US Politics: March Madness

[OldGimletEye]

Drum on the National Review and Mr. Uhaul Truck Rental Guy.

https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2018/03/national-review-still-has-a-race-problem/

Quote

The Atlantic recently hired hardcore libertarian/conservative Kevin Williamson to be its newest columnist. Liberals are pissed. Partly this is because Williamson believes abortion is murder and therefore any woman who gets an abortion should be executed. This is typical of Williamson: he’s happy to say out loud things that plenty of other conservatives believe but are too smart to admit.

But Williamson also stands accused of racial insensitivity. His most often-quoted transgression is the first paragraph of a cover story he wrote for National Review in 2014. Here it is:

 

Susan Collins says honest guys. Honest. I really believed investors had a high degree of intermporal elasiticity of substitution, calculated over long horizons, with perfect foresight. Honest guys. Honest.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/republican-tax-cuts-not-working-out-the-gop-intended

Quote

Last fall, shortly after Thanksgiving, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) was clearly aware of the criticisms of her party’s regressive tax plan, but she was eager to defend it anyway, insisting that the plan would be implemented effectively. “The purpose of lowering the corporate rate is to encourage job creation here,” Collins argued at the time. “It is not to encourage stock buybacks.”

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Not the best healthcare system in the world?

But, but, but, doesn't that contradict the true conservatism? No not that! Anything but that!

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/3/28/17173828/voxcare-ashish-jha-health-care-prices-us-europe

Quote

Ashish Jha is a health care professor at Harvard. And there’s this thing he used to say when he gave talks, a thing he thought was definitely true about the American health care system.

”I have probably said in more than a dozen talks that our health care system is much more specialty care-driven, whereas in Western Europe there are more primary care physicians, and that mix is just really different,” he’s said. “That mix is really different, and that drives the use of high-cost services. I’ve repeated those words.”

 

Quote

In other words, the thing that separates us from other countries isn’t quantity. It’s price — and that’s the key issue to focus on if we want a health care system that will look more similar to those of our peers.

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Could Democrats win lots of seats in Northern Alabama?

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/3/28/17168802/2018-midterms-predictions-house-pennsylvania-elections

Quote

Pennsylvania holds the key to the 2018 midterms for Democrats — and could determine which party will control the House of Representatives come January 2019.

The good news started for Democrats in this month’s special election for Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District: Conor Lamb beat Republican Rick Saccone in a district that Donald Trump won by 20 points in 2016 and that Republicans had held for 15 years. It kept flowing this week, with a prominent House Republican, Ryan Costello, announcing that he will retire rather than defend his seat and then news that Democrats will likely avoid a contentious primary in another race.

With the filing deadline now past, several races are shaping up to be very favorable to Democrats this November in Pennsylvania.

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Remember back in the day when conservatives engaged in wealth inequality concern trolling? (along with Poor Savers!, asset mispricing concern trolling, inflation is around the corner, etc. etc.)

That looser monetary policy might increase wealth inequality makes some sense I suppose as it boost asset prices. But that’s not the full story.

https://bankunderground.co.uk/2018/03/27/how-does-monetary-policy-affect-the-distribution-of-income-and-wealth/

Quote

Following the onset of the financial crisis, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) cut interest rates to historically low levels and launched a programme of quantitative easing (QE) to support the UK economy. How did this exceptional period of monetary policy affect different households in the UK? Did it increase or decrease inequality?  Although existing differences in income and wealth means that the impact in cash terms varied substantially between households, in a recent staff working paper we find that monetary policy had very little impact on relative measures of inequality. Compared to what would have otherwise happened, younger households are estimated to have benefited most from higher income in cash terms, while older households gained more from higher wealth.

 

[Martell Spy]

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/03/jay-sekulow-michael-cohen-and-the-rest-of-trumps-legal-team-are-no-match-for-robert-mueller.html

Defenseless

Quote

 

Trump desperately needs a crack legal team. But his lawyers are no match for Mueller, and no sane attorney would join them now.

All these defections and brush-offs leave Trump with his personal lawyer, Jay Sekulow—an attorney with no background in criminal law—working full time on the Russia probe. On Wednesday, Reuters reported that one of the attorneys helping Sekulow is Andrew Ekonomou, a little-known former prosecutor with a doctorate in medieval history. Ekonomou, who helped Sekulow represent Jews for Jesus in a case that came before the Supreme Court in 1987, told Reuters that while he hasn’t worked on anything all that big recently, he “prosecutes a lot of murders for the DA” in Brunswick, Georgia.

