IRS Rules Bitcoin Property Not Currency.

The IRS ruled that virtual currency, such as Bitcoin (BTC),  is not considered currency, but property for U.S. federal tax purposes. In other words, it does not have legal tender status in any jurisdiction. 

“The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is aware that “virtual currency” may be used to pay for goods or services, or held for investment. Virtual currency is a digital representation of value that functions as a medium of exchange, a unit of account, and/or a store of value. In some environments,it operates like “real” currency-- i.e., the coin and paper money of the United States or of any other country that is designated as legal tender, circulates, and is customarily used and accepted as a medium of exchange in the country of issuance -- but it does not have legal tender status in any jurisdiction.

Virtual currency that has an equivalent value in real currency, or that acts as a substitute for real currency, is referred to as “convertible” virtual currency. Bitcoin is one example of a convertible virtual currency. Bitcoin can be digitally traded between users and can be purchased for, or exchanged into, U.S. dollars, Euros, and other real or virtual currencies. For a more comprehensive description of convertible virtual currencies to date, see Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) Guidance on the Application of FinCEN’s Regulations to Persons Administering, Exchanging, or Using Virtual Currencies (FIN-2013-G001, March 18, 2013)

General tax principles that apply to property transactions apply to transactions using virtual currency. Among other things, this means that:

• Wages paid to employees using virtual currency are taxable to the employee, must be reported by an employer on a Form W-2, and are subject to federal income tax withholding and payroll taxes.
• Payments using virtual currency made to independent contractors and other service providers are taxable and self-employment tax rules generally apply. Normally, payers must issue Form 1099.
• The character of gain or loss from the sale or exchange of virtual currency depends on whether the virtual currency is a capital asset in the hands of the taxpayer.
• A payment made using virtual currency is subject to information reporting to the same extent as any other payment made in property.

Really? Does the IRS really expect everyone who buys a cup of coffee with digital "currency," like BTC, to track capital gains? What a bureaucratic nightmare! However, I'm sure the IRS has no problem creating more administrative bureaus to deal with tracking virtual "currency" transactions. Not to mention, the burden on virtual "currency" users. But as Oscar Wilde said, "The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy."

Links:

What the IRS Bitcoin Tax Guidelines Mean For You

Are the IRS Capital Asset Rules Realistic for Small Transactions?

Fiat Link - watch the world's currencies flow into BTC in real time.

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Oklahoma: Turning Disasters Into a Military Style Takeover?

A witness (below) tells of the "war zone" in Moore Oklahoma after the devastating mile-wide tornado touched down.  He said, all of the "abc" agencies are everywhere, including the FBI, however, he claimed, they're not there to help the people...they're there to issue threats of lethal force and to issue lock-downs, as if the survivors are not traumatized enough. 

Moreover, the  witness said the schools were on lock-down prior and during the tornado, and the message now, is, "if you loot, we will shoot". In this type of situation, I would think it's hard to tell who is a looter and who is desperately searching for loved ones, possessions, food, water.  He said people were literally walking down the interstate with nowhere to go.

Unfortunately, all immediate federal disaster aid seems to come  in the form of a military presence and bi-partisan authoritarian posturing and very little, if any actual help.

Meanwhile, Barbara Boxer pushes for carbon tax, blaming the tornado on global warming.

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Carbon Capitalism and Global Warming Propaganda

Last night, President Obama, in his State of the Union address, stated our nation must do more to fight climate change, urging lawmakers to use market based solutions, and promising executive actions if they did not comply. However, market-based "solutions" to global warming will only line the pockets of the wealthy, while making the poor bear the costs- without even tackling the causes of global warming. In other words, it's a scheme, and a very profitable one.

According to Christopher C. Horner, author of the book 'Red Hot Lies: How Global Warming Alarmists Use Threats, Fraud and Deception to Keep You Misinformed' Enron came up with the term, "cap and trade". That, right there, should be enough to make you question the whole concept of market-based solutions to global warming or climate change.  Effectively, this approach will only further impoverish those already  in poverty, and profit those who already win in this fixed global casino of ours. In the European Union this system is known as the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

It's not that global warming is not real, it's that global warming is not anthropogenic (man-made), and not as catastrophic, as Oscar winning, Al Gore makes it out to be (the oceans are going to rise 20 feet, yet Al buys a $9 million ocean front home?). As for "An Inconvenient Truth", just do a little research to find out how much Al Gore, who is worth 50 times more than he was when he Vice President, stands to profit from market based solutions to global warming. Filthy rich comes to mind

"Al Gore likes to say that mankind puts 70 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every day. What he probably doesn't know is that mother nature puts 24,000 times that amount of our main greenhouse gas -- water vapor -- into the atmosphere every day, and removes about the same amount every day. While this does not 'prove' that global warming is not man-made, it shows that weather systems have by far the greatest control over the Earth's greenhouse effect, which is dominated by water vapor and clouds." -- Dr. Roy W. Spencer

"With help from friends at Goldman Sachs, Gore has established a network of organizations to promote the “climate crisis”—and keep himself in the spotlight. Gore’s crusade already has had an enormous impact on corporate decision-making and government policies.[...]As for Al Gore, the former U.S. vice president brings emotional fervor to his carbon crusade. He travels the country displaying charts and graphs, quoting scientific experts, and appealing to philosophers and religious leaders to save the planet from global warming. But he says nothing about his business partners who yearn to trade on the emerging carbon market. We know little about his former political associates who now staff the “climate crisis” advocacy groups. And the media pays no attention to the companies offering “carbon advisory services” that will profit from federal carbon emission controls."-- Deborah Corey Barnes, Capital Research Center

Did you know that if you fly to Europe, you pay a tax to offset the carbon your flight emits?

Under protest from US Congress, the EU is dead set on charging a carbon tax for all flights flying in and out of any EU airports, that is, flights that fly over international waters. However, the fact that they do not own the airspace doesn't stop the EU from imposing their tax.  A United Nations organization called ICAO, which regulates global airlines has promised to figure out a way to calculate the carbon emissions for air travel, but has not produced anything as of yet, so the EU will take unilateral action if a global solution is not reached at The United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization multinational meeting in September on the airlines issue.

