Volunteer to Pay Taxes in America?..

[Lemonite]

I just wanted to point out to ya'll something that's happening in my home state.. Virginia.. Apparently there's a proposal to a bill to allow people to pay more taxes than required to the government, with a reward of being posted on a website..

I've included a commentary on this issue.. usually I do go for more factual ones, but It seems to have some good points like others of this type I've posted up, but I's just wondering what ya'll think about this.. Would you Pay more Taxes to the government if given the option? As stated in the article, to help out more those programs you so dearly hold close to the heart?

L.Unplugged

EIB:
Folks, listen to this. Virginians who want to pay more taxes, soon will be able to contribute as much as they want and get their names posted on the Department of Taxation Website as a bonus.

"It's the greatest thing since sliced bread," said delegate M. Kirkland Cox, the sponsor of a bill that would expand an existing program that allows Virginians to make voluntary tax contributions. He said this is not a frivolous bill. Officials expect the proposal could add fiftty thousand dollars a year to the state treasury. What do they generate now, tens of millions?

They have one of these in Arkansas. The governor started it there and they've raised three hundred dollars. You know what this proves? This proves that liberals are phony. Liberals hate these programs. It gives the lie to their often stated argument that the public doesn't want a tax cut.

Listen, you leftists out there, admit this. The fact is, when given a chance to contribute voluntarily to all those programs you claim to love - you don't do it. Why is that? Why do you insist the government increase spending yet refuse to offer your own money to pay for any of it?

Could it be that you're selfish and you want somebody else to carry your load? Could it be that while you demand big government, you don't want to pay for any of it? What does this say about you and your philosophy? What does it say?

I think it's time you liberals out there search your souls and confront the truth. You're a bunch of phony baloney, plastic banana, good time rock and roller cheapskates.

[Achtung Bubba]

What is really odd about the story is the presumption that you need a law to do this.

So, right now, if I intentionally gave the government more than they asked, they're REQUIRED to send it back?

Riiiight.

[CannibalisticArtist]

hahahha, they can knock themselves out!

[TheU2]

Originally posted by Achtung Bubba:
What is really odd about the story is the presumption that you need a law to do this.

So, right now, if I intentionally gave the government more than they asked, they're REQUIRED to send it back?

Riiiight.

Yes they are required to return it back. It happens for millions of tax payers every year. Its called a Refund Check.

CK

[Salome]

yep, the government is required to give you back your money


I wouldn't pay extra taxes if not required, which is something very different than being against a tax increase (if this increase is needed to balance a sound budget)

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Salome
Shake it, shake it, shake it

[Achtung Bubba]

Originally posted by TheU2:

Yes they are required to return it back. It happens for millions of tax payers every year. Its called a Refund Check.

CK

Refund checks are instances where you inadvertantly pay too much.

I'm saying, what if I walked up to the U.S. Treasury (or the I.R.S., or whomever) and GAVE them a check that far exceeded what was required: "Here, I *want* you guys to have more of my money. In fact, here's a notarized document that says the same. Take it, because you in all your wisdom know how to spend it better than I do."

Would they STILL be required to give the check back?

I doubt it.

(Honestly, it's telling that we've never seen this happen. I've never heard of a wealthy liberal - who favors tax increases and sees such bills fail in Congress - stand by their principles and give the government more of their money.)

[This message has been edited by Achtung Bubba (edited 02-21-2002).]

[KhanadaRhodes]

yeah, bubba.
they'll probably create some bill or excuse about it being a donation or something, or point out a clause in size 0.0000001 font saying any excess money given to the government can't be refunded or something.

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why i see your face moving in the aerospace, white light shining you're all alone...
ME! all day, every day!
"...a poptart in pants..." -- elizabeth

[melon]

This is the most fucking pathetic excuse for a thread I've seen in ages. I guess this isn't a reflection on Lemonite as it is on whomever "EIB" is.

Let's look at the logic: because most people don't want to pay more than they have to, it means that liberals are phony when they say the public doesn't want a tax cut.