And that’s about the extent of the legal firepower Trump has in his standoff with Mueller. Donald Trump wants his own personal Roy Cohn. In reality, he can’t even hire a Lionel Hutz.

 

 

[Ice Queen]

Rick Perry and Murray Energy

https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/29/opinions/rick-perry-meeting-opinion-edelman/index.html

Additionally, during this time, the rapidly growing clean energy industry that employs hundreds of thousands of people was also relegated to a footnote through cuts to solar and wind energy research and shifts in focus to fossil fuel development. Perry also tried, unsuccessfully, to manipulate the energy market by attempting to force electricity customers to pay billions of extra dollars to prop up uneconomic coal plants that were ready for retirement. Not surprisingly, the news reports and industry analysts found that the coal plants that would benefit the most from Perry's manipulation attempt would be ones supplied by Murray's coal mines.

 

But that's not even the worst of it. At that same meeting, Andrew Wheeler, the nominee for the number two position at the Environmental Protection Agency, was present. Prior to his nomination, Wheeler spent much of his career as a mining lobbyist, where he worked for Murray and other mining interests in Washington, fighting to shape clean air and water protections in his clients' favor.

 

In addition to Wheeler's past relationship with Murray, it's also been reported that he proactively fundraised last year for two senators on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. This committee is responsible for determining Wheeler's fitness for the EPA and voting to bring his nomination to the Senate floor, making Wheeler's confirmation out of committee along partisan lines last month a potential conflict of interest.

[DanteGabriel]

14 hours ago, GAROVORKIN said:

What we have are empty media  personalities and talking heads and scrip readers. Journalists went extinct long ago.

This is lazy, contemptible bullshit, and exactly the kind of callow dipshittery that makes people suspect your intentions.

There are good journalists out there doing good work. They just aren't on TV much. Don't mistake your ignorance for proof of non-existence.

[Ormond]

As to Trump and "dementia".

I don't think there is any way that an expert on dementia would apply that label to Donald Trump at this time. There is an outside chance that he might have "Mild Cognitive Impairment", which is often a precursor to dementia but doesn't always progress into that. But at this stage I think even a diagnosis of MCI is unlikely.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/mild-cognitive-impairment/symptoms-causes/syc-20354578

[DMC]

39 minutes ago, DanteGabriel said:

There are good journalists out there doing good work. They just aren't on TV much. Don't mistake your ignorance for proof of non-existence.

Methinks a certain poster is a victim of his own selective exposure.

[TheKitttenGuard]

Random Musings on Trump and Amazon.

I am more inclined to just enjoy the fight between Trump and Amazon, and whoever emerges victorious will be very bloodied.

I do not view this as protecting Freedom of the Press regardless that Trump is motivated by WaPo coverage. As sad as it is WaPo is just another within Amazon and I do not see such as a mammoth entity as some protective entity as related to the Freedom of the Press.

There is going plenty of hypocrisy going on and should be used to allow some examination of our current priorities with tax. 

It is difficult to know that I think many Democratic Leaders and (Neo-)Liberal will just want to back Amazon and not want to use this to question the Corporate Tax Structure.

[Mlle. Zabzie]

18 minutes ago, TheKitttenGuard said:

Random Musings on Trump and Amazon.

I am more inclined to just enjoy the fight between Trump and Amazon, and whoever emerges victorious will be very bloodied.

I do not view this as protecting Freedom of the Press regardless that Trump is motivated by WaPo coverage. As sad as it is WaPo is just another within Amazon and I do not see such as a mammoth entity as some protective entity as related to the Freedom of the Press.

There is going plenty of hypocrisy going on and should be used to allow some examination of our current priorities with tax. 

It is difficult to know that I think many Democratic Leaders and (Neo-)Liberal will just want to back Amazon and not want to use this to question the Corporate Tax Structure.

1.  Look, I'm going to say it again, because it drives me crazy:  WaPo is owned by JEFF BEZOS through his family office in an entity called Nash HOldings.  Mr. Bezos is the CEO of Amazon, and is one of 10 directors on its Board.  Per their last proxy, Mr. Bezos owned approximately 17% of Amazon's stock.  Amazon and the WaPo ARE NOT THE SAME.  It is 100% inappropriate for the president to abuse the Executive office to get (f*cking ineffective) revenge against perceived bad coverage in a Newspaper by attacking a public company whose CEO happens to be the owner of the Newspaper.  

2.  Your tax angle is frankly a bit puzzling as well.  So here's some (relatively ignorant, but hey from a liberal source) coverage about the tax thing.  Basically the beef with Amazon is that it doesn't require participants in its marketplace to include STATE sales tax.  That has nothing to do with the Corporate Tax Structure because it isn't corporate tax.  There is actually a Supreme Court case pending at this moment (Wayfair v. South Daktota) that would basically accomplish this anyway overturning Quill v. North Dakota (the physical presence standard).  The other alternative people talk about is the RTPA, which would be Congressional action.  A majority states already have laws in place that purport to go beyond Quill.  They are mixed in their effectiveness, but my experience is that states are really aggressive in collection.  

[Fragile Bird]

23 minutes ago, Mlle. Zabzie said:

  2.  Your tax angle is frankly a bit puzzling as well.  So here's some (relatively ignorant, but hey from a liberal source) coverage about the tax thing.  Basically the beef with Amazon is that it doesn't require participants in its marketplace to include STATE sales tax.  That has nothing to do with the Corporate Tax Structure because it isn't corporate tax.  There is actually a Supreme Court case pending at this moment (Wayfair v. South Daktota) that would basically accomplish this anyway overturning Quill v. North Dakota (the physical presence standard).  The other alternative people talk about is the RTPA, which would be Congressional action.  A majority states already have laws in place that purport to go beyond Quill.  They are mixed in their effectiveness, but my experience is that states are really aggressive in collection.  

I understand that Amazon collects state taxes in all states now, for goods it sells. But it does not collect taxes for 3rd party vendors, I also understand Amazon is now being attacked for not collecting local taxes on top of state sales taxes. Municipalities have sales taxes on top of state sales taxes? Just how fucked up is the US tax system? I can understand the concept of hotel room taxes and restaurant meal taxes, but municipal sales taxes? Really? Or am I misunderstanding the stories?

As for Amazon not paying enough for delivery of packages, I also understand package delivery is a profit centre for the USPS, that their price setting is governed by a law passed by Congress in 2006 (they can't undercut UPS and FedEx, for example), that the big losses (over $2 B a year) are due to first class mail delivery having substantially fallen (like, ever hear of e-mail? faxes?) and the fact they have a huge number of retirees to look after. I also read the attack on Amazon came from an analyst who's firm owns lots of shares of FedEx, so it would be in their interest to see more business sent to FedEx if postal rates go up.

I also understand Amazon pays the same prices that any other big shipper pays (although Amazon really is a class of their own), partly because they participate in a USPS plan to streamline delivery, by using boxes of certain sizes and packaging goods in a manner the USPS finds convenient.

I'd like to see on what basis Trump thinks Amazon can be broken up. They don't have a monopoly, anyone can start a delivery service, anyone can sell on the internet.

I was looking through an old e-mail account I have I was shocked to see a few years ago I got a demand from the state of South Carolina for payment of taxes on Christmas gifts I send to rocksniffer and his niece, SWMBO. When I clicked on the link, though, I was just sent to the web page for the state, which was pretty useless. They didn't even give me an amount they wanted to collect. I ignored them.

[IheartIheartTesla]

I dont care about sales tax that much (its just money), but Amazon should absolutely be criticized for shipping so much air around the country. I know they'll claim there is a special algorithm that allows them to stack boxes better in delivery vehicles, but I claim that's all garbage. And we on the outside cant tell the truth of it because its proprietary.

So as of now I consider them to be not be good stewards of the earth with their wasteful (from a GHG perspective) shipping practices. Working in their warehouses doesnt seem all that great either.

[Tywin et al.]

I totally agree with MZ. No elected official should use their office to attack a public company because it’s CEO owns a private newspaper which has been critical about said elected official. This is some banana republic stuff.

Also, I hope it’s not lost on anyone that world class tax fraud and cheat Donald Trump is complaining about Amazon not paying enough taxes. If WaPo runs that headline, we’ll have narrowed down who is the snake in our midst.

[Mlle. Zabzie]

7 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

I understand that Amazon collects state taxes in all states now, for goods it sells. But it does not collect taxes for 3rd party vendors, I also understand Amazon is now being attacked for not collecting local taxes on top of state sales taxes. Municipalities have sales taxes on top of state sales taxes? Just how fucked up is the US tax system? I can understand the concept of hotel room taxes and restaurant meal taxes, but municipal sales taxes? Really? Or am I misunderstanding the stories?

As for Amazon not paying enough for delivery of packages, I also understand package delivery is a profit centre for the USPS, that their price setting is governed by a law passed by Congress in 2006 (they can't undercut UPS and FedEx, for example), that the big losses (over $2 B a year) are due to first class mail delivery having substantially fallen (like, ever hear of e-mail? faxes?) and the fact they have a huge number of retirees to look after. I also read the attack on Amazon came from an analyst who's firm owns lots of shares of FedEx, so it would be in their interest to see more business sent to FedEx if postal rates go up.

I also understand Amazon pays the same prices that any other big shipper pays (although Amazon really is a class of their own), partly because they participate in a USPS plan to streamline delivery, by using boxes of certain sizes and packaging goods in a manner the USPS finds convenient.

I'd like to see on what basis Trump thinks Amazon can be broken up. They don't have a monopoly, anyone can start a delivery service, anyone can sell on the internet.

I was looking through an old e-mail account I have I was shocked to see a few years ago I got a demand from the state of South Carolina for payment of taxes on Christmas gifts I send to rocksniffer and his niece, SWMBO. When I clicked on the link, though, I was just sent to the web page for the state, which was pretty useless. They didn't even give me an amount they wanted to collect. I ignored them.

1.  Yes.  Depending on the state, different municipalities have the ability to impose sales taxes.  I don't know that it is f*cked up so much as it is different.  I mean, don't get me started on Canadian PUC :P.

2.  Agree with you on USPS.  Stupid criticism.

3.  I don't find the anti-trust arguments against Amazon compelling my own self.  

4.  South Carolina is aggressive on this front.  Several states have "click through" and "cookie" rules which are frankly abusive.  The RTPA if it ever happened would help on this front.

[TheKitttenGuard]

1 hour ago, Mlle. Zabzie said:

1.  Look, I'm going to say it again, because it drives me crazy:  WaPo is owned by JEFF BEZOS through his family office in an entity called Nash HOldings.  Mr. Bezos is the CEO of Amazon, and is one of 10 directors on its Board.  Per their last proxy, Mr. Bezos owned approximately 17% of Amazon's stock.  Amazon and the WaPo ARE NOT THE SAME.  It is 100% inappropriate for the president to abuse the Executive office to get (f*cking ineffective) revenge against perceived bad coverage in a Newspaper by attacking a public company whose CEO happens to be the owner of the Newspaper.  

2.  Your tax angle is frankly a bit puzzling as well.  So here's some (relatively ignorant, but hey from a liberal source) coverage about the tax thing.  Basically the beef with Amazon is that it doesn't require participants in its marketplace to include STATE sales tax.  That has nothing to do with the Corporate Tax Structure because it isn't corporate tax.  There is actually a Supreme Court case pending at this moment (Wayfair v. South Daktota) that would basically accomplish this anyway overturning Quill v. North Dakota (the physical presence standard).  The other alternative people talk about is the RTPA, which would be Congressional action.  A majority states already have laws in place that purport to go beyond Quill.  They are mixed in their effectiveness, but my experience is that states are really aggressive in collection.  

1. I understand that WaPo is not directly under Amazon but I see very little difference as unfair as you view that.  I think there needs to be a strong barrier with any kind of corporate ownership in practice or perception.

2.

Quote

Jeff Bezos’ sprawling e-commerce giant Amazon reportedly raked in more than $5.6 billion in U.S. profits in 2017, but despite that, the company essentially paid $0 in federal income taxes.

http://foxbusiness.com/markets/amazon-earned-5-6b-in-2017-but-paid-no-federal-taxes

Quote

That’s largely attributable to “excess stock-based compensation deductions” and the effect of the 2017 Tax Act, according to the company’s U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing earlier this month. In other words, Amazon was able to leverage the tax credits and breaks to zero out taxes it owed this year, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economy Policy (ITEP), a non-partisan think tank.

The tax plan, which was signed into law by President Trump in late December, slashed the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35%, but it also instituted a mandatory one-time tax on accumulated earnings of foreign subsidiaries.

Amazon will receive approximately $789 million from the tax cuts, but according to filings, the company’s 2017 taxes do not factor in the impact of that second big tax disclosure. While the tax cuts generally took effect on Jan. 1, some companies, including Amazon, have managed to deter or postpone tax liability from prior years as part of a grandfather clause included in the law, ITEP reported.

So Trump is obvious full of a lot B.S. and I understand what really getting to him. It is though an opening for some discussion on our Tax Structure and I just do not want jerk Partisan get in the way when you can reach more of a segment of the other side since Trump is showing it can be brought up.

[Mlle. Zabzie]

16 minutes ago, IheartIheartTesla said:

I dont care about sales tax that much (its just money), but Amazon should absolutely be criticized for shipping so much air around the country. I know they'll claim there is a special algorithm that allows them to stack boxes better in delivery vehicles, but I claim that's all garbage. And we on the outside cant tell the truth of it because its proprietary.

So as of now I consider them to be not be good stewards of the earth with their wasteful (from a GHG perspective) shipping practices. Working in their warehouses doesnt seem all that great either.

But that's not a reason to go after them from a tax perspective.  And look there are lots of companies out there who aren't great to their workers and ship too much.  I mean, forget about retail (though remember that Walmart exists), and think of all the petrochemical companies.  Actually, think about your groceries.  Do you eat 100% local and seaonsal?  I'm not saying that we shouldn't all be better stewards of the Earth and that maybe as an ethical matter we should think more about that and also OSHA and fair wage and hour laws (we probably should though we might not always like the long term implications of what we find).  But to attack Amazon alone for a systemic problem with modern life in the US is absurd.

16 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

I totally agree with MZ. No elected official should use their office to attack a public company because it’s CEO owns a private newspaper which has been critical about said elected official. This is some banana republic stuff.

Also, I hope it’s not lost on anyone that world class tax fraud and cheat Donald Trump is complaining about Amazon not paying enough taxes. If WaPo runs that headline, we’ll have narrowed down who is the snake in our midst.

Well, exactly.  

[Kalbear]

18 hours ago, Yukle said:

Absolutely disagree. Clinton never defended Nazis. The damage that Trump has done by allowing Nazis to be treated as credible alternative parties within America is going to be far-reaching and take generations to repair.

Similarly, Clinton never made a cavalier decision to recognise Jerusalem as capital of Israel. In and of itself, whether this is a good or bad thing is separate to the fact that it was so poorly done that people will die from that decision. It was a bargaining chip and he has already spent it, for nothing in return.

I think Trump has done massive harm to US democracy, but it has largely been legal harm which has been allowed by a spineless congress and a fairly uncaring media. But as far as illegal activities, Trump is still only really getting into scandals that directly hit him that are, well, close to Clintonian. I don't like that but so far that's the facts. Most everything else he's done is largely things that a rank and file Republican would do, or are, well, horrible things that happen to be legal and aren't getting punishment (like the advocating white supremacists). 

And until Trump does something that is obviously more illegal than Clinton, the Republicans are absolutely going to say that personal matters and even lying about affairs are not worthy of being kicked out of office - because they have Clinton as a counterexample. 

[lokisnow]

46 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

 Municipalities have sales taxes on top of state sales taxes? Just how fucked up is the US tax system? I can understand the concept of hotel room taxes and restaurant meal taxes, but municipal sales taxes? Really?

Like most things, Municipal sales taxes go back to the iron fisted control and massive political power rich people and rural people exert on the american tax system. Rich people hate taxes and fight viciously against them being set at actuarily sound levels. Rural people hate taxes and fight viciously against the idea that cities have higher level of expenses not met by the level of taxation, and they don't want to be taxed at the levels the cities need.  The rural folk may only have 15% of the population but they often have incredible veto power to stop actuarily sensible taxation.

Basically cities can't finance acceptable levels of service based on state sales taxes alone (if you're lucky enough to live in a state where the state chooses to send the cities' shares of the state sales tax back to the cities rather than spreading around lots of the cities' money to lavish on rural largesse).  This then leads to cities (or counties) being required to collect their own taxes to fund the level of service the city requires.

(this also means that state wide infrastructure is kind of screwy because all these cities have fiefdom and turfs and territories they protect because there isn't a strong state system that effectively coordinates them because the state doesn't have any money leverage to have the final word, the cities collect their own money. So self interested local water, power, transportation etc infrastructure are all a zillion tiny monarchies.

