taxes

Chris Knight's avatar

At long last, some in Washington are saying that it’s time to have a national sales tax, which is something that I’ve been advocating for years.

The problem is that these same people want the sales tax in addition to the pre-existing income tax.

Common around the world, including in Europe, such a tax — called a value-added tax, or VAT — has not been seriously considered in the United States. But advocates say few other options can generate the kind of money the nation will need to avert fiscal calamity.

At a White House conference earlier this year on the government’s budget problems, a roomful of tax experts pleaded with Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner to consider a VAT. A recent flurry of books and papers on the subject is attracting genuine, if furtive, interest in Congress. And last month, after wrestling with the White House over the

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Ever since this blog began five years ago, I have very often broken bad on George W. Bush. Because he has consistently proven himself to have been the worst President of the modern era (and quite possibly the worst ever). There have been a few times when I have not hesitated to praise his actions, but those have been few and far between. It will be decades before the damage that he has done to America can be fully repaired, if at all.

But don’t think that The Knight Shift is going to be a safe harbor for pro-Obama sentiment either…

This blog and the admittedly off-kilter guy behind it do not cotton to any ideology. If anyone enters my dojo with the sad notion that I should admire or fear them because they are a self-styled “conservative” or “liberal”, then they are wrong… and I won’t hesitate to land ...

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To quote that bard of our age Will Smith: “AWWW HELL NAWWWW!!!”

The state of Oregon has a problem, according to its governor Ted Kulongoski. In his words, “As Oregonians drive less and demand more fuel-efficient vehicles, it is increasingly important that the state find a new way, other than the gas tax, to finance our transportation system.”

So Governor Kulongoski wants to use Global Positioning System technology to impose a “mileage tax” that will “replace” the gas tax.

If his mad plan proceeds and you are an Oregon citizen, every time you take off in your car its movements will be monitored by your state government, and a tax will be imposed for each mile that you drive.

I’m gonna say it, my Worst Possible Epithet for Anything: This sucks donkey’s balls to no end.

If Kulongoski gets away with this, it’ll only be persisting the pattern that ...

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Governor David Paterson has revealed his $121 billion budget plan for New York State and it includes proposals that actually trump California’s “snack tax” of the early Nineties in terms of utter lunacy. There are 88 suggested new taxes and fees, including for digital downloads of songs for iPod and other music devices, beer, soft drinks, cable and satellite television services, movie tickets, and massages (?!?).

This reminds me of 1993, when then-President Clinton was trying to pass a retroactive tax increase (which passed in Congress). I called my Representative in the U.S. House, who at the time was Steve Neal. Never got through to him personally (but then since when does a citizen ever get through to his or her Rep?) but I asked his staff numerous times: “When was the last time that a government taxed itself to prosperity?” They couldn’t give an answer. Neither is Governor Paterson ...

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I’ve always appreciated Dr. Walter E. Williams’s perspective and candor. There have been times when I didn’t necessarily agree with him, but whenever he writes or speaks it’s apparent that it only comes after investing considerable thought into the matter. For that reason alone, I would recommend Dr. Williams as someone far above and removed from the rest of the “talking heads” out there.

Over at Townhall.com Williams has posed the question: “Are Americans pro-slavery?”. It’s a fairly short but rich piece that should have everyone reading it question whether they are really free or not.

Personally, I don’t believe that the state of condition in America fosters anything but captivity to the current system. That we aren’t “owned” in terms of there existing a title deed with one’s name on it doesn’t change the fact that most of the product of our own labor does go to bigger ...

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Barack Obama is suggesting a $15 billion tax on the profits of oil companies. That would allegedly be used to provide $1000 of tax relief for families and other “assistance”.

This is a worse idea than George W. Bush’s “stimulus” package… and that’s already the most irresponsible and foolish bit of enacted legislation that I’ve seen in Lord knows how long.

Does Obama believe that his proposal is going to slash the cost of fuel, which is soaring well past the ability of most people to easily afford? If anything it’s going to make those costs increase even more dramatically. The oil companies will simply pass along the expense to their customers.

Obama’s only motivation in forwarding this idea is that he wants to tap into the seething rage that many people are now feeling toward the oil companies, which are enjoying record profits. It’s just a gimmick he’s ...

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Have you finished your annual tribute to the Almighty Government yet, fellow serf?

The income tax is at once the most evil and the most accepted form of slavery of modern times. Has anyone ever stopped to think about how much free time that the federal government demands of us, that could otherwise be used productively, as we the people see fit?

Instead we try to earn more to get things that we don’t really need, and to pay more and more taxes to a government that can’t cut its own wasteful spending.

Why the Hell should my money go to subsidize an illegal alien’s welfare, or that of some unwed kid who gets pregnant multiple times without bothering to find a job to support them on her own? I’m trying to make my own destiny, dammit… and not I or anyone else can be free to do that ...

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The $600 per individual and $1200 per couple that President Bush and Congress are going to give everyone in the country so that we’ll forget how much they’ve FUBAR-ed our economy.

I know what I’m going to do with mine…

I’m going to buy a gun. And ammo. Lots and lots of ammo.

The way things are going lately, that’s probably going to become a very wise investment in the short term....

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Something I haven’t let y’all in on nearly as much as I should have: I am a die-hard Bulldogs fan. When the girl of your dreams is a grad student at the University of Georgia – the school whose motto should be “Play Football or Die” – you tend to get caught up in the spirit of the place very quickly as you start making regular visits to Athens.

Seriously though: it’s a great university. Even though I’ll always be proud of my alma mater Elon, you can often find me wearing a Georgia Bulldogs t-shirt whenever I’m out. So I was especially glad to find that this very good article about presidential candidate Ron Paul was written by J. Patrick Rhamey for The Red and Black, the student newspaper at UGA …

What are our traditional values? Looking across history, they are most certainly not wire-tapping, secret prisons, and

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