Bush plan. It screams of injustice. The main beneficiaries will be people like me and Charlie,” he said, referring to the Berkshire Hathaway vice-chairman Charlie Munger. Mr Buffett said the tax plan was equivalent to “us giving a lesser percentage of our incomes to Washington than the people working in our shoe factories”.

Congress is so concerned about our well being while flying that it has mandated that the Transportation Security Administration cut 6,000 baggage screener jobs at the nation’s airports. This move definitely shows that Congress is concerned about our safety in the air and at our airports! What next prison work programs at Los Angeles airport so airport staff can take the day off to cut costs!

So far in the last two years we have the largest budget deficits in decades, no money in the budget for reconstruction in Afganistan, budget cuts for health care and education, an expensive war in Iraq to get rid of WMD that haven’t been found, huge tax cuts for the rich, and Bush wants another $500 million in tax cuts for the rich! When will Bush and Congress realize that allowing huge budget deficits with with huge tax cuts end up taxing the states and future generations?!?!?

How much did President Bush’s photo-op on the USS Lincoln cost the US taxpayers? Incidentally, the USS Lincoln arrived in port in San Diego less than 24 hours after his nationally televised speech. Wouldn’t it have been cheaper to have his speech today?