Saturday, October 25, 2008
The latest psychological ailment
In these parlous times one has to get one's yucks somewhere. Fortunately, there is straight-faced comedy gold on the front page of the New York Times this morning:
Gov. David A. Paterson’s top aide resigned on Friday, stripping the governor of his right-hand man just as he prepares to tackle a worsening fiscal crisis that could make or break his first term.
The resignation of the aide, Charles J. O’Byrne, came a week after revelations that he had failed to pay his federal and state income taxes for five years beginning in 2001, which he said was a result of his clinical depression.
Mr. Paterson had initially expressed support for Mr. O’Byrne, saying that he did not believe Mr. O’Byrne’s past tax problems and depression should force him out of a job he did well.
But statements from Mr. O’Byrne’s lawyer that his tax delinquency was close to $300,000 and that he may have suffered from a syndrome that causes people to not file their taxes worked to intensify the furor, which seemed likely to disrupt Mr. Paterson’s focus on the legislative elections and the budget talks ahead.
If this new pathology catches on in a big way, America's pharmaceutical companies ought to get to work on a systemic drug that prevents it. That would certainly put them back in the good graces of the Democrats.
11 Comments:
By 
joated, at
Sat Oct 25, 10:11:00 AM:
"That would certainly put them back in the good graces of the Democrats."
Or not, seeing as so manh of those in favor of higher taxes for you and me seem to "forget" to pay them.
By joated, at
Sat Oct 25, 10:12:00 AM:
By smitty1e, at
Sat Oct 25, 10:26:00 AM:
"Dude, like, I was too totally bummed out to pay my taxes and stuff, y'know? Though my stash held steady, so I had that goin' for me."
By 
, at
Sat Oct 25, 10:33:00 AM:
No mention of party affiliation in the entire article.
Sure, it's New York, it must be a Democrat. But, they are always careful about advertising that when their corruption becomes so apparent.
By , at
Sat Oct 25, 10:38:00 AM:
I'd expect a person suffering from a debilitating mental illness to refrain from filing his/her income taxes in anything like a timely or accurate fashion.
Of course, I'd also expect them to fail to show up to work when they should, to flunk out of a favorite subject in school because they couldn't get out of bed for six weeks straight, to refuse to go to the mailbox on their birthday because the delinquent bills outnumber the greeting cards by a ratio of ten-to-one, to have a credit score hovering around 550, and so forth (*). Getting (and keeping) a good job, becoming a star in one's field (chief of staff to a governor?), making timely house and car payments, and the rest of it are not listed as symptoms for any entry I've read in the DSM IV.
(*) From personal experience and observation. Though given that my experiences and those of my friends/family members have happened right out of, or during, college, any of us that forgot to file our taxes would have been expecting refunds, rather than bills, from the IRS.
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Sat Oct 25, 11:04:00 AM:
Re: "he may have suffered from a syndrome that causes people to not file their taxes"
Take it seriously. A couple of high-level IRS guys told me about the problem 20 years ago.
Some people--even some government employees--are afraid of the government.
By Georg Felis, at
Sat Oct 25, 11:09:00 AM:
A drug that would prevent vapid excuses from Liberals? Do you think we can get it in the DC water supply?
/sarc
I have some sympathy for him, when you begin that long slide to bankruptcy, the first stage it denial.
By , at
Sat Oct 25, 12:34:00 PM:
I often marvel at the Herculean strength required for the typical Times reporter to hold a straight face while writing the nonsense their paper sees fit to print. Then again, being such cynical, hyper-partisan shills, they probably sit at their laptops tapping out this garbage laughing so hard their sides hurt and tears roll down their cheeks.
By , at
Sat Oct 25, 01:05:00 PM:
Estimating Joe the Plumber's tax bill
By Angie Drobnic Holan PolitiFact
Oct. 21, 2008, 1:22PM
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During the final presidential debate in Hempstead, N.Y., Barack Obama and John McCain got into an argument about Joe the Plumber.
McCain said Joe would get a bigger tax bill under the Obama tax plan. Obama defended himself by saying that "98 percent of small businesses make less than $250,000" and would not see a tax increase under the Obama plan.
Joe the Plumber is an actual person: Joe Wurzelbacher, who met Obama during a campaign stop a few days before the debate in Toledo, Ohio.
"I'm getting ready to buy a company that makes about $250,000, $270,000, $280,000 a year," he told Obama. "Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn't it?"
Obama said yes, it would --see their entire conversation on YouTube -- but Obama defended his tax policy as being good for people who are struggling.
"It's not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they've got a chance at success, too," Obama said.
During the debate, John McCain mentioned Joe the Plumber at least a dozen times as the kind of small business owner who would pay more taxes under Obama's plans.
It's not clear from the exchange just what Joe means when he says the business "makes" up to $280,000 a year. Is he talking about total revenue? Profits? That's an important point here and it's one that Obama and Joe the Plumber never discussed. Based on Obama's proposals and current tax policy, for Joe's taxes to rise Joe would have to "make" $250,000 in net profit, after deducting all his expenses: his employees' pay, his supplies, his truck, his fuel costs, and other legitimate business expenses. He'd have to be an extremely successful plumber.
