Althouse: The topic was bras...

May 6, 2013

The topic was bras...

... and thread hijackers made it taxes.

Because what gets people more excited?

35 comments:

rhhardin said...: I'm happy to pay sales taxes. I just don't want to keep track of it.

Sales taxes are closer to flat taxes, which would be the most efficient and stable kind of tax to have.

The more revenue that's replaced by a flat tax, the better.

Sales taxes separate and uplift.; 5/6/13, 11:15 AM
Anonymous said...: No, sales taxes are not flat taxes by economic definition. A flat tax is a flat tax on income. Sales taxes are transaction taxes and likely regressive relative to income.; 5/6/13, 11:18 AM
Anonymous said...: rhhardin said...

I'm happy to pay sales taxes. I just don't want to keep track of it.
.......................................................................

Sales taxes separate and uplift.
_______________________________

Sales taxes add to the 'springiness' of the tax system. Income taxes are ligaments.; 5/6/13, 11:20 AM
Oso Negro said...: It was all about the boobs.; 5/6/13, 11:22 AM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: Bras don't get me excited. The items bras are intended to support get me excited. When they start selling those on Amazon, I promise to use the Althouse portal.; 5/6/13, 11:24 AM
KCFleming said...: Ann Althouse said...
"Nobody! I feel like a chump! I am ripped off by my own rule-following. This breeds disrespect for the law."

I remember when I used to have respect for the law.

Now the law is a capricious bastard, that changes at the whim of Justices, just one more political ball to kick or get whisked away.

And the problem with the sales tax is that it won't result in any lessening of other taxes. It was our only refuge. Grabby bastards.; 5/6/13, 11:27 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: Because what gets people more excited?

The answer is taxes.

Because, when it comes to brassieres, many of us don't have any skin in the game.; 5/6/13, 11:28 AM
Anonymous said...: ".....
And the problem with the sales tax is that it won't result in any lessening of other taxes. It was our only refuge. Grabby bastards"
------------------------
Amen. Amen and amen.; 5/6/13, 11:30 AM
KCFleming said...: "I dreamed I went tax-free shopping in my Maidenform bra".

NTTAWWT.

And where's Baron Zemo?
Who knows more about bras and taxes then him?
Nobody, that's who.; 5/6/13, 11:31 AM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: What is this sales tax of which you speak, and why should I care that you choose to inflict it on each other?

( There are advantages to living in New Hampshire. ); 5/6/13, 11:38 AM
Achilles said...: Taxes = Income for unproductive statists who would otherwise be useless people. This country was doing just fine with government hanging out in single digits of our GDP. But the statists have learned that you don't just raise rates, you also have more kinds of taxes. That internet sales escape their greedy clutches is galling to them.; 5/6/13, 11:40 AM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: My son's class took a field trip to the science museum in Boston. Toward the end of the day they got to go to the museum gift shop. It took the kids a while to figure out why everything was more expensive at the cash register than it was on the shelf.

Probably the most important thing they learned all day.; 5/6/13, 11:41 AM
Sam L. said...: More of us are affected by taxes!; 5/6/13, 11:42 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: You are very very naive Althouse if you believe these services can accurately handle 9,000 tax jurisdictions and that seller can easily integrate the service into their business.; 5/6/13, 11:45 AM
Anonymous said...: "Bras are the price we pay for a civilized society. Wait, not bras, what was that other thing?" -- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.; 5/6/13, 11:45 AM
edutcher said...: Combine the two:

The bras at night, are big and white

Deep in the heart of taxes.

But, the more the tax, the fewer bras are sold,

And the fewer people go through the Althouse Portal.

Ann: Oh, my deah, what shall we do? Wheah shall we go?

Meade: Frankly, my dear,...; 5/6/13, 11:55 AM
Larry J said...: AJ Lynch said...
You are very very naive Althouse if you believe these services can accurately handle 9,000 tax jurisdictions and that seller can easily integrate the service into their business.

The complications are as endless as the legal liability. It doesn't matter if you hire an accounting firm to do your income taxes. You have to sign your tax forms and accept the liability for the accountants's mistakes.

It isn't just that those 9000+ taxing districts charge different sales tax rates and those rates change frequently. Laws on what is taxable differ considerably from state to state. Last year, I took a new job which caused me to move from Colorado to Alabama. Both states charge sales tax, but in Colorado, you don't pay tax on most groceries unless they're prepared goods, services and prescription drugs. In Alabama, you pay sales tax on food and damned near everything else (8% in one town, 8.1% in the next). How is this taxing service supposed to keep track not only of all those rates but which items are taxable while making the correct payments at the proper times? How much will they charge for this service? Who has the liability if they make a mistake?; 5/6/13, 12:03 PM
Unknown said...: Sort of off topic. I'm starting to semi-retire. I can semi do it because I have my own business. I am already working from a home office about half time in another state that is far more tax friendly than the one I started in. The process of eventually getting un-entangled from the high tax state makes me think that I'm some sort of tax-serf - owned by the high tax state until I jump through a lot of hoops. The recommendations include selling all property, not making local charitable donations, changing financial institutions or at least closing and reopening accounts for nationwide banks. This in addition to the obvious - getting off the old voting rolls, getting a new drivers license, re-registering cars, actually living in the new state more than half the time and so forth. All the successful blue states are the most problematic to get free of - Illinois, New York, Michigan, etc.
At my means, I hadn't worried too much, but the fact that they are grubbing for a few use tax bucks from a lot of people is indicative that they will probably be more obdurate about whether they consider you their citizen. I guess I won't be able to pull a Chesire cat, fading, fading, smiling, gone...; 5/6/13, 12:10 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Larry J,

It isn't just that those 9000+ taxing districts charge different sales tax rates and those rates change frequently. Laws on what is taxable differ considerably from state to state.