The nonprofit group Transport and Environment found that last year, airlines in the U.S. collected as much as a billion dollars from its passengers to comply with a European Union law that has yet to go into effect.

Links:

Uprooted

"...in the complex chain of relationships in the carbon market, no-one wants to take responsibility when things go wrong. Even if it means people are being driven out of their homes.

Global Warming: Schnitt Show Global Warming List

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What Eats Up 53 Cents Of Every Tax Dollar?

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$21 - $32 Trillion Hidden in Secret Tax Havens,

Wealth does not trickle down. It floods offshore in an amount roughly equal to the combined GDP of the United States and Japan, according to the new report The Price of Offshore Revisited

At least $21 trillion of unreported private financial wealth was owned by wealthy individuals via tax havens at the end of 2010. This sum is equivalent to the size of the United States and Japanese economies combined. The research comes amid growing concerns about the enormous gulf between rich and poor in countries around the globe.

There may be as much as $32 trillion of hidden financial assets held offshore by high net worth individuals (HNWIs), according to our report The Price of Offshore Revisited, which is thought to be the most detailed and rigorous study ever made of financial assets held in offshore financial centres and secrecy structures.

Credit Suisse’s global wealth estimate for mid-year 2011 puts total global wealth at $231 trillion, including financial assets and non-financial assets (principally housing and land) at market value . Credit Suisse does not offer a figure for offshore holdings but the ratio of this $231 trillion figure to TJN’s $21-32 trillion figure headlined above is roughly 1:10, supporting our view that our new estimates are reasonable and conservative.

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California Deficit is a Big Lie

Clint Richardson, author of the Reality Blog, and producer of the documentary, Corporation Nation, which exposes the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) - the full accounting of government and its investments...the true source of financial auditing for government that's  never spoken about publicly -in his latest article, reports once again, on "the purposeful omission of massive amounts of wealth by your government". Specifically, Jerry Brown's big lie: that California's deficit is now "$15.7 billion, far greater than the original $9.2 billion estimate in January. (CNN, May 15, 2012)"

The Simple Truth

The State Government of California has $100′s of billions in liquid investments and assets, could easily pay off all of its debt tomorrow, and would have $100′s of billions left over.[...]

Richardson  explains and proves that over $577 billion in investment fund balances aren’t being reported by the California State, (California CAFR) contrary to what Jerry Brown claims in the government's latest propaganda video.

"So… is California in such a financial deficit, as the Governor and his proposed and revised budget plan so matter-of-factly states?

This is the question that we will be answering today. But in order to answer this question, we must go to the true source of financial auditing for government, the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR). This report – the full accounting of government and its investments – is virtually never spoken of publicly. It is not mentioned on the nightly news. And it is not referred to when addressing the people about taxpayer issues and budgetary considerations and shortfalls. In short, this CAFR report is the Holy Grail of government accounting; very difficult to read and comprehend, and worse of all… it is hidden in plain sight."

Below, Brown addresses and purposefully lies to the people of California, threatening to cut school funding by multiple billions if the people of the State do not vote in favor of his new budget plan.

Now, the first thing that must be understood is the difference between the partial “budget report” as referred to above by the Governor, and that of the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report – which is the full audit of the California government. The following paragraph is taken directly from the 2011 CAFR report, and explains this difference quite succinctly…

On page 200, the 2011 California State CAFR explains the following (emphasis mine):

“On a budgetary basis, the State’s funds are classified as either governmental cost funds or nongovernmental cost funds. The governmental cost funds include the General Fund, most of the funds that comprise the Transportation Fund, and many other funds that make up the nonmajor governmental funds reported in these financial statements. Governmental cost funds derive their revenue from taxes, licenses, and fees that support the general operations of the State. The appropriations of the budgetary basis governmental cost funds form the annual appropriated budget of the State.

Nongovernmental cost funds consist of funds that derive their receipts from sources other than general and special taxes, licenses, fees, or state revenues and mainly represent the proprietary and fiduciary funds reported in these financial statements. Expenditures of these funds do not represent a cost of government and most of the nongovernmental cost funds are not included in the annual appropriated budget…”

And so we can see that governments participate in many business activities; and we must first and foremost understand that a large portion of liquid investment assets are held within what the government calls “non-governmental” activities, including “Enterprise Operations”. These investment assets are usually kept in what are called “Investment Funds”.

But government is only obligated (by its own law) to report what it refers to as “governmental” or “taxpayer” activities to the citizenry on its “Budget/Appropriations Report”. Tax in… Tax out…

In short, the Governor of the great corporate State of California is lying to his taxpayers through the act of omission of these CAFR facts, by only referring to a hand selected portion of that CAFR, which is called the State’s annual budget report. While this should be tried as perjury, the laws of the State/Federal government protect him from this ever happening.

To help in your understanding, let’s say that you were to have a checking account with $1,000 and a savings account with $10,000 in two different banks, and that you only reported to the government that you had $1,000 dollars as your net worth because you don’t want to use your savings account to pay bills (taxpayer obligations) to government. You’d be audited and put in a federal debtor’s prison. But for government, the simple designation of “non-governmental” or “non-taxpayer” income and investment returns allows them to hide all of this wealth from the people and the “Budget Report”, while never mentioning the funds and wealth in the CAFR report. The only difference is that government does this legally – because government makes its own laws!

Why do they do this?

The answer is simple, really… TO JUSTIFY THE CONTINUATION OF, THE RAISING OF, AND CREATION OF NEW TAXES!!!

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The Bill That Will Give IRS Power Over Travel

The majority of Americans do not realize how fast power is concentrated in the executive branch of the government, so they ignore, or make excuses for bills and laws passed by Congress, written in deliberately confusing language, that will limit their freedom. That is, if they're even paying attention, and thanks to our corporate controlled media, paying attention takes time...lots of time that most people do not have to witness the convoluted system of barriers to their personal movement...your rights to property, privacy and freedom. The bottom line is recent legislation has effected the average citizen far more than any so-called "terrorist" lurking in the shadows.