In response to McCain's statements during the debate, Obama said only 2 percent of small businesses would be subject to the tax.
It seems likely that Obama is right, according to data and an analysis from the experts at the Tax Policy Center.
Obama's plan is to roll back the Bush tax cuts on the top two tax brackets. In practice, this means that people with income above $200,000 for single people and $250,000 for couples would see taxes increase.
Now what does this mean for small businesses? It's not as easy as you might think to identify small businesses via the tax code. But there are several typical ways that small business owners pay their taxes, usually by declaring business income on their individual tax returns. Many people who declare business income are small businesses, though the group also includes professionals like lawyers, authors, or public speakers.
Looking at all the tax filers who report any business income at all, the Tax Policy Center confirms that about 2 percent will see their taxes increase under Obama's plan.
In an effort to focus more effectively on small business owners, the Tax Policy Center did an additional analysis where they looked at people who reported business income that accounted for at least 50 percent of their income. This means people who derive a significant living off their business income.
In 2007, about 2 percent of those tax filers would have made enough money to see a tax increase under Obama's plans.
There is a small bit of uncertainty in the best data available; it includes some people who we would not think of as traditional small business owners. But still, Obama's statement during the debate that "98 percent of small businesses make less than $250,000" matches the findings of a respected, non-partisan group of tax analysts. For that reason, we rate Obama's statement True.
Researcher Angie Drobnic Holan contributed to this report.
By , at
Sat Oct 25, 01:05:00 PM:
Estimating Joe the Plumber's tax bill
By Angie Drobnic Holan PolitiFact
Oct. 21, 2008, 1:22PM
Share
icon Print
iconEmail
ADD TO DEL.ICIO.USDel.icio.us
ADD TO DIGGDigg
ADD TO TECHNORATITechnorati
Yahoo! Buzz
During the final presidential debate in Hempstead, N.Y., Barack Obama and John McCain got into an argument about Joe the Plumber.
McCain said Joe would get a bigger tax bill under the Obama tax plan. Obama defended himself by saying that "98 percent of small businesses make less than $250,000" and would not see a tax increase under the Obama plan.
Joe the Plumber is an actual person: Joe Wurzelbacher, who met Obama during a campaign stop a few days before the debate in Toledo, Ohio.
"I'm getting ready to buy a company that makes about $250,000, $270,000, $280,000 a year," he told Obama. "Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn't it?"
Obama said yes, it would --see their entire conversation on YouTube -- but Obama defended his tax policy as being good for people who are struggling.
"It's not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they've got a chance at success, too," Obama said.
During the debate, John McCain mentioned Joe the Plumber at least a dozen times as the kind of small business owner who would pay more taxes under Obama's plans.
It's not clear from the exchange just what Joe means when he says the business "makes" up to $280,000 a year. Is he talking about total revenue? Profits? That's an important point here and it's one that Obama and Joe the Plumber never discussed. Based on Obama's proposals and current tax policy, for Joe's taxes to rise Joe would have to "make" $250,000 in net profit, after deducting all his expenses: his employees' pay, his supplies, his truck, his fuel costs, and other legitimate business expenses. He'd have to be an extremely successful plumber.
In response to McCain's statements during the debate, Obama said only 2 percent of small businesses would be subject to the tax.
It seems likely that Obama is right, according to data and an analysis from the experts at the Tax Policy Center.
Obama's plan is to roll back the Bush tax cuts on the top two tax brackets. In practice, this means that people with income above $200,000 for single people and $250,000 for couples would see taxes increase.
Now what does this mean for small businesses? It's not as easy as you might think to identify small businesses via the tax code. But there are several typical ways that small business owners pay their taxes, usually by declaring business income on their individual tax returns. Many people who declare business income are small businesses, though the group also includes professionals like lawyers, authors, or public speakers.
Looking at all the tax filers who report any business income at all, the Tax Policy Center confirms that about 2 percent will see their taxes increase under Obama's plan.
In an effort to focus more effectively on small business owners, the Tax Policy Center did an additional analysis where they looked at people who reported business income that accounted for at least 50 percent of their income. This means people who derive a significant living off their business income.
In 2007, about 2 percent of those tax filers would have made enough money to see a tax increase under Obama's plans.
There is a small bit of uncertainty in the best data available; it includes some people who we would not think of as traditional small business owners. But still, Obama's statement during the debate that "98 percent of small businesses make less than $250,000" matches the findings of a respected, non-partisan group of tax analysts. For that reason, we rate Obama's statement True.
Researcher Angie Drobnic Holan contributed to this report.
By Dawnfire82, at
Sun Oct 26, 07:51:00 PM:
"Take it seriously. A couple of high-level IRS guys told me about the problem 20 years ago.
Some people--even some government employees--are afraid of the government."
Convenient cowardice is being upgraded to a psychological ailment?
'I couldn't possibly pay the $10,000 I owe in taxes. I'm just so afraid...'
