mspart

Yep, its rough. The government should not be making things rough on their citizens. There is no reason for it. But that is what is happening all over. We need budgets cut and spending cut so that the government is not so onerous on it's own people. Remember, we do this to ourselves because we are the government and have voted in these nut jobs that want ever more power. That's what the tax code enables. More power over the governed. Not supposed to be that way. mspart

That should make her feel better. mspart

Glad he is gone. mspart

I thought I'd get it. mspart

Fences don't stop illegal immigration. Wait! mspart

It won't get her anywhere and allows DeSantis free reign to discuss his policy objectives unfettered ( my new word of the day!!). mspart

Did not research it because it sounded extremely plausible. CA would do something like that. mspart

You would not want to see anything I chisel. Which is why I find renaissance sculptors so fascinating. mspart

I feel very fortunate to be a US citizen. You have stated yourself you don't want an open spigot but you have not detailed why. When you do so, then we can discuss who is worthy and who is not to come across the border. Do you think as a US citizen you can just go park yourself in any other country, claim asylum and you get to stay indefinitely? It does not work that way in any other country. Why does it work that way here? For what intrinsic national reason would we have unfettered immigration? I can tell you there is an intrinsic reason to have fettered immigration and that is spelled out in the law Biden is ignoring to the tune of millions of undocumented, and unknown people have come. Does a country not have a right to regulate that? Of course it does. That's why we have immigration laws that are being ignored. mspart

According to my dad, his dad was very inventive on the farm and invented tools to do the job he needed done. I don't know what these would be, and they are gone now. My grandpa died about 20 years before I was born. I only have stories about him. The tools I have of his is a notebook with his writing, a shoulder drill, old style drill bits, hand planers, and measuring tools. My dad kept his old shovel and I have it now. Still works. mspart

I can tell you that there is no income tax in the state of Washington due to the fact that they will not enact anything that is not progressive. The State Constitution prohibits the taxing of property (tangible or intangible) with anything other than a flat tax rate. ARTICLE VII - REVENUE AND TAXATION SECTION 1 TAXATION. The power of taxation shall never be suspended, surrendered or contracted away. All taxes shall be uniform upon the same class of property within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax and shall be levied and collected for public purposes only. The word "property" as used herein shall mean and include everything, whether tangible or intangible, subject to ownership. All real estate shall constitute one class: So the legislature passed a tax on capital gains. The State Supreme Court upheld it saying capital gains is not income. Yet every other state that has an income tax and the federal government define capital gains as income. If capital gains is income, then it cannot be taxed without taxing everyone's income at the same rate. When this passed the legislature, one legislator was heard to say that this is the first step to a state income tax. This was long in the making as I mentioned about the CA wealth tax. The WASC is full of progressives who decided to read the constitution in a different way that past SC decisions have. There is an initiative that will go on the ballot this year to repeal this tax, and there will be another initiative to prohibit the state, county, or city from imposing an income tax. NOTE: Seattle enacted such a tax some years ago and it was eliminated by the courts. Just a little relevant history that is happening right now for y'all to consider. Now to the question: 1. Now a flat tax has benefits because you know right away the tax you will pay. There is at least some concreteness to that, something you can plan for easily. Even a personal or couple exemption, you know pretty much how much you will pay. 2. A Progressive tax depends on your income and that can fluctuate so maybe not as much will you know how much your tax will be. Does anyone know what their fed income tax liability will be before doing the taxes on April 14th? I don't. So that is a problem. I don't have a huge philosophical reason to hate graduated income tax. But I think it needs to be relevant and meaningful. Having the top rate be 90% is ridiculous in my opinion. That is legal robbery. But no one would pay that because of all the tax loopholes that protect them. So it is not relevant or meaningful. There should never be a case where more than 50% of a person's income at any level should be required. That again is legal robbery at the point of a gun or prison. Not right in any sphere. But I think there is an equitable way to do the progressive taxation so not a hard no on this form. But I prefer something simpler. mspart