Hmm...could it be that most people just don't want to pay any taxes at all? If anything, it shows that we have to actually levy taxes if we want to keep this government running. Voluntary donations, obviously, aren't going to pay for those new death lasers Bush wants to build. I guess we can continue this conservative illusion that we can somehow not tax people and still be able to build a trillion dollar missile shield, a half a trillion dollar "war on terrorism," and still keep our country running domestically.

You know, I really do wish we never had to pay taxes. I also wish there were never natural disasters or terrorists or poverty or sickness or Republicans at that . But we live in the real world, and we have to pay taxes...except if you're Enron, where you can create 6000 foreign subsidiaries and get a $330 million rebate check from the government. Wake up and stop living in a fantasy world. When we live in a world with no deficit spending, where everyone has all their basic needs met, where we have all of our defense needs met, where all of our schools are more than adequately funded, where our highways are maintained, where our cities are no longer crumbling, when crime is more fully contained, when illegal immigrants are weeded out, and when corporations no longer demand handouts (see stadium building and the NYSE)....then let's talk about tax cuts.

As it stands, though, Bush isn't serious about relief for the working class. My payroll taxes are as high as ever.

Melon

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"He had lived through an age when men and women with energy and ruthlessness but without much ability or persistence excelled. And even though most of them had gone under, their ignorance had confused Roy, making him wonder whether the things he had striven to learn, and thought of as 'culture,' were irrelevant. Everything was supposed to be the same: commercials, Beethoven's late quartets, pop records, shopfronts, Freud, multi-coloured hair. Greatness, comparison, value, depth: gone, gone, gone. Anything could give some pleasure; he saw that. But not everything provided the sustenance of a deeper understanding." - Hanif Kureishi, Love in a Blue Time

[This message has been edited by melon (edited 02-21-2002).]

[Lemonite]

Originally posted by melon:
I also wish there were Republicans at that.
Melon

You write things like this and you just are asking people to tune you out... If you were to remove the bitterness from your tongue, or you were shoving your tongue into your cheek then it'd be a different matter, but I seriously don't think that is the case... It seems out of character for you.. seems...

L.Unplugged

[melon]

Originally posted by Lemonite:
I lied...I'm really a Democrat. Bill Clinton is my favorite President.

You know, I can play games like this too. Learn to have a sense of humor and irony. You seem to think you have one, but hate it when anyone else does. But I have edited in a to make it blatantly obvious for everyone else.

Melon

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"He had lived through an age when men and women with energy and ruthlessness but without much ability or persistence excelled. And even though most of them had gone under, their ignorance had confused Roy, making him wonder whether the things he had striven to learn, and thought of as 'culture,' were irrelevant. Everything was supposed to be the same: commercials, Beethoven's late quartets, pop records, shopfronts, Freud, multi-coloured hair. Greatness, comparison, value, depth: gone, gone, gone. Anything could give some pleasure; he saw that. But not everything provided the sustenance of a deeper understanding." - Hanif Kureishi, Love in a Blue Time

[This message has been edited by melon (edited 02-21-2002).]

[Achtung Bubba]

Originally posted by melon:
Let's look at the logic: because most people don't want to pay more than they have to, it means that liberals are phony when they say the public doesn't want a tax cut.

I *believe* the point was that liberals are phony in that they support huge government programs and large tax increases to support them. They want to require others to give more of their money to the government, but they simultaneously want to keep as much as they can of their own money.

They have a set of standards to which they want the rest of the world to live by, but they do not apply themselves to the same standards. If they REALLY believed in tax increases as a matter of course, the voluntary tax fund in Arkansas would have more than $300.

Hence, the phoniness. Hence, the hypocrisy.

Of course, wanting to keep your own money isn't a bad thing. Conservatives want EVERYONE to keep more of their own money.

[TheU2]

Originally posted by Achtung Bubba:
I *believe* the point was that liberals are phony in that they support huge government programs and large tax increases to support them. They want to require others to give more of their money to the government, but they simultaneously want to keep as much as they can of their own money.