Here is a prime example:  S. 1813: MAP-21 “Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act” that passed the Senate by 74 to 22, that will more than likely sail through the House. This is a move to: “reauthorize Federal-aid highway and highway safety construction programs, and for other purposes.” This bill, proposed by Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer, includes an amendment that will stop any American citizen from leaving the country based upon a decision by the IRS. Another violation of due process.

Specifically, section 40304 - written by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid - states: “Revocation or denial of passport in case of certain unpaid taxes.” This amendment would authorize the State Department to revoke, deny or limit passports for anyone the Internal Revenue Service certifies as having “a seriously delinquent tax debt in an amount in excess of $50,000.”

Well, since the IRS never makes any mistakes, this should contain the elite power brokers, right?   Because, the vast number of Americans do not even earn $50,000, let alone owe $50,000 in taxes.

I wonder if the IRS has ever accused someone of owing $50k who didn't really owe it? Wonder if they would EVER do it in the future? It's a pretty easy thing for such an agency to do.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had assessed a Trust Fund Recovery Penalty (TFRP) against our client for unpaid payroll taxes Our California tax attorneys filed a request for a collection due process hearing and convinced the IRS Appeals Officer that its determination that the client was liable for the TFRP was erroneous in its entirety saving our client almost 1million dollars.

While she was married our client incurred joint income tax liabilities in excess of $1,000,000. We were able to convince the Internal Revenue Service that our client was an innocent spouse pursuant to Internal Revenue Code § 6015, and the IRS wiped out her entire tax bill.

Our clients were the owners of a closely held family company. After an audit the IRS claimed that the compensation paid to them was unreasonable, and therefore disallowed $750,000 per year in deductions over a multi-year period. The case was referred to our firm by a tax attorney who had spent over two years negotiating with the IRS, without achieving a settlement. Our firm negotiated a settlement with the IRS that saved our clients $2.1 million in tax, penalty and interest.

The IRS claimed our client owed almost $2 million dollars in income taxes due to alleged errors on his tax returns. After filing a petition with the United States Tax Court we settled the case for approximately $20,000.

The IRS claimed our clients owed over $35,000 as the result of an audit. Due to technical errors made by the IRS we were able to convince the IRS to abate the full amount of the taxes and to refund amounts previously paid. [under $50K but it could have been any amount.]

The IRS determined that our client owed a tax debt of approximately $61,000 based upon a trust fund recovery penalty imposing personal liability for corporate payroll taxes. After our intervention the IRS Appeals Division conceded that a mistake had been made and that our client didn't owe any portion of the trust fund recovery penalty.

The IRS determined that our client owed a tax debt of approximately $155,000 based upon a trust fund recovery penalty imposing personal liability for corporate payroll taxes. We convinced the IRS that our client was not a responsible officer and nothing was owed.

Our client received a statutory notice of deficiency from the IRS after an audit claiming that over $230,000 was owed. After filing a petition with the United States Tax Court a settlement was negotiated for less than $4,600.

An offer in compromise submitted by our client's accountant was rejected when the IRS determined that he could afford to pay the total tax due of over $131,000. We convinced the same IRS specialist in offer in compromise to accept less than $30,000. [there are many examples of substantial amounts owed but negotiated to under $50K]

just a few examples located on the website of a Los Angeles tax lawyer randomly spotted from a Google search. there must be many, many more cases nationwide where the IRS has falsely or incorrectly claimed someone owed substantial amount of taxes of over $50K when that person/entity did not in fact owe that much or in some cases, any taxes at all. Ripe for abuse.

Oh, and let's not forget about the Capitol Controls expected in 2013, which would force Americans to keep their money from going offshore.

The Intergovernmental “FATCA Partner Framework” a joint statement issued by the US Treasury along with the governments of the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FACTA)

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Everyone But an Idiot Knows That The Lower Classes Must Be Kept Poor

...or They Will Never Be Industrious” —Arthur Young; 1771

It is no secret that an infinitesimally small number of people own a vastly disproportionate amount of wealth. Therefore, it should be no secret that our economic/political system is based on the greed of this infinitesimally small number of greedy power-hungry people. Yet, most Americans still believe that the governing class is well-meaning, albeit, a little dense.

Never mind the continuous creation of government policy that is hell-bent on depriving increasing numbers of us the means for self-provision. Never mind the too-big-to-fail banks that keep growing; the trillions in backdoor bailouts to Wall Street; the extension of tax cuts for the rich; unilateral executive, warrant-less surveillance; never-ending wars; crushing student debt load (student loan debt has grown 511% in 10 years), and Supreme Court rulings that allow strip-searches for traffic violations, and unlimited political expenditures by corporations.  Meanwhile major corporations have not paid any taxes for the last four years. In fact, many corporations make more money after taxes. That's right. They have a negative tax rate!

Last year, Citizens for Tax Justice found that 30 major corporations had made billions of dollars in profits while paying no federal income tax between 2008 and 2010. Today, CTJ updated that report to reflect the 2011 tax bill of those 30 companies, and 26 of them have still managed to pay absolutely nothing over that four year period:

If they  paid the 35% rate, that would've been $78.3 billion more in federal income taxes.

click image to enlarge

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Is Mitt Romney a Financial Parasite?

“Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.”. -- Abraham Lincoln

How does the good of a few greedy parasites, beholden to nothing, outweigh the good of the nation? How does anyone justify legislation and policy that further lines the pockets of these parasites? Even if parasitic wealth was taxed at the same rate as the rest of us, they would still be filthy rich! And, they don't create jobs. Hell, most of them never worked a day in their life. But apparently, enough of us believe in their speculative finance economy that has made them obscenely wealthy, and the propaganda that they spew that we are willing to risk an economic catastrophe to protect that obscene wealth.

Which brings me to presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, whose fiscal plan delivers huge tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans while simultaneously forcing massive cuts to public services and social security on which the middle class rely. Then, there is the matter of his personal finances...

Not only, according to his released tax returns, did Romney make $42.7 million over the past two years, paying only $6.2 million in taxes - that’s an effective tax rate of less than 13.9% for doing nothing - he took advantage of a giant tax loophole that's available to only a very select few. It's called the carried interest loophole, or as it's often called the hedge fund manager tax loophole (in 2009 Top 10 Hedge Fund Honchos Averaged $900,000/Hr). Why hedge-fund tax loophole? Because hedge fund managers, partners in real estate ventures, and private equity kingpins are the select few who can use this legal provision to escape paying what the 99.9999 of the population are forced to pay.

