Welcome to Sad Salvation. Day by day by day by day ... this is my attempt to make sense of the world.

Current | Archives

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Digital Tax

I was reading this story of how states want to charge sales tax for digital products. I think it is the wrong way to act to just extend old tax standards to cover this situation. I live in San Jose, I am using my computer in Santa Clara right now, and Apple is in Cupertino. If I bought a song right now, whose sales tax would be charged. Is it different if I was using my computer in Pennsylvania at my parent's house?

I understand that states and local government need sales taxes. I understand that revenue is needed. Personally I want another five years of hands off the internet. Lets see which business models are really going to work. What are we going to do for Smart Phone Apps? How about services that need subscriptions? I think that need tax structures are needed for this to work well. I do not want to look at this tax in five years and see that we did it all wrong.

Labels: internet, iTunes, taxes

- Rich, 5:16 PM |

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Taxing the Poor

I watched the latest episode of Now on PBS yesterday. It seemed like the right thing to watch on Tax day. They talked about taxing the poor more than taxing the rich. It was a good show. I think it did good job explaining the issue that Alabama is having with state taxes.

There is one thing that upset me. I was told I could find more information on the website. The show said that there would be state by state information. I was happy to find out how equitable my states policy is. When I got to the site I did not find anything about how equitable my state tax policy was. What I could find is state by state Income Inequality.

I feel this is a bit of a bait and switch. I want to know about my state's tax policy. I want to know what my state is doing poorly. I cannot show my friends something about income inequality. We all work in Silicon Valley, we expect that income inequality is a fact of life. What they do not expect is that the tax policy they enjoy is bad for the poor. It will disarm a lot of there liberal ideas.

In other tax ideas, people should listen to the KQED Forum interview with David Cay Johnston about his book Free Lunch. I think this highlights a lot of tax problems we are having right now. I think it says a lot about how the system needs to be changed.

Labels: KQED, Now, PBS, tag overload, taxes

- Rich, 6:56 AM |

Monday, October 16, 2006

Watch Out, he is a 60th level tax collector

I saw this story about how Virtual economies are attracting real-world tax attention. At first this idea seems a little odd to me. It feels like paying taxes on Monopoly money. The problem that the reality is very complex. There are real economies in there. I think this is a problem that can take a long time to figure out. Of course the issues might be totally different by the time they figure out this set of issues might be totally different. I am happy for tax collectors to be in games, as long as they are only collecting from the in-game currency.

Labels: game, MMORPG, taxes, web

- Rich, 10:23 PM |

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Tax Revenues Surprise

New York Times: Surprising Jump in Tax Revenues Is Curbing Deficit

This is the kind of story that I do not talk about with my friends. I know that tax revenues is not the type of things that the average blogger really geeks out about. We talk about politics a decent amount, but taxes seems to be one thing we keep away from.

I like this story. The basic story is that we would be in great shape if we were not in such bad shape. We are reducing the Deficit from really outrageously bad to just outrageously bad.

Here is my favorite quote:

"The long-term outlook is such a deep well of sorrow that I can't get much happiness out of this year," said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office and a former White House economist under President Bush.

Even when good things happen the world is still going to hell.

Labels: Bush, New York Times, taxes

- Rich, 4:24 PM |

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Bad News For Barry

It is a bad time for Barry Bonds. He has yet to hit a home run this season. Some people predicted that he would pass Babe Ruth already. He is still 6 behind on the all-time home run chart. On ESPN News earlier today that his elbow might be the problem causing his .167 batting average this season.

On top of that he is being investigated by federal prosecutors. I am not sure if this is causing him a problem on the field. Different players react different ways with off the field issues. Some of issues cause people to focus even more. I know that things are starting to pile up for him.

From the New York Times Bonds's Potential Problems Go Beyond Steroids:

"It was not immediately clear whether the January 2006 testimony was before the same grand jury now cited in the CNN story. But in any case, Bell has stated that she saw Bonds inject himself with steroids and apply creams that she knew to be steroid-related. Bell has also stated that Bonds gave her $80,000 in cash to buy a house and that he gave her specific instructions to deposit the money in amounts of less than $10,000.

Federal law requires banks to report transactions of $10,000 or more, and the question is whether Bell's financial testimony, perhaps conveyed to one or more grand juries, could also expose Bonds to charges of tax evasion, money laundering and evasion of federal banking laws."

I have such a hard time feeling sorry for Barry Bonds. Reading all these stories I feel that thought he could get away with whatever he wanted. If you lie to a federal grand jury when you have limited immunity, you get what you deserve.

No matter what happens Barry will be tainted for the rest of his life. His stats will be in doubt. Some people will always see him as a cheater. I wonder if this is something that he culture of sports likes. It gives people something to debate at the sports bar.

In the end I think it is tragic for baseball and Barry. Maybe Barry Bonds is a tragic hero of a Greek drama. All the elements are there. In the end his hubris might be his undoing.

Labels: Barry Bonds, baseball, ESPN, steroids, taxes

- Rich, 4:08 PM |

Friday, January 25, 2002

Markers

I got my W-2 today. It is the first time I only received one W-2. For the first year of my life, I have only worked one job. I am 29 years old an this is the first year I have receiver only one W-2. I have worked at jobs for more then one year in the past. In those years I was working more then one job at a time. It seems strange to me that it took this long for me to work only one job for a year. Like a lot of other things in my life, my work history is not what I planned it to be.

Labels: life, self, taxes

- Rich, 2:04 PM |

Current | Archives

Contact me