They have a set of standards to which they want the rest of the world to live by, but they do not apply themselves to the same standards. If they REALLY believed in tax increases as a matter of course, the voluntary tax fund in Arkansas would have more than $300.

Hence, the phoniness. Hence, the hypocrisy.

Of course, wanting to keep your own money isn't a bad thing. Conservatives want EVERYONE to keep more of their own money.

This whole Liberal vs. Conservative thing really pisses me off.

CK

[Lemonite]

Originally posted by melon:
You know, I can play games like this too. Learn to have a sense of humor and irony. You seem to think you have one, but hate it when anyone else does. But I have edited in a to make it blatantly obvious for everyone else.

Melon

Oh Dear.. Again, I have to call you out on taking my comments on you and trying to paint them on me.. First of all, I did not play any games in your quote.. I just left out the unnecessary parts.. standard procedure.. How are we to know that you are joking, using sarcasm et al... when your first line includes the statement 'Fucking Pathetic'.. I mean, if someone told me that i was 'Fucking Pathetic', or in reference to me.. I wouldn't think that they'd be joking.. Like I included in my post.. If we thought you were joking, then all would be fine... Haha.. Haha..

I think you realized your error by inserting the smiley face.. the one time I won't rip ya on it.. Thank You.

L.Unplugged

[This message has been edited by Lemonite (edited 02-22-2002).]

[80sU2isBest]

Originally posted by melon:
guess this isn't a reflection on Lemonite as it is on whomever "EIB" is.

I'm surprised you don't know who that is, melon.

Shhh...no one tell him.

[melon]

It's Rush Limbaugh, isn't it?

Funny what I find on Yahoo.com:

"Rush Limbaugh Forum - speak your mind for or against the EIB King."

It wouldn't surprise me. The passage above contains his same level of hysteria and presumptions that one reasonably cannot make. The logic doesn't follow through. We talk about the partisanship of Michael Moore. What about the partisanship of the above passage?

Melon

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"He had lived through an age when men and women with energy and ruthlessness but without much ability or persistence excelled. And even though most of them had gone under, their ignorance had confused Roy, making him wonder whether the things he had striven to learn, and thought of as 'culture,' were irrelevant. Everything was supposed to be the same: commercials, Beethoven's late quartets, pop records, shopfronts, Freud, multi-coloured hair. Greatness, comparison, value, depth: gone, gone, gone. Anything could give some pleasure; he saw that. But not everything provided the sustenance of a deeper understanding." - Hanif Kureishi, Love in a Blue Time

[adam's_mistress]

Originally posted by TheU2:
This whole Liberal vs. Conservative thing really pisses me off.

CK

Thankyou TheU2. My sentiments exactly. The conservative bashing by liberals and liberal bashing by the conservatives in this forum is nothing more than taking the piss.

[Achtung Bubba]

I believe the comments were logical, melon, whatever the source; hence, my reply above.

Everyone else: the debate is much more deeply rooted than a mere "pissing contest." It's an ideological debate to decide how Americans exist - whether security is more important than freedom, or vice versa.

[FizzingWhizzbees]

Originally posted by Achtung Bubba:
It's an ideological debate to decide how Americans exist - whether security is more important than freedom, or vice versa.

This sounds really interesting. When Democrats talk about providing some sort of security to those people who are unemployed, or disabled, or lack health insurance, Republicans are typically opposed to this on the basis that the taxation required to fund such programs is an infringement of their freedom, and that people shouldn't be encourage to rely on the state, they should be able to provide for themselves and so maintain their freedom.

But right now we have almost the opposite situation, where Republicans are willing to give up some of their freedoms in order to provide security against terrorism, but the Democrats are generally more concerned about the erosion of personal liberties.

I know that's a very simplistic analysis, but it just struck me as interesting. Thoughts, anyone?

[Lemonite]

Originally posted by Achtung Bubba:
I believe the comments were logical, melon, whatever the source; hence, my reply above.

Well said Bubba, that is the precise reason I posted it..

It seems the only one who had a problem with it even being posted was Melon.

L.Unplugged