And it winds up being sales tax because that can be leveled equally on all people. cities never raise property tax anymore because the rich are so politically powerful they have total veto over any actuarily sound property tax system, this leaves only sales tax as the only viable system of collecting money, which is regressive, but cities pretty much have no choice, so they have the poor and middle class bear the brunt of the tax burden by levying ever higher city or county sales taxes.

[Mlle. Zabzie]

3 minutes ago, TheKitttenGuard said:

1. I understand that WaPo is not directly under Amazon but I see very little difference as unfair as you view that.  I think there needs to be a strong barrier with any kind of corporate ownership in practice or perception.

2.

http://foxbusiness.com/markets/amazon-earned-5-6b-in-2017-but-paid-no-federal-taxes

So Trump is obvious full of a lot B.S. and I understand what really getting to him. It is though an opening for some discussion on our Tax Structure and I just do not know jerk Partisan get in the way when you can reach more of a segment of the other side since Trump is showing it can be brought up.

1.  They have completely different governance structures, different ownership and different control.  They do not co-mingle funds.  The owner of one happens to be the CEO of the other.  He has one vote out of 10 on board decisions and given his ownership level and CEO title is excluded from important committees of the board.  Here is the public disclosure in the proxy on the relationship.  "Jeff Bezos, our President, CEO, and Chairman, owns entities that publish The Washington Post, with which we do business in the ordinary course. In 2016, Amazon purchased approximately $1.1 million of advertising from and paid approximately $2.9 million related to digital content to such entities, and such entities were obligated to pay Amazon approximately $174,000 for subscriber services in 2016, all on terms negotiated on an arms-length basis."  I'm not sure what you are advocating, but basically what I see is a bunch of unreasoned handwringing.  Support your position.  Provide alternatives.  Explain why Tywin, above, is wrong.

2.  Ok, let's talk about this article (Love the source btw, FAIR! and BALANCED! PROOFREAD!).  This is an extraordinarily poorly reported story. I don't think the rules of this forum allow me to quote each paragraph and why it is wrong, but if I am wrong about that and can do so with attribution to the original source I am happy to do so paragraph by paragraph.  Among other things it just sort of throws around the kitchen sink of tax things that Amazon has been doing and is linked to a Koch brothers criticism of Amazon, so it's not really giving much real information.  That said, let's look at their 10K for 2017, shall we?:

I believe a lot of the reporting in the article comes from these two paragraphs, but the reporting materially misrepresents the contents of the paragraphs:

"In 2015, 2016, and 2017, we recorded net tax provisions of $950 million, $1.4 billion, and $769 million. The 2017 Tax Act includes a mandatory one-time tax on accumulated earnings of foreign subsidiaries, and as a result, all previously unremitted earnings for which no U.S. deferred tax liability had been accrued have now been subject to U.S. tax. Notwithstanding the U.S. taxation of these amounts, we intend to continue to invest most or all of these earnings, as well as our capital in these subsidiaries, indefinitely outside of the U.S. and do not expect to incur any significant, additional taxes related to such amounts. As of December 31, 2017, cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities held by foreign subsidiaries was $9.6 billion.

We have tax benefits relating to excess stock-based compensation deductions and accelerated depreciation deductions that are being utilized to reduce our U.S. taxable income. The 2017 Tax Act extended through 2026 and enhanced the option to claim accelerated depreciation deductions on qualifying property. Cash taxes paid (net of refunds) were $273 million, $412 million, and $957 million for 2015, 2016, and 2017. As of December 31, 2017, our federal net operating loss carryforward was approximately $226 million and we had approximately $855 million of federal tax credits potentially available to offset future tax liabilities. Our federal tax credits are primarily related to the U.S. federal research and development credit. As we utilize our federal net operating losses and tax credits we expect cash paid for taxes to increase. We endeavor to manage our global taxes on a cash basis, rather than on a financial reporting basis. In connection with its October 2017 decision against us on state aid, the European Commission announced an estimated recovery amount of approximately €250 million, plus interest. The actual amount of additional taxes subject to recovery is to be calculated by the Luxembourg tax authorities in accordance with the European Commission's guidance. Once the recovery amount is computed by Luxembourg, we anticipate funding it, including interest, into escrow, where it will remain pending conclusion of all appeals. We may be required to fund into escrow an amount in excess of the estimated recovery amount announced by the European Commission." [emph added]

Note that they have OVER A QUARTER OF A MILLION NET OPERATING LOSS CARRYFORWARD.  Of course they aren't paying tax.  Let's also talk about what this is talking about.  It's talking about GAAP, not tax.  I read these paragraphs and the tax footnote to the financial statements to say that they had a GAAP deferred tax liability that they reversed as a result of the law, per the following:  "We recorded a provisional tax benefit for the impact of the 2017 Tax Act of approximately $789 million. This amount is primarily comprised of the remeasurement of federal net deferred tax liabilities resulting from the permanent reduction in the U.S. statutory corporate tax rate to 21% from 35%, after taking into account the mandatory one-time tax on the accumulated earnings of our foreign subsidiaries. The amount of this one-time tax is not material. As we complete our analysis of the 2017 Tax Act, collect and prepare necessary data, and interpret any additional guidance issued by the U.S. Treasury Department, the IRS, and other standard-setting bodies, we may make adjustments to the provisional amounts. Those adjustments may materially impact our provision for income taxes in the period in which the adjustments are made."

tl/dr:  The article is full of $hit.  

3.  We have three kinds of taxes, federal, state and local.  There are income taxes and sales taxes.  There are corporate taxes and individual taxes.  Where do you want to start?  I've actually thought a lot about reform.

[Martell Spy]

21 minutes ago, lokisnow said:

Like most things, Municipal sales taxes go back to the iron fisted control and massive political power rich people and rural people exert on the american tax system. Rich people hate taxes and fight viciously against them being set at actuarily sound levels. Rural people hate taxes and fight viciously against the idea that cities have higher level of expenses not met by the level of taxation, and they don't want to be taxed at the levels the cities need.  The rural folk may only have 15% of the population but they often have incredible veto power to stop actuarily sensible taxation.

Basically cities can't finance acceptable levels of service based on state sales taxes alone (if you're lucky enough to live in a state where the state chooses to send the cities' shares of the state sales tax back to the cities rather than spreading around lots of the cities' money to lavish on rural largesse).  This then leads to cities (or counties) being required to collect their own taxes to fund the level of service the city requires.

(this also means that state wide infrastructure is kind of screwy because all these cities have fiefdom and turfs and territories they protect because there isn't a strong state system that effectively coordinates them because the state doesn't have any money leverage to have the final word, the cities collect their own money. So self interested local water, power, transportation etc infrastructure are all a zillion tiny monarchies.

And it winds up being sales tax because that can be leveled equally on all people. cities never raise property tax anymore because the rich are so politically powerful they have total veto over any actuarily sound property tax system, this leaves only sales tax as the only viable system of collecting money, which is regressive, but cities pretty much have no choice, so they have the poor and middle class bear the brunt of the tax burden by levying ever higher city or county sales taxes.

It is indeed regressive. We are stuck with state sales tax in WA because it has always been that way. The status quo is powerful. The trade-off is there is no state income tax. 

Part of the Republicans tax bill was to try to force all states to this regressive system.

BTW, Seattle city council is considering a head tax on large companies to pay for housing and homeless support right now.

[Martell Spy]

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/03/why-trumps-lawyer-dangling-a-pardon-could-be-obstruction-of-justice.html

Dangling a Pardon Could Be Obstruction of Justice—Even if the Pardon Power Is Absolute

Quote

Because a pardon dangle is secret and seeks to discourage cooperation with an ongoing investigation without public scrutiny or consequences, it should be analyzed differently than a pardon when it comes to an obstruction case. Because of the way a pardon dangle operates, it should acquire none of the deference that might be afforded an actual pardon; and if the dangle is found to be orchestrated with a corrupt motive, it should qualify as a potential act of obstruction of justice.

 

[Week]

2 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Also, I hope it’s not lost on anyone that world class tax fraud and cheat Donald Trump is complaining about Amazon not paying enough taxes. If WaPo runs that headline, we’ll have narrowed down who is the snake in our midst.

Paying taxes is considered a punitive (or an act by stupid people*) by republicans. Taxes should be as low as possible unless you are a left leaning state, corporation, individual, etc.

 

*edited to adjust for Trump's previous lies about his** brilliant use of the tax code.
**Actually done by a team of tax accountants