What exactly is carried interest? 

Well, aside from the fact that closing this loophole could save taxpayers and the deficit $15 billion by 2015, it is the percentage - usually 20% - that  hedge fund managers and private equity kingpins can claim as investment,  taxed at the long-term capital gain of 15% rate,  instead of claiming what it actually is, fees or income,  which would be taxed at what the rest of us pay, 35%.

Wait, it gets better.  The maximum amount a married couple can pass to their children without paying gift taxes is $10 million, but Romney paid zero gift tax on the $100 million trust funds he set up for his sons. That's right, they avoided $31 million in gift tax that 99.9999% of the population would've had to pay if they did the same thing! According to David Cay Johnston, they "gave their sons some of their carried interest. And because the carried interest is not an ownership, it is a right to receive profits, Congress lets you value that gift at zero". 

In a nutshell, top hedge fund managers, gifted with a much lower tax rate, who do not produce anything tangible, or, some might argue, anything of any value whatsoever, make  more hourly, than most Americans will earn in a lifetime,  and financial parasites presidential candidates, who left their company 13 years ago,  still receives a share of the firm’s “carried interest” profits – taxed at the same low rate. It's the gift that keeps on giving to those with ghastly gobs of power and privilege.

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Struggle for Mastery Submerged in Goo and Treadmills for Shrimp.

As Memorial day approaches, it's somehow comforting to know that our troops may be sacrficing their food-stamp qualifiying pay to ensure the well-being of decapod crustaceans, and   that the sticky residue of self-congratulatory goo that normally remains in the world of metaphor is allowed to manifest and show itself for what it really is.

I mean, I don't know about you, but lately, I've noticed something happening lately: a definite increase in what I call "Triton Driving Welfare Shrimp Queens" (Oh, you didn't know lazy shrimp pilot luxury submersibles fully loaded with leather seating and full air conditioning? Well, guess what? It's as real as Reagan's Cadillac driving welfare queens.). That is, flabby, pathetically out-of-shape, twinkie-crumb-covered entitled shrimp who would rather lounge lazily on their salty shelled sofa beds, watching the Jersey shore, than doing what shrimp are supposed to do: get off their collective asses and WORK-OUT! It really has become quite a problem.

But, don't you worry, the National Science Foundation, having the “gold-standard approach to peer review” for the projects they spend money on is not letting this this fundamental, earth-shattering problem get buried under less important issues. Nosiree! Our tax-dollars are working hard trying to rehabilitate these good-for nothing, sofa-bed-shrimp. How? You ask. Well, by providing shrimp treadmills, of course!

Now, some of you may be asking yourself [I know I did], what about those people in the Anartica who want to struggle for mastery submerged in goo?

Well, good question. Once again, our tax dollars are seeing to it that these lovely people will not be denied their jello. Never let it be said that  American government  ignores the jello-loving, ice-dwelling Anarticans. They will wallow in nothing but the best

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$100,000 Reward Offered for any Attorney Who Can...

... find a statute that makes the American worker liable for the income tax.

Sounds a little too good to be true, but one organization, Freedom Law School (livefreenow.org), will pay  $100,000 for finding such a law. All you have to do is show them the statute that plainly and clearly imposes liability for the federal income tax on the typical working American.

Operation Rich Rewards

"99.9% of attorneys will instantly tell you that there is a law making working Americans liable for the income tax. They say this not because they have seen such a law, but because they know that it MUST exist in order for the IRS to impose the income tax on all working Americans. If they were to look for that law, however, they would very easily and quickly realize that it does not exist. As attorneys they would also instantly realize that without such a law the IRS is illegally collecting income taxes from millions of hardworking Americans. What will it take, however, to get them to look? What motivates most attorneys?"

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Extension of Bush Tax Cuts for Wealthy Cost More than all the Bail Outs Put Together.

When I posted President Obama: Man of the People? Captive of the Ruling Elite? Political Genius? Or All Three? I really wanted to give President Obama the benefit of the doubt. After all, he inherited, he did not cause the current state of our union, in addition to the terrorist-like demands of the Republican. However, after reading Robert Reich's article, The President’s Last Stand Is No Stand At All: Why the Tax Deal is an Abomination, especially, where he says, "And given that the House turns over to Republicans in January, the President probably won’t have another chance like this one", and then, after finding out that the unemployment compensation package the people received in return for handing what's left of our "wealth" over to the privileged plutocrats doesn't even include the 99ers...well, it's very hard to conclude that President Obama's heart is with the people. Not to mention, the matter of phasing out the estate tax, which, in doing so, would only ensure the increase of future generations of elitist  parasites.

"Repeal the estate tax and within a few decades control over America’s productive assets will be in the hands of non-productive Americans who never lifted a finger in their lives except to speed-dial their financial advisors.

People who inherit great wealth just because they’re lucky enough to have super-rich parents don’t have any particular incentive to be entrepreneurial. They don’t have any particular incentive to do anything. Giving them control over the American economy is like giving control over a Boeing 777 to teenagers with joysticks." -- Robert Reich

Bernie Sanders filibusters

Links:

American 99ers Union - Take Action Now

The President proposed a bill that trades tax benefits for the super rich for benefits for the unemployed through 2011 but this bill does NOT include anything for the 99ers!

We implore you to tell your Senators and Congressmen that they MUST add at least 24 more weeks to the current federal limit of 99 weeks.

While an extension would save 99ers from homelessness in the dead of winter, it would also stimulate the economy in this all-important retail quarter leading into Christmas!

Please recommend to your Senators and Congress persons that in the interest of bi-partisanship, they strike a deal with the Republicans, trading the extension of tax cuts for those making over $250,000/year BUT ONLY in exchange for 24 more weeks added to Tier 4 (or a Tier 5) for 99ers.

Tier 5 Unemployment Extension Needed!

