Politics Thread

[paulxu]

You got a link for that?

Sure;

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/us-depa...ct-initiatives

https://www.taf.org/fbtn2024-covidfraud/

[paulxu]

I'm sure this will help us in the next few years:

Operation Warp Seed was the single best thing Trump did in his first term.

Now, RFK Jr ousted one of the people who made it happened.
‪Dan Diamond‬ ‪@ddiamond.bsky.social‬
·
1h
Breaking: RFK Jr. has forced out PETER MARKS, the nation’s top vaccine regulator.

In his resignation letter, obtained by the Post, Marks said he was willing to work with RFK Jr on his vaccine concerns — but said Kennedy wishes “subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.”

https://bsky.app/profile/emptywheel.bsky.social

[waggy]

Sure;

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/us-depa...ct-initiatives

https://www.taf.org/fbtn2024-covidfraud/

Doge has not started an official audit of the IRS I don't think. It's still an open question on the doge tracker website, and no actions for the IRS are listed on the tracker.

[Strange Brew]

I'm sure this will help us in the next few years:



https://bsky.app/profile/emptywheel.bsky.social

Hmm, don’t know how to form my opinion yet. Please tell me what Mr. Goldberg from “The Atlantic” thinks about it.

Paul, what is the opinion of you and your “college educated” friends?

That “college educated” line is still one of the most most pompous things ever said on this board.

[hoopster68]

Hmm, don’t know how to form my opinion yet. Please tell me what Mr. Goldberg from “The Atlantic” thinks about it.

Paul, what is the opinion of you and your “college educated” friends?

That “college educated” line is still one of the most most pompous things ever said on this board.

SB: You raise a very good point. Dems need to (re)attract blue collar, rural, non-college educated, male and female voters. For too long the party has been driven by Washington based consultants who have not listened to the interests, desires, needs of working class folks. The election of '24 was a result of such policies. Having said that I'd point to the loss by Sen. Sherrod Brown of OH as a reflection on these same voting types: given a choice between a candidate that supports their interests (Brown) vs. a candidate that supports their nativist instincts (Bernie Moreno) they chose Moreno. The Trump/Moreno policies of anti-immigration, tax cuts for the richest among us, tariffs, and a general lack of understanding of what government actually provides contributed to the "throw the bums out" prevalent among these same voters. Dems have a long slog ahead. I predict Dems will prevail in '26 for two reasons: the Trumpster can't control himself and will "overreach" in many spheres causing voters to rebel against Rethuglicans, and the economy will turn sour by the end of this year. Dems will benefit from both. However, mid to long term this does little to solve the problem of (re)attracting these voters. Until Dems find solutions, the country will continue to slide to the right.

[paulxu]

Doge has not started an official audit of the IRS I don't think. It's still an open question on the doge tracker website, and no actions for the IRS are listed on the tracker.

Maybe gutting the workforce doesn't make it to the "tracker." These are "savings" but rather we're losing lots of money from taxpayers who don't even bother to file.

“It’s a lucky day for some taxpayers who owe hundreds of thousands or millions to the government.”

https://www.icij.org/news/2025/03/th...ew-data-shows/

[waggy]

I think what the Doge team is doing is upgrading the tech so that the IRS employees who are searching for taxpayer fraud can do it more efficiently and effectively. The IRS has an outside contractor that it's been working on such an upgrade for over a decade and it's still estimated to be 5 years from completion. All they do is collect a check with no incentive to actually solve the problem. In fact they don't want to solve the problem. Hospitals have a similar scam. Drive by the service entrance and note how many times you see a honeywell or other controls contractor van. The building controls are so complicated (intentionally) that the employees can't even operate it. The controls contractor just collects a check perpetually.

[Strange Brew]

Maybe gutting the workforce doesn't make it to the "tracker." These are "savings" but rather we're losing lots of money from taxpayers who don't even bother to file.

https://www.icij.org/news/2025/03/th...ew-data-shows/

Paul, please post the economic formula for GDP. And then we can talk about taxes.

[paulxu]

I'm interested in the high dollar people who pay no taxes. I'm interested in having them pay their taxes.
I think Republicans are aware of this problem, and that's why they didn't like the last administration adding people to go after the tax cheats
And it was working.
Now of course this administration has let go of a lot of these workers, and as a result we'll lose a lot of taxes that should be paid.
If you're interested in GDP, I have no idea why that bears on this particular IRS topic.
So, perhaps engage someone on the board who wants to discuss GDP.

[bjf123]

So is it your contention that the high income people are not paying taxes by cheating, or by taking advantage of the tax law as written? Most of their income is through investments, partnerships, business ownership, etc. Most of that income is reported to the IRS on various tax forms, so they can’t really hide that. I guess they’re making up deductions and expenses to reduce their taxable income?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk