The Cut, Cut, Cut Act!

[Scooter]

So much for "wavering". Not a single Republican saw any reason to vote against this catastrophe?

[BoSoxGal]

It’s going to make them all richer, and pleases the only voters they really care about - the big donors.

They’re a bunch of motherfuckers.

[RayThom]

As Senator Everett Dirksen might have once said, "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money."

The little people just don't understand finances.

[Burning Petard]

I think most GOP congress critters saw many reasons to vote against the tax bill. But they also saw enuf reasons on the other side to vote for it.
Now the voters must remember all this next November and make their own tally for and against. Rarely is there anything that is without any downside. Infamously, the GOP stalwarts in Delaware found they preferred a witch and carpet bagger to represent them in Congress, over the incumbent GOP Senator who was willing to compromise in order to get something done, and that let in the individual who was supposed to be just a place holder against an unbeatable incumbent. So now the Delaware congressional delegation is entirely Democrat, and Cris Coons is on national news media almost weekly.

snailgate

[ex-khobar Andy]

Go Daddy has announced that they will give $1.3 million in end-of-year bonuses to its employees as a result of the new tax law.

Let’s take a look at this. Go Daddy’s profits for the last five quarters have averaged about $330 million. https://amigobulls.com/stocks/GDDY/inco ... /quarterly If it is all subject to the top corporate tax rate currently that would come down from 35% to 21%, that means Go Daddy’s tax savings would be 14% of $1300 million or about $180 million. So in order to make a point about how Trump’s tax plan will end up in the pockets of the workers, the founder of Go Daddy is putting about 0.7% out in the form of bonuses. BFD.

According to Forbes Bob Parsons (Go Daddy founder) is worth $2.7 billion. Doesn't look as if that is going to change much.

In other news, Michael Jackson is dead.

[Sue U]

So I've been reading about what's in the tax act, and it's going to be pretty good for me, personally. I'll lose a hunk of state and local tax deductions, but I'm going to be able to exempt a substantial portion of my income since my business is a pass-through entity, and what remains as taxable will be at a lower rate.

I really didn't need a tax cut, so I'll be using it to make larger than usual donations to ACLU, Planned Parenthood, Public Justice and various educational institutions. My donations to ACLU and PP will be in "honor" of Trump and Pence, respectively.

[Big RR]

That's a great idea sue, I'll probably do the same, at least until the rates go up and I still don't have the state and local tax deductions. I wonder if putting my house in the name of a corporation would allow me to deduct the property taxes...

[dales]

I don't pay income tax, so I really don't care.

[Big RR]

Income tax is a far lesser concern for me than property tax.

[rubato]

The bulk of my income is long term capital gains. 15%, who cares?

Yrs,
Rubato

[Joe Guy]

The bulk of my income is long term capital gains. 15%, who cares?

15% is the Federal LT capital gain rate. California taxes capital gains as normal income at around 13%.

[dales]

Income tax is a far lesser concern for me than property tax.

Me too.

Living in a high tax state, I see no way out unless I relocate to Bumfuck, Arkansas.

[BoSoxGal]

Income tax is a far lesser concern for me than property tax.

Me too.

Living in a high tax state, I see no way out unless I relocate to Bumfuck, Arkansas.

I ‘enjoyed’ very low property taxes and zero sales tax by living in bumfuck (or as I liked to call it, Mayberry-on-Meth) Montana; turns out higher taxes (and traffic) are a necessary evil of living in civilization.

[Jarlaxle]

I dumped my house because of property taxes. I would love to move to Montana is not for the 5 months of winter.

Fuck, Texas is looking good now...20 and snowing here, 8 degrees tromorrow. It's 48 in El Paso, and high of 63 tomorrow!

[Big RR]

BSG--I can't argue with that from my experience; I just resent paying income taxes on monies I paid to another taxing authority.

[BoSoxGal]

The removal of the SALT deductions, among others, is a back door means of raising taxes on the middle class to pay for the massive tax cut to the wealthy and corporations - as are the short-lived, modest cuts to working people’s withholding.