Thirty three States qualified for the Federally enacted tier 4 unemployment extension. The criteria by which a State triggered, and as such became eligible for the fourth tier, came as a result of a State's Unemployment Rate remaining at 8.5% for three consecutive months.

By enacting this important legislation, Washington set a precedent that it considered an 8.5% unemployment rate for an "extended period of time" to be unacceptably high, and as such warranted providing Americans with a much needed financial lifeline.

Given the aforementioned facts, would this not mean that with a current National Unemployment Rate of 9.8%, which includes nineteen consecutive months of a National unemployment rate of 9.0% or above, would necessitate the creation of a
tier 5 extension of unemployment insurance?

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80% of All New Income Has Gone to the Top 1% Over the Last 25 Years!

Senator Bernie Sanders kicks ass:


Senator Bernie Sanders is a rare breed of politician in Washington today.  He is, without a doubt, one of the fiercest, if not thee fiercest advocate for  We the People, moreover, he may be one of the last honest politicians in Washington.

Almost full transcript of Sen. Sander's speech :

On who is winning in this economy and who is losing:

"Mr. President...the income going to the top 1% nearly tripled since the 1970s...
Today, if you can believe it, the top one-tenth of 1% earns about 12 cents of every dollar earned in America.  We talk about a lot of things on the floor of the Senate but somehow we forget to talk about who is winning in this economy and who is losing. And it's very clear to anyone who spends two-minutes studying this issue that the people on top are doing extraordinarily well, at the same time the middle-class is collapsing, and poverty is increasing.

...you know many people out there are angry; they're wondering what's happening to their own income, to their lives, to the lives of their kids. Since 1980 and 2005, 80%...80% of all new income created in this country went to the top 1%..80% of all new income. "
[...]
Today, the Wall Street executives...the crooks on Wall Street whose actions resulted in the severe recession that we are in right now--the people whose actions, illegal actions, reckless actions, have resulted in millions of Americans losing their jobs, their homes, their savings. Guess what? After we bailed them out, the CEOs today are earning more money than they did before the bailout.

Mr. President, while the middle class of this country collapses and the rich become richer, the United States, has by far, the most unequal distribution of income and wealth of any major country on earth.
[...]

On Bush tax-cuts:

We are now faced with the issue of what we do with the Bush tax cuts of 2001-2003. And if you can believe it, we have people here, many of whom are my Republican colleagues, who tell us, 'Oh, I am so concerned about our record breaking deficit...I am terribly concerned about a $13.7 TRILLION national debt...I'm terribly concerned about the debt we're going to be leaving to our kids and our grandchildren...but wait a minute...it's very important that we give, over a 10-year period, $700 billion in tax breaks to the top 2%.  Oh yeah, we're concerned about the debt...we're concerned about the deficit...but we are more concerned that the millionaires, people who earn at least a million dollars per year or more get, on average, a hundred-thousand dollars a year in tax-breaks. ' So you gotta $13.7 trillion national debt growing, you got growing income equality: top 1% earning more income than the bottom 50% but the highest priority of many of my Republican colleagues is to make sure that millionaires and billionaires get more tax-breaks. I think it's absurd.

On the estate tax:

But it is not only income tax rates that we're dealing with. It's the estate tax as well. And let's be clear, while some of my friends want to eliminate completely, the estate tax, which has been in existence since 1916...let us be clear that every nickel of benefit...ALL OF THOSE BENEFITS will go to the top three-tenths of 1%, and if we did as some of my friends would like, eliminate  the estate tax completely, it would cost us a TRILLION dollars in revenue for a 10-year period of time...ALL OF THOSE BENEFITS going to the top three-tenths of 1%. So, I'm sure in a little while, some of my friends are going to come down to the floor, and say...'we're very concerned about the...'

On destroying the "New Deal":

But, Mr. President, the tax issue is just one part of what some of our wealthy friends want to see what happen in this country. The reality is that many of these folks want to bring the United States back to where we were in the 1920s. And they want to do their best to eliminate all traces of social legislation which working families fought tooth and nail to develop to bring a modicum of stability security to their lives.

There are people out there, not all, but there are some, who want to privatize or eliminate social security. They want to privatize or cutback substantially on Medicare. Yeah, you're 75-years of age and have no money...good luck to you getting your health insurance at an affordable cost from a private insurance company…I am just sure there are sorts of private insurance companies just delighted to take care of low-income seniors who are struggling with cancer or another disease.

On China: the 51st state and disastrous trade policies:

Mr President, furthermore, there are corporate leaders out there, and many members of congress who not only want to continue, they want to expand our disastrous trade policies.
[…]
We seem to have a country, which has a 51st state named China, which is virtually producing all of the products that we as Americans consume. Our trade policy has resulted in the loss of millions of good paying jobs as large corporations and CEOs have said, why do I want to reinvest in American when I can go to countries where people are paid 50¢, 75¢ an hour…that’s what I’m gonna do…the heck with working people in this country.

On our wealthy "friends" in high places:

While we struggle with a record breaking deficit and a large national debt caused by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, caused by tax breaks for the wealthy, caused by an unpaid for Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Program, caused by the Wall Street bailout...driving up the deficit, driving up the national debt..some people can say, ‘Oh my goodness! We’ve got all these expenses, and we’ve gotta give tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires, but we gotta balance the budget. Gee, how we going to do that? Well, obviously, we know how we’re going to do that. We’re going to cut back on health care, we’re going to cut back on education, we’re going to cut back on childcare, we’re going to cut back on PELL programs…we’re going to cut back on food-stamps,…we’re surely not going to expand unemployment compensation…we gotta a higher priority, Mr. President. We have got to, got to got to give tax breaks to billionaires! That’s what this whole place is all about, isn’t it? They fund the campaigns, they get what’s due them.

Mr. President, amazingly enough, we have our friends on Wall Street, the CEOs of the large financial institutions…they want to rescind or slow-down many of the provisions, very modest provisions in the financial reform bill…I voted for the financial reform bill but I will tell you clearly, it didn’t go nearly anywhere near far enough but it went too far for our Wall Street friends and their lobbyists, who were all over here, and the hundreds of millions of dollars Wall Street spends on this place. These people want to cut back on the powers of the EPA and department of energy, so that Exxon Mobil can remain one of the most profitable corporations in world history, while oil and coal companies continue to pollute our air and our water. Last year Exxon Mobil made $19 billion in profit. Guess what? They paid zero in taxes and got a $156 million refund from the IRS. I guess that’s not good enough. We gotta give the oil companies even more tax breaks.

