What a Beautiful Day!

Clear Blue and Twenty Two as we used to say in the helicopter world....just an absolutely great day today! Clear, unlimited visibility, a wee bit of wind, cool temperature warmed by the sunshine....a good day to be out and about.

I made my voluntary contribution to the New New Deal yesterday and feel so good about it.....NOT!

I particularly read with interest (poor choice of wording) the portion of IRS Publication 1040 Instructions (page 82-83) that deals with Past Due Returns, Interest and Penalties. No where in there does it suggest there is a Rangel, Geithner, Daschael exemption from penalties and interest for their tax problems.

Quite the contrary, the wording is quite specific....they said "We will charge you interest on taxes not paid by their due date, even if an extension of time is granted. We will also charge you interest on the penalties imposed for failure to file, negligence, fraud, substantial valuation misstatements of tax, and reportable transaction understatements. Interest is charged on the penalty from the due date of the return (including extensions)".

The Penalty is usually 5% of the amount due for each month or partial month your return is late. The Penalty can be as much as 25% of the unpaid amount with the minimum amount being $135 or the amount of the tax you owe whichever is smaller.

If Fraud is the cause of the late return....then they really get after you. The rate goes to 15% per month up to a a maximum of 75% of the money owed.

If you file a "Frivolous" Return.....one that does not contain the correct data to figure the correct tax then you can be assessed a $5,000 fine just for that.

What the heck....now that Geithner is in charge of the IRS...I guess he will ensure "everyone" complies with the tax law as Daschael suggested in a statement well prior to his being caught out on his own taxes.

Another Senator way back in 1913 had some interesting observations about the new Income Tax Law.....

Senator Elihu Root about the complexity the Income Tax

“In 1913 during the debate on the first income tax act under the 16th Amendment, Senator Elihu Root commented about the complexity of that first law: “I guess you will have to go to jail. If that is the result of not understanding the Income Tax Law I shall meet you there. We shall have a merry, merry time, for all of our friends will be there. It will be an intellectual center, for no one understands the Income Tax Law except persons who have not sufficient intelligence to understand the questions that arise under it.”

We wonder why the approval rating of Congress is a whopping 17-20% at the best of times!

The latest polling data shows only 32% of the American people support the Obama/Democrat Stimulus Bill as passed by the House.

Did we not learn somewhere that if you cannot convince the American People the rightness of your plan......you need to re-think your plan? Every President succeeds or fails by paying attention to the People.