Tag: taxes

United Kingdom Offers Government Employees Time Off To Attend Free Crystal Healing Sessions

Civil servants in the Westminster government are being offered crystal healing sessions, well-being events, and other “hocus pocus bollocks,” allegedly all paid for by the taxpayer.

First publicised and uncovered by the British politics blog, Guido Fawkes, British civil servants working in Westminster are currently offered a number of strange free courses to attend throughout the week, giving them the opportunity to skip work to attend these sessions.

The schedule for November 3 included a 9 a.m. “counselling session” for any ethnic minorities, a two-day “well-being event” entitled “it’s all about me,” and an interactive session at 12 p.m. entitled “reshaping negative thoughts and language into positive affirmations.”

Guido highlighted probably the most insane event of them all, which was “a beginners guide to crystal healing and deep relaxation,” which took place at 2 p.m. The programme invited the government employees to learn about the “benefits of crystals,” and then engage in a “deep relaxation” session. Speaking to Guido, a government minister slammed the sessions as being “hocus pocus bollocks,” and something that you’d expect to find in Los Angeles, “not in Whitehall!”

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China and India set to receive £1.5billion climate aid windfall – despite scuppering COP26 coal pledges

China and India are set to receive a £1.5 billion climate aid windfall despite scuppering a COP26 deal on reducing reliance on coal power.

Richer countries agreed to double funding for developing nations to prepare for global warming at the Glasgow conference earlier this month.

Despite having two of the fastest growing economies in the world, the UN designates China and India as ‘developing states’.

Analysis shows that the two countries received a total of about £700 million from developed countries in 2019, the latest figures available, as well as millions more from investment foundations and private donors.

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Biden Wants To Empower the IRS Despite Its Track Record of Trampling Rights and Undermining Privacy

President Joe Biden’s plan to beef up IRS enforcement and snoop on Americans’ bank accounts will require hiring more than 80,000 additional tax cops—expanding a federal bureaucracy with a long track record of flouting due process and undermining privacy.

As part of Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan, the IRS would get $80 billion in additional funding over the next 10 years. The bulk of those new funds, nearly $45 billion, would be directed toward enforcement actions with the goal of doubling the number of annual audits of small businesses. By comparison, the bill spends a relatively meager $1.93 billion on improving taxpayer services, including education and filing assistance.

In short, for every new dollar the IRS will spend helping Americans understand the endlessly complicated federal tax code, the agency will spend roughly $23 new dollars on enforcing those same rules.

Everyone should pay the taxes they owe, of course, but the IRS’ track record suggests that more enforcement will also mean more trampling of Americans’ due process rights.

“It’s a systematic practice at the IRS to violate due process and to abuse taxpayers,” says Isabelle Morales, a policy specialist for Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative nonprofit that opposes tax increases. Biden is proposing to boost funding “for an agency that needs reform,” Morales tells Reason, “and that will only lead to us fueling their bad practices.”

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United Nations Is Handing Out $800 Debit Cards to Illegal Migrant Families in Mexico Heading to US

Todd Bensman, a Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies recently traveled to Mexico where he is reporting on the tens of thousands of illegal aliens heading to the open US Southern Border.

In Reynosa, Mexico, at a migrant camp, Bensman witnessed the United Nations IOM handing out free debit cards to aspiring US border crossers.

The IOM workers with the United Nations said a migrant family of four gets about $800 a month.

Todd said he watched long lines of migrants get their UN debit cards — paid for by US taxpayers.

US taxpayers paid 22% of the UN budget in recent years.

You can read more about this unbelievable program here.

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Nearly 3/4 of the World’s Dictators Receive US Weapons and Military Assistance

The US supports nearly 75% of the world’s dictators, autocracies, monarchies, military regimes, etc., with weapons, military training and money. Please remember this the next time someone tells you the US should do X or Y because such and such a nation is bad…

Comparing Freedom House’s list of Not Free nations* to FY 2020 US overseas weapons sales, military training and financial assistance**, we find that of the 57 nations considered undemocratic, 42 receive weapons, training and/or money for their military and security services. This means 74% of the non-democratic nations of the world are supported militarily by the US. Interestingly, the remaining 15 nations are nearly all sanctioned. The world’s countries can be divided into two parts: those who buy/receive weapons from the US and those sanctioned. It seems like it’s a pretty simple arrangement.