So, Mr. President, that’s where we are, and we gotta own up to it. There is a war going on. The middle-class is struggling for existence and they’re takin on some of the wealthiest and most powerful forces in the world whose greed has no end. And if we don’t start to stand together and start representing those families, there will not be a middle-class in this country.” -- Bernie Sanders

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Who Should We Tax More: Dead Billionaires or the Unemployed?

67%, a full two-thirds of American corporations, pay no income taxes at all last year.  At the same time, a record 20 million-plus Americans collected unemployment benefits, a year that ended with the jobless rate at 10%, with underemployment coming closer to 20 percent.  Fast forward to the end of the third quarter of 2010 and the unemployed have transformed into the long-term unemployed.

So, the choice is simple, tax the unemployed. They're  growing at a faster rate than any other group and it appears they're here to stay as well. Lets tax the hell out of them. 

Wait. Are unemployment benefits taxable in the fist place?

The answer, of course, is a resounding "yes".  This is despite the fact that unemployment compensation is usually less (and sometimes a lot less) than the unemployed's former paycheck.  Hmmm...I guess that means every cent is necessary in the struggle to make ends meet.  However, rest assured, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act states the first $2,400 of unemployment benefits is tax-free. After that, the remaining benefits is considered taxable income.

Now, who is this genius who decided to tax the unemployed? Well, I'll give you a hint. The year was 1985. Yep, that's right. President Ronald Reagan.

“Under the guise of tax reform, we agreed to raise $2.3 billion from people who don’t have jobs.” -- Rep. Brian Donnelly (D-MA) on the Reagan tax measure to raise revenue.

What would the power elite do without the callous "spirit" of the GOP, who as President Obama said, “hold workers laid off in this recession hostage to Washington politics” and spend billions of dollars on tax breaks for the super wealthy who are doing better than ever.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, just this year alone, four billionaires died, (George Steinbrenner (net worth: $1.5 billion), Janet Morse Cargill of the family that founded Cargill Inc. (net worth: $1.6 billion), Texas pipeline magnate Dan Duncan ($9.8 billion), and California real estate mogul Walter Shorenstein ($1.1 billion)).  Thanks to Bush's tax cut bill, 2010 is the year without an estate tax. Too bad, the treasury loses approximately $6.5 billion in tax revenue.

This wonderful Bush tax bill, enacted in 2001, ensured that as the value of estates exempt from the tax gradually went up over the past eight years, the tax rate on estates was reduced. During 2010, according to the 2001 law, the estate tax disappears entirely, only to be restored in 2011 at a rate of 55% on estates of $1 million or more, which is where things stood before the 2001 change.  And the purpose of this was??

Anyway, if we let the Bush tax cuts expire, and we return to pre-Bush income tax levels for the richest Americans (among other tax changes), it will result in an increase of more than $217 billion in tax revenues for 2010 and 2011. The expirations will then contribute another $1.25 trillion from 2012 through 2015, and an additional $2.2 trillion from 2016 to 2020.

And here's another thing:  Economists agree that giving unemployed people money to spend stimulates the economy much more than does preserving tax cuts for the rich.  The CBO report, Policies for Increasing Economic Growth and Employment in 2010 and 2011, scores "increasing aid to the unemployed" as the highest-scoring policy proposal to stimulate economy.

The CBO estimated that increasing aid to the unemployed would have the greatest effects on GDP per dollar of budgetary cost and the second highest cumulative effect on employment of the policy options considered.

On the other hand, as our unemployment rate soars and average Americans pay the price, the elites, who are generating more profits than ever, are hoarding their cash and refusing to invest their earnings.

Many companies are focusing on cost-cutting to keep profits growing, but the benefits are mostly going to shareholders instead of the broader economy, as management conserves cash rather than bolstering hiring and production. [...]

“Because of high unemployment, management is using its leverage to get more hours out of workers,” said Robert C. Pozen, a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School and the former president of Fidelity Investments. “What’s worrisome is that American business has gotten used to being a lot leaner, and it could take a while before they start hiring again.”

Well, that was simple. The dead billionaires win. Tax the hell out of them and all of their alive and wealthy friends.

Contact your representatives and senators and get them to repeal Reagan's foolish unemployment tax.

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It's Our Money, Stupid!

Paulson, Bush, Wall Street...
Why are we so stupid? Myself included. Why do we get all excited over stimulus checks written for only an infinitesimally small fraction of our own money, the same money taken from us to fund the agenda of a few greedy warmongers?

Why do we act like tax cuts, designed to rip us off, only to benefit those of us who already have enough money to wallpaper the the entire state of Texas, is a good thing? Oh sure, we might get a few dollars at tax time, a mere fraction of what it cost us to line the pockets of those Texan wallpaperers.

We are so easily distracted by the shiny penny in front of us that we completely fail to see the guy who threw it there, is now picking our pocket clean.

Will the current economic fiasco teach us a lesson? If history is any indicator, the answer is, not a chance.

More than once, Willie Sutton, dressed as a prison guard, carried two ladders clear across the yard in order to rob some "poor" unsuspecting soul, blind. When caught in the spot light, he yelled out, "It’s ok!" and continued on with his mission without missing a beat.

Two ladders?!?

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Gas Tax Holiday is the Proverbial Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

Unlike President John F. Kennedy, who asked we, the people, 47 years ago, not to ask what our country can do for us, rather, what we can do for our country, politicians today ask and expect very little of the American people and with good reason...they risk losing the American people's vote.

We're quick to blame the politicians for not being honest; yet it is our job to keep them honest. What choice do they have but to pander, as John McCain is doing with this "Gas Tax Holiday" (GTH) b$llsh$t", when they know the majority of American people do not want to be asked to sacrifice anything nor take the time to think about what they're told?

