This is my personal crusade to say, "wake up, America! Turn off Fox News and grow a social conscience!" Liberal" is not a four-letter word and I'll defend the liberal cause like a mad dog.
Big Business has purchased our politicians and hijacked our democracy. Trickle-down economics NEVER worked. The liberal media is a myth.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." -- Thomas Pynchon
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Why Do We Have Tax Loopholes Anyway?
I don’t agree with everything that Senator Carl Levin (D-Michigan) suggests. I’m not okay with John Doe summons’, taxing deposits of foreign companies made in U.S. banks, or the anti-money laundering programs (not because I’m for money laundering but I don’t think that’s the job of a financial institution). But at least he’s trying and I think our Congress should be considering these provisions.
Why do we continue to have tax loopholes, anyway? All loopholes originate as the “favor” exceptions for certain industries (that contribute to certain candidates) to get around tax laws that apply to everyone else. They’re BS and they’re bad politics.
You can check out the efforts of Senator Levin at his homepage and see all the provisions of his Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act of 2011.
Tax Loopholes Are The GOP Sacred Cows
In budget negotiations over the past week or ten days, Congressional negotiators and Vice President Joe Biden found about $1 trillion in cuts that they could agree on and were allegedly trying to pin down another $1.4 trillion when Republicans walked away from the bargaining table over the suggestion that $400 billion could come from closing tax loopholes and ending certain subsidies and credits.
One such loophole; the “Last In/First Out” (LIFO) provision. This is an accounting method that allows companies to assume, for tax purposes only, that all of their inventory was purchased at the last (most expensive) price. When they sell that inventory, they falsely reduce their taxable income. International accounting standards refuse to recognize the use of LIFO accounting but the greatest beneficiaries of its use are the oil and gas industries so Republican lawmakers refuse to consider its repeal.