74% is a slight increase from four years ago when Rich Whitney at Truthout utilized the Freedom House list and compared it to FY 2015 military assistance data. It is likely no surprise to anyone that US support for non-democratic governments increased under President Trump, but, to be fair, it was a minor increase. The hypocrisy and dissonance between stated US support for democracy, liberty and freedom, and how the US government conducts itself exists whether a Democrat or Republican is in the White House.

The list of nations is below. I have listed occupied territories with the nations that are occupying them; so, Gaza and West Bank are under Israel, Western Sahara is under Morocco, Tibet is under China, and Donbas and Crimea are under Russia. Also, please note, this list only includes nations not considered democracies. Nations that are listed as partly free or free by Freedom House, but are clear and gross violators of human rights, and that are recipients of US weapons, military training and military assistance funding, like Columbia, Honduras, India, Pakistan, Philippines, and Ukraine are not included.

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The single biggest provision in Biden bill in first half-decade is tax cut for wealthy

The most expensive item over the first half-decade of President Joe Biden’s climate and social spending legislation is a tax cut for the wealthy.

The Democratic Build Back Better Act, which passed the House on Friday morning, raises the current $10,000 cap on federal tax deductions for state and local taxes to $80,000, a move that leads to a significant tax cut for high earners in states with high taxes.

The provision dwarfs many of the other priorities in the legislation and was included under pressure from a vocal contingent of Democrats from high-tax blue states.

The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said that increasing the SALT cap to $80,000 through 2025 would end up costing the federal government $275 billion in revenue — an amount that is $5 billion more than the next costliest provision in the Build Back Better Act.

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Joe Biden Wants To Have The IRS Harass Americans While Dodging It Himself

The White House fears that an impending Congressional Budget Office analysis will say Democrats’ spending bill would increase federal deficits. The dispute seems unsurprising, given the myriad budgetary gimmicks in the bill—but not for the reasons one might expect.

Ignore for a moment the fact that the bill contains ten years of tax increases to pay for a few years’ of spending that Democrats later hope to extend, meaning that independent budget analysts have pegged the bill’s true ten-year cost not at $1.75 trillion but nearer to $5 trillion. Ignore too the fact that front-loading the bill’s spending means it will almost certainly increase federal deficits in the short-term, exacerbating inflation at a time price increases are already at 30-year highs.

Instead, the proximate dispute with CBO concerns whether an increase in tax enforcement will yield as much revenue as Treasury claims. On that front, one of the biggest arguments against the Biden administration’s position comes via Joe Biden himself.

Dueling Tax Estimates

The New York Times reported Monday that “the White House has begun bracing lawmakers for a disappointing estimate” from CBO, and is “urging lawmakers to disregard the budget office assessment, saying it is being overly conservative in its calculations.” While administration officials say additional tax enforcement will generate $400 billion in new revenue, CBO Director Philip Swagel on Monday said he stood by the agency’s September estimate that enhanced enforcement authority will net roughly $120 billion.

The difference between the lower and higher revenue figures could determine whether the bill gets scored as a budget-saver or budget-buster. Treasury has therefore come out swinging at CBO, with Assistant Treasury Secretary Ben Harris calling the office’s methodology “patently absurd” in an interview with the Times.

Whither IRS Enforcement?

But given his own boss’ conduct, Mr. Harris doth protest too much on tax enforcement. After leaving the vice presidency in early 2017, Joe Biden and his wife Jill created two S-corporations, and characterized most of their book and speech earnings as profits from those corporations rather than taxable wages.

These maneuvers allowed the Bidens to dodge nearly $517,000 in payroll taxes. The Tax Policy Center called the Bidens’ actions “pretty aggressive.” And a recent Congressional Research Service report outlined several instances in which federal courts agreed with the IRS in requiring S-corporations to pay back taxes—all of which arguably applied to the Bidens.

Yet despite the Bidens’ public release of their returns, and coverage of the irregularities surrounding them, no news has yet emerged of an IRS audit. Why?

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