Len Burman, former senior analyst at the Congressional Budget Office, 1989 to 1997 and currently Director of the Tax Policy Center, Senior Fellow, Urban Institute and finally author of "The Labyrinth of Capital Gains Tax Policy: A Guide for the Perplexed calculated, estimating that the average American family drives a car that gets 25 mpg, will drive that car 4,000 miles over the course of the summer, using 160 gallons of gas and then he multiplied the 160 gallons by .18 cents. He concluded the average American family would save a whopping $29 over the summer if the GTH goes into effect...$29!

Mr. Burman believes the amount saved would be much less considering the GTH may encourage people to drive more, thus increasing the demand for gas and causing supply to tighten. Supplies are already tighter in summer because people drive more. It's not Rocket Science, it's Econ 101...the cheaper the gas, the higher the demand, the tighter the supply, will cause prices to go up, not down. Not to mention, the GTH rewards those driving the gas guzzling SUVs, Hummers etc. because they would save the most.

Why doesn’t cutting the gas tax this summer make sense? It’s Econ 101 tax incidence theory: if the supply of a good is more or less unresponsive to the price, the price to consumers will always rise until the quantity demanded falls to match the quantity supplied. Cut taxes, and all that happens is that the pretax price rises by the same amount. The McCain gas tax plan is a giveaway to oil companies, disguised as a gift to consumers. -- Paul Krugman

And what about the nation's long-term energy goal? Doesn't the GTH further escalate the already problematic over consumption of limited resources? The 18.4 cent-per-gallon gas tax is the main source of revenue that pays for roads, bridges, and public transit. Suspending the gas tax would siphon off $10 billion from public transit and road and bridge repair, part of the solution to preventing the unnecessary depletion of our resources.

What good does teaching your child how to read in the womb; paying Ivy League prices so your child can attend prestigious pre-schools; insisting your child compete athletically at about the same level University students used to compete in previous generations, etc do when we have pushed the limits of the resources our civilization depend on simply because we over-consume? The rising standards-of-living across the globe - China and India - will only, to put it mildly, add fuel to the fire.

While John McCain continues George W. Bush's subversive tactics and Hilary Clinton follows right along, Barack Obama believes Americans are ready to sacrifice and smart enough to understand that if we continue on the same path that we've followed for the last eight years, the downfall of our nation may result. He trusts that Americans can figure out that the GTH is nothing but a politician's attempt to fleece the American public.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty. -- JFK

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Economic Growth Act of 2008

EXAMPLES OF HOW THE ECONOMIC GROWTH ACT OF 2008 WILL BENEFIT AMERICANS

Married with children:

1) Married couple with two children, wages of $4,000, no federal income tax liability before child tax credit.
Individual rebate = $600
Qualifying child credit = $600
TOTAL = $1,200

2) Married couple with two children, no wages, veterans’ payments of $2,000, social security benefits of $2,000, no federal income tax liability before child tax credit.
Individual rebate = $600
Qualifying child credit = $600
TOTAL = $1,200

3) Married couple with two children, no wages, no social security benefits, veterans’ payments of $4,000, no federal income tax liability before child tax credit.
Individual rebate = $600
Qualifying child credit = $600
TOTAL = $1,200

4) Married couple with two children, no wages, no social security benefits, no veterans’ payments, AGI=$25,000, federal income tax liability before child tax credit = $70.
Individual rebate = $600
2Qualifying child credit = $600
TOTAL = $1,200

5) Married couple with two children, AGI = $35,000, federal income tax liability before child tax credit =$1,070.
Individual rebate = $1,070
Qualifying child credit = $600
TOTAL = $1,670

6) Married couple with two children, AGI = $80,000, federal income tax liability before child tax credit exceeds $1,200.
Individual rebate = $1,200
Qualifying child credit = $600
TOTAL = $1,800

7) Married couple with two children, AGI = $160,000, federal income tax liability before child tax credit exceeds $1,200.
Individual rebate = $1,200
Qualifying child credit = $600
Phaseout reduction = ($500)
TOTAL = $1,300

Head of household with children:

1) Single parent with two children, wages of $4,000, no federal income tax liability before child tax credit.
Individual rebate = $300
Qualifying child credit = $600
TOTAL = $900

2) Single parent with two children, no wages, veterans’ payments of $2,000, social security benefits of $2,000,no federal income tax liability before child tax credit.
Individual rebate = $300
Qualifying child credit = $600
TOTAL = $900

3) Single parent with two children, no wages, no social security benefits, veterans’ payments of $4,000, no federal income tax liability before child tax credit.
Individual rebate = $300
Qualifying child credit = $600
TOTAL = $900

4) Single parent with two children, no wages, no social security benefits, no veterans’ payments, AGI =$20,000, federal income tax liability before child tax credit = $195.
Indvidual rebate = $300
Qualifying child credit = $600
TOTAL = $900

5) Single parent with two children, AGI = $22,000, federal income tax liability before child tax credit = $395.
Individual rebate = $395
Qualifying child credit = $600
TOTAL = $995

6) Single parent with two children, AGI = $60,000, federal income tax liability before child tax credit exceeds $600.
Individual rebate = $600
Qualifying child credit = $600
TOTAL =$1,200

7) Single parent with two children, AGI = $90,000, federal income tax liability before child tax credit exceeds $600.
Individual rebate = $600
Qualifying child credit = $600
Phaseout reduction = ($750)
TOTAL = $450

Married, no children:

1) Married couple with no children, wages of $4,000, no federal income tax liability.
Individual rebate = $600

2) Married couple with no children, no wages, veterans’ payments of $2,000, social security benefits of $2,000, no federal income tax liability.
Individual rebate = $600

3) Married couple with no children, no wages, no social security benefits, veterans’ payments of $4,000, no federal income tax liability.
Individual rebate = $600

4) Married couple with no children, no wages, no social security benefits, no veterans’ payments, AGI =$20,000, federal income tax liability = $250.
Individual rebate = $600

5) Married couple with no children, AGI = $25,000, federal income tax liability = $750.
Individual rebate = $750

6) Married couple with no children, AGI = $60,000, federal income tax liability exceeds $1,200.
Individual rebate = $1,200