This wealth grab was a disgusting fleecing of the American people. Trump is the biggest cunt who ever graced the White House.

Anybody read the Fire & Fury excerpt in New York Magazine? Or watching the coverage of it? Our President is a fucking moron AND mentally unhinged - his own ‘people’ think so. It’s fucking terrifying.


I bought myself a $200 clearance Emotion Revel/Lifetime Arrow kayak for Xmas - it’s a really decent starter recreational kayak and I saved @ $500 over the original MSRP. (I had to sell the Emotion 8 Comet I got a terrific deal on in Montana, because Delta never returned my repeated calls to the freight division attempting to arrange shipping - they apparently only care about their bulk freight customers, corporate assholes that they are!)

Over the next few months I’ll be spending my few extra bucks each paycheck on a paddle and a few other necessary accessories to outfit my new boat safely, then I plan to spend 4 days every week all season paddling and camping out (I’ve had a nice little LL Bean tent gathering dust in my closet for almost 2 decades while I was being an active workaholic) and birding and otherwise enjoying what is left of the natural world in the Taunton River watershed and along south coastal Massachusetts and Cape Cod. I might even do a trip to Maine and a few nights out on one of the uninhabited coastal islands.

Which is all just to say that I am withdrawing from the larger world and any cares for it; I no longer harbor any hopeful thoughts for the future of our democracy and resent all the years I dedicated toward being a cog within it; I should've focused on having fun in the great outdoors like so many of my college friends did while I was locked away in the library. I’m going to make up for that now as much as possible before I’m dead and gone.

[Jarlaxle]

I had to sell the Emotion 8 Comet I got a terrific deal on in Montana, because Delta never returned my repeated calls to the freight division attempting to arrange shipping - they apparently only care about their bulk freight customers, corporate assholes that they are!

Uhh...what?

[BoSoxGal]

In summer 2015 before I left Montana, I’d gotten a great deal on an unused Emotion 8 Comet kayak - only downfall it was a promotional with ‘Budweiser’ imprinted (instead of Emotion) on the boat. When I knew I’d be leaving I did extensive research on how to get it back east without having to purchase a prohibitively expensive roof rack system necessary for carrying a kayak at high speeds on my vehicle; I’m glad I didn’t try to transport it that way as I drove through horrific blizzard conditions in Minnesota and the worst wind/rain I’ve ever encountered on the road in Wisconsin - even with a very good roof rack system, on my light but high profile RAV the kayak would’ve created dangerous handling issues.

Delta has a $97 shipping fee for kayaks sent freight on one of their planes - but it turns out getting assigned a shipper number for just one kayak is a massive pain in the ass; I’ve been calling for two years and have never been able to successfully complete the shipper designation process so a friend could drop the bubblewrapped kayak at the terminal in Helena for transport to Logan.

I was keen on that kayak because it was small enough to fit *inside* my RAV - but considering much of the kayaking I want to do here is quiet coastal ocean, it’s probably just as well I’ve picked up a boat that is 2 feet longer. I will be getting an inexpensive foam block/tie down strap system for transport, which is more than adequate for shorter distances at moderate highway speeds. The majority of boat launches I’ll be using regularly are within a few miles of my house and at most I’ll be driving a few hours to mid coast or downeast Maine and can make those trips without exceeding 65mph.

Does that help?

[Jarlaxle]

Look on CL for roof racks-and even in junkyards. Plenty of older RAV4s have them.

I suspect FedEx or Greyhound could ship your Emotion8.

[BoSoxGal]

Jarl, did you happen to read the part where I said I’d done *extensive* research?

No, FedEx can’t ship my kayak - neither can Greyhound.

And I’ve been looking for a salvage factory rack from a compatible RAV4 since 2009 - they aren’t, in fact, easy to find.

Thanks much for the ‘mansplaining’ life hack attempt, though.