Your Income Tax Refund

The first day of electronic filing will be, Wednesday January 30th 2013, and the Internal Revenue is assuring the taxpayers that they are prepared, except for those few who will require the forms that aren't quite ready. I'm wondering if the Internal Revenue will be able to handle all the returns at one time.  It used to start on about the 17th, and it would take 8 to 10 days to get your refund, but that two-week delay means millions will be filing on one day. The IRS computers have been logged jammed in the past with a lessor load.

This year the IRS is giving taxpayers EXPECTED REFUND dates;they are encouraging taxpayers to go to their website" Where is my Refund."  The web site will take you through a three stage process: (1) acknowledge that they received your return (2) tell you where the return is in process(3) tell you the exact day your refund should be at your bank or home.

I remember a couple of my friends who wouldn't listen to the amateur financiers and always over withheld by $7000-$9000,so they would get their refund back in late January or early February. Coworkers would tell them  that they were giving the IRS an interest-free loan, but those same people were envious when my friends said they were going on vacation once they got their refund. Sure they might have had a few more taxable interest dollars if they would have put  that money in the bank, but they were satisfied with their tax planning.

I also had friends who would purposely under withheld and got angry every year when they had to write that check to the IRS. Each year they would write those big checks, and some had penalties because they did not withhold at least 90% of what was due.

I had one friend whose greed led to his gullibility. He bought a tax protester kit for $75, which instructed him to list nine dependants on his Form W4, although he only had one child. Human Resources mailed his signed W4 directly to the IRS as they were supposed to do. One day he was told to go to Human Resource because an IRS agent was on the line. According to his story, Human Resources handed him a new W4 and some papers for his immediate dismissal if he did not.

The Internal Revenue has some egg on their face. They decided that all those who prepared tax returns for a fee had to take a test and become registered. They told the perspective preparers that they had to get a Preparer Tax Identification Number which cost $63(annual renewal) before they could take a  $116 test to become a registered tax preparer. Some candidates paid ~ $100 for on line courses to help them prepare for the tests that were held in per-determined larger cities. Starting this January the new registered preparers had to have 15 CPE credits, which would have amounted to about $400 for two  courses over the year. Three libertarian tax preparers thought the IRS overstepped their bounds and sued in federal court. Federal judge Boasberg agreed with them citing  that the text of the relevant statute does not support what the IRS claims as its authority to regulate tax preparers. The IRS said the preparers who passed the test can keep the title...:-)

First Saturday Vent of 2013

I wish I didn’t have to listen to “What’s wrong with the GOP" every single day but unless I’m willing to bypass all the talk shows I’m stuck with it. I don’t really care what happens to the GOP because we will always have a two party system no matter how you brand it. I’m also tired of listening and reading all the nonsense that substitutes for an honest debate over the issues that we have to confront.  I’m reminded of an old song “ You can’t soar with eagles when you hang out with turkeys.”

I don’t have to go far to prove my point because I can usually find a letter in my local newspaper to prove my point. A couple of days ago,John Price of Victoria wrote a letter he titled “ What is being done about these problems?” The writer asks for accountability and I’m all for that. I would start with the fiasco in Iraq,an attorney general lying to both chambers of Congress (while under oath) outing a CIA agent and circumventing the constitution by torturing people. Right now, I would settle for the culprits of the 2008 financial crisis to be held accountable.

Mr. Price wants facts about “Fast & Furious” but all he has to do is fire up his computer bring up his favorite browser and he would find that The OIG investigation "revealed a series of misguided strategies, tactics, errors in judgment and management failures that permeated ATF Headquarters and the Phoenix Field Division, as well as the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona and at the Headquarters of the Department of Justice."

The report also details serious mistakes in DOJ's response to congressional inquiries about "Fast and Furious."

The Inspector General's review has recommended 14 Justice Department and ATF officials for disciplinary and administrative review, including the head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer. “What more does John Price want?
As for Benghazi,I heard the president and Hillary Clinton take responsibility . People like John don’t listen to hearings because if he had he would have found out why the state employees were not fired
“
During Wednesday’s House hearing on Benghazi, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) pressed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to explain why the four State Department employees cited for leadership failures prior to the attack were only placed on administrative leave and not fired.

“First, all four individuals have been removed from their jobs,” Clinton began. “Secondly, they have been placed on administrative leave. Thirdly, Ambassador Pickering and Admiral Mullen highlighted the reason why this has been so complicated. Under federal statute and regulations, unsatisfactory leadership is not grounds for finding a breach of duty.”

“Fourth, I have submitted legislation to this committee and to the Senate committee to fix this problem so future ARBs (Accountability Review Board) will not face this situation. Because I agree with you, there ought to be more leeway given to the ARBs.”

In John Price’s series of  right –wing talking points he calls for a flat tax (done in the GOP House & Ways and Means Committee) but he probably doesn’t know how unfair that system would be on poor and the working middle class who usually pay ~6.0% tax effective rate.He’s all about trying to get all he can from the poor thinking it means he might have to pay less.  What are we going to do if the poor can’t come up with the 5-10 percent? That would be $600-$1200 John, are we going to jail them?

Yes, the Senate should produce a budget, and the house should produce one that won’t send us into a double- dip recession, and be unbearable for the poor. The Senate is current working on a budget, and they leaked that revenues will part of their proposal. Immediately, Mitch McConnell told the press that revenues would not get Republican votes. Even if they could get the 51 votes (reconciliation) to pass;it would be dead-on- arrival when it reaches the house. That’s we’ve had the continuing resolutions to keep the government running.

I don’t think President Obama would stand in the way of reforming Social Security and Medicare, but if you look at Paul Ryan’s plan to balance the budget in 38 years, he doesn’t lay out any specific plans, and that’s what’s missing from all the GOP proposals. Paul Ryan plan would send Medicaid block grants to the states, leaving them to tell the poor that there’s no money to take care of them.

In winding down, I want to give a tip-of-the hat to those principled Republicans who publicly stated that it was wrong for some GOP controlled states to rig the electoral process in their state. President Obama handily won states like Michigan,Ohio,Florida,Virginia,Pennsylvania  and Wisconsin but because of gerrymandered districts, Republicans control the governing bodies. Republicans are not blind they see the new demographics, and they know the don’t stand a chance of ever winning another national election, unless they make some changes. Some want redraw their districts, which is legal. Let me give you an illustration.Let’s take our area where we could divide Victoria into four congressional districts divide Jackson and Gonzalez by two giving the GOP 8 electoral votes based on winning those districts. Democrats usually live in big cities like Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Antonio,Houston, and Dallas, so that gives them only 4 electoral votes. If we go to a system like this, we can no longer laugh when a ruthless dictator in a third-world country  gets 99% of the vote.