7) Married couple with no children, AGI = $160,000, federal income tax liability exceeds $1,200.
Individual rebate = $1,200
Phaseout reduction = ($500)
TOTAL = $700

Single, no children:

1) Individual with wages of $4,000, no federal income tax liability.
Individual rebate = $300

2) Individual with no wages, veterans’ payments of $2,000, social security benefits of $2,000, no federal income tax liability.
Individual rebate = $300

3) Individual with no wages, no social security benefits, veterans’ payments of $4,000, no federal income tax liability.
Individual rebate = $300

4) Individual with no wages, no social security benefits, no veterans’ benefits, AGI = $10,000, federal income tax liability = $125.
Individual rebate = $300

5) Individual with AGI = $12,000, federal income tax liability = $325.
Individual rebate = $325

6) Individual with AGI = $35,000, federal income tax liability in excess of $600.
Individual rebate = $600

7) Individual with AGI = $80,000, federal income tax liability in excess of $600.
Individual rebate = $600
Phase out reduction = ($250)
TOTAL = $350

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Eighth Grade Clarity Committees in Government and Corporate America

After reading Mike Huckabee's Tax Plan is Brilliant in Slate Magazine, I began to ask myself, how do I know if his plan is brilliant? How do I know if any plan is brilliant when I cannot tell you much about our current tax code, most of the contracts I've signed, anything about the irritating little fees on my cell phone, credit card, cable, electric, gas bills etc? Mike Huckabee's plan may sound good now because the article is written so that it is easily understood. However, once it is approved and implemented it will take ten Rhodes Scholars to interpret it.

Before we change anything, why can't "We the People" demand every American has a right to understand what's going on now whether it concerns taxes, law, paying our bills or contracts? Why is it legal that a PhD is required to understand our credit card agreement and sometimes that's not enough?

The answer is fairly obvious. By confusing and frustrating "We the People", government and corporations know that most of us will surrender because we don't have the time nor the patience to analyze that which is designed to be incomprehensible...who does? Why isn't there more outcry against this?

The objective is clearly to make most Americans feel powerless and stupid knowing the most Americans will not advertise that they don't completely understand most of what they pay for, vote for, and depend on a daily basis. No one likes to admit their failure to comprehend the tax code, real estate papers, statutes, executive orders, affidavits, jury instructions, insurance contracts, investment contracts, 16 page credit card agreements (printed on tissue paper in microscopic type, written on the "twenty-seventh" grade reading level) and all consumer-finance contracts and anything and everything written in legalese.

We all know a confused American is very profitable, easy to control and therefore, very desirable to the few at the top who pull the strings. What would happen if every piece of legislation, every contract, credit card agreement, and basically anything legally binding had to pass through the Eighth Grade Clarity Committee (EGCC), made up of a diverse group of eighth graders of average intelligence, as a final test of clarity. If all the eighth graders appointed understand, it passes...if not, must go back for a rewrite until the EGCC grasp whatever it is being tested with little effort.

People like myself will be most appreciative and I think we would see a happier, patient, and most importantly, an informed America evolve.

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How Many Hours of War Spending Would it Take to Fund Health Insurance?

"We the People" apparently have no problem with spending over $14 million dollars an hour to injure and kill others but can't scrape up the cash to provide health care for our own children. I know I'm repeating myself over and over, trying to present the information in a slightly different way each time, but the basic message is we better liposuction the lip-service and start proving what our priorities are with the real deal, cold hard cash.

It's too easy to blame Bush. Just as Hitler would be powerless without the Nazis, Bush would be powerless without "us". I didn't vote for Bush but I include myself as a "Bush supporter" because it took me far too long to catch on to his plans to eliminate the "New Deal" and shred the Constitution.

I sit safely at my desk typing whatever the hell I feel like without worrying about whether I am risking anything but my eyesight or if I'll hear my alarm clock tomorrow morning. At the same time, I realize all this freedom and security I enjoy could disappear in a flash if America becomes victim to another act of terror.

The opportunity cost of this war is incomprehensible. Not only are we paying out $3,850 per second to fight this war but the cost of what we could be doing with the time and energy devoted to this war is astronomical.

"That translates into $333 million a day, $14 million an hour, $231,000 a minute and $3,850 a second. Even for the world's richest country, this is serious money."

On top of what this war is costing Americans, the toll this war is taking on Iraqis is beyond comprehension.

"Many of the internally displaced Iraqis -- IDPs in the language of aid organizations -- live in grim conditions, in makeshift camps without running water, electricity, even latrines.

[...]

This summer, the Iraq Chief of Mission of the International Organization of Migration (IOM), Rafiq Tschannen, said "only a fraction" of internally displaced Iraqis were getting basic assistance. It was difficult to understand, he said, why there was so little response to appeals for help.

[...]

U.S. contributions to various relief organizations quadrupled in 2007, to just under $200 million from $43 million in 2006, pocket change in terms of the war's cost. The sharp increase makes Washington the biggest single donor in the refugee crisis, according to the U.S. Department of State.

As to the $85 million appeal by the IOM, made in June -- by September, the organization had received $6 million, 5 million from the United States and 1 million from Australia.

The shortfall, $79 million, would be covered by less than six hours of war spending.

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Couple May Lose Home Over $1.63 Tax Bill

In 2000, a Louisiana couple, Kermit and Dolores Atwood, learned their house, which they had owned mortgage-free since 1968 had been sold three years earlier -- about a week after the three-year period in which delinquent taxpayers can reclaim their property had ended -- all because a $1.63 property tax bill was sent to a wrong address and then returned undelivered to the St. Tammany Parish sheriff's office.

The State Tax Commission nullified the sale so the Atwoods thought everything was alright until they tried to sell the home in 2002 and found that the people who bought the house were suing to get them out of their house, meaning they don't have a clear title.

When Katrina hit, trees fell on the house, but the Atwoods didn't have insurance, and because they didn't have clear title, they didn't qualify for federal help.

In May 2006, the State District Judge ruled that the property title belongs to the Atwoods. The buyer appealed and was turned down and now the buyer plans to take his case to the Louisiana Supreme Court.

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