Yep. This stuff is very, very intricate, too. Individual counties and municipalities can have different rules on what sales tax is charged on what goods within a given state. (The City of Richmond, CA, for example, planned a surcharge on sugary drinks not long ago. It lost when put to a popular vote, but it would have meant that if, for some reason, you wanted to order a case of soda from out of state, the vendor would've had to know that the sales tax was different on that SKU for a shipping address was in Richmond than for one a mile away in El Cerrito.)

There are state sales tax holidays to keep track of, too.; 5/6/13, 12:17 PM
Big Mike said...: Because what gets people more excited?

Bras are more exciting when they come off.; 5/6/13, 12:32 PM
Tibore said...: "The topic was bras...

... and thread hijackers made it taxes.

Because what gets people more excited?"

I think it's less about excitement and more about what people feel the need to rant about. The comments section often turns into soapbox theater, and I admit, I end up contributing to that. Sometimes, you feel the need to get stuff off your chest (hey, a bra pun!), and there's nothing as uplifting and supportive (more forced puns!) as doing it in a comments section, even if it's at best marginally and tenuously connected to the blog entry at hand (if you can pull a bra pun out of "at hand", my hat's off to ya).; 5/6/13, 12:41 PM
Cody Jarrett said...: My son's class took a field trip to the science museum in Boston. Toward the end of the day they got to go to the museum gift shop. It took the kids a while to figure out why everything was more expensive at the cash register than it was on the shelf.

Probably the most important thing they learned all day."

LOL. I remember being...7, 8 or so and going to York Beach Maine. Actually had some money of my own. Was shocked and outraged at how I had to come up with more than the stickered price. Took a lot of explaining before I bought it. I figured it was just some assholes trying to take advantage of me.

Turns out--I was right.; 5/6/13, 1:09 PM
Cody Jarrett said...: . All the successful blue states are the most problematic to get free of - Illinois, New York, Michigan, etc.
At my means, I hadn't worried too much, but the fact that they are grubbing for a few use tax bucks from a lot of people is indicative that they will probably be more obdurate about whether they consider you their citizen. I guess I won't be able to pull a Chesire cat, fading, fading, smiling, gone..."

Yeah. Limabaugh says he still gets audited every year even though he doesn't even go to NY anymore. They live in hope.; 5/6/13, 1:14 PM
sakredkow said...: You guys are missing the points.; 5/6/13, 1:15 PM
Cody Jarrett said...: She was a black haired beauty with big dark eyes
And points all her own sitting way up high
Way up firm and high; 5/6/13, 1:32 PM
Fred Drinkwater said...: When my wife was in B-school, she told me that, no matter what the ostensible topic under discussion was, it inevitably turned to tax issues within ten minutes.; 5/6/13, 1:34 PM
Aridog said...: Taxes again?....mmppbbbfttt!; 5/6/13, 2:30 PM
Birches said...: When you mentioned thread hijackers, I just assumed Inga and Ed were going at it . . .; 5/6/13, 2:40 PM
Anonymous said...: Missing the points? Not I! Deducted 'em the very year I refinanced.; 5/6/13, 2:40 PM
Baron Zemo said...: What youse guys don't know about bras would fill a 48I.; 5/6/13, 3:19 PM
ndspinelli said...: Baron, That's your size, isn't it?; 5/6/13, 5:42 PM
Rusty said...: How can I show my support?; 5/6/13, 8:04 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: chuckR - Don't forget California. There is a great case about Gilbert Hyatt suing and winning against that state (Franchise Tax Board of California v. Hyatt). He was set to win a huge (nine digit) settlement from the Japanese for his patents, and moved to Las Vegas before it was finalized. California didn't appreciate losing millions just because he moved, and so contested that he was no longer a resident of that state. They lost in court, but didn't give up. They hounded him for years, going through his trash, etc. So, he sued them in Nevada, and won a judgement of some $388 million, which went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court (on whether Nevada had to recognize California sovereign immunity for its agencies - he won, it doesn't) for pretty egregious conduct in their harassment of him in trying to prove his wrong. The issue involved taxes for 1991 and 1992, Hyatt won in the U.S. Supreme Court in 2002, and the Nevada courts just this year determined that California needed to post a bond to continue its appeals. And, after 20+ years, his appeal has finally gotten to the board of equalization, which spawned a NY appeals case this year quashing (or, actually greatly limiting) CA's subpoenas in the case. So, the case continues, more than 20 years after the tax years in question. California hasn't given up yet trying to collect some $50 million in taxes (presumably plus a lot of interest). So, the state has a chance at recouping at least some of the Nevada award against them.; 5/6/13, 10:25 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: I really should have said "great cases" with Hyatt and California, since the litigation has been in courts in three states, and all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.; 5/6/13, 10:26 PM
Kirk Parker said...: Althouse,

How could the proposed law not fall afoul of Printz?; 5/7/13, 12:22 AM