The longer I'm around, the more I feel this way. Those folks back in the day were not stupid. Not at all. mspart

I'll have to ask my wife if she wants to go. Probably not. Better seats at home really. Plus she is not that into sports. I watched wrestling last time almost exclusively and thought that I missed out on other events that I enjoy watching. No, marathon is not one of them! But I do like the track, field, swimming, gymnastics as well. Track bike racing is fun to watch as well. mspart

The point here is that the discussion is part of the legislative agenda. It is shelved for now. But there have been a lot of ideas that were shelved that we now are afflicted with. Mark my words, this is not the end of this idea. It will come back. mspart

There you go. I have a few cans and boxes of bolts and nuts and nails etc. My dad kept his dad's tool box with some really old tools from depression era Idaho. I have those now. My dad suggested donating them to a museum but I haven't gotten around to that. My dad made a table saw in college. Cast it out of aluminum. I have that, but it is extremely dangerous to use. We used it to finish the basement when I was a kid. I have a much more up to date table saw that works well. Tough to get rid of the old stuff I have to say. But my wife keeps pushing for stuff to go so I'm thinking it might be time. But dang, there's history there. mspart

Perhaps this can be answered with some more specifics. 1. How much money is wealth? Is this income or total net worth? Includes 401K? 2. How much is the tax rate? 3. When will it begin to be enforced? 2024 tax year, 2025 or 2026 tax year? If for 2024, that might be expost facto as the year has already started and that would be backdating a law and that is kind of out of bounds. Easily challenged. 4. How many people will this affect? mspart

That's a lot of rotten bubble gum to gnaw on!!! mspart

True that. It's them doo dads that make it all worthwhile. mspart

It's looking like it will stay that way for him. mspart

I can do that. I have a fairly large chain saw. Oh shoot, that will go the way of the dinosaur if they get their small motor law passed this year. I live in the woods with a lot of Cedar and Maple trees everywhere. They fall down on their own fairly regularly. mspart

I collect nuts and bolts just in case I need them some time. Same with electrical wiring and doo dads. I wouldn't say I collect them rather I hoard them. That's probably a more fair summary. However I do have 2 guitar amps, 1 bass amp, 1 bass, 2 electric guitars (one is on the market), and 2 acoustic guitars. None are high dollar units. The 2 guitar amps are Marshall, Code 50 and Origin 20 head paired with a speaker cabinet I bought and upgraded. One electric guitar is an Epiphone Les Paul (very nice I must say) but not high dollar. I also have an impressive amount of tools, most of which get used. Table Saw, Mitre saw, a bunch of hand tools. In fact, when it was below 20F on Saturday I was in the shed cutting boards for my wife with the mitre saw. Fingers nearly froze off. It is tough to work when your fingers fall off. mspart

I had the opportunity to work in So Cal. I did not take that offer and I'm glad I didn't. CA is a problem with ineffective government 'needing' ever more money to be ineffective with. WA is working their way to that level of ineptitude. This is the same WA that sent covid checks to Nigerian hackers. However, this year may turn things around temporarily here in WA. There are six ballot initiatives that got bi partisan petition signatures and strike at the heart of the progressive agenda that has been flourishing here. That plus a real governor's race where the big D candidate is not well liked. Reminds me of when Jesse Ventura won MN. The D who was the AG and felt like he was the deserving annnointed one (reminds me of Hillary), lost miserably taking 3rd. Our AG and front running D is in the same boat. Kind of like Biden is across the US. Hopefully the legislature gets the message with these initiatives and doesn't go too crazy this session. mspart

Al Gore buys his way out of it, just ask him. Huge estate running all kinds of power, enough to run a small town. But he buys carbon credits so he doesn't have to actually change his habits. A wonderful example for the rest of humanity. Just have enough money to buy your way out. Oh wait, most of humanity doesn't have that kind of cash readily available. Good thing he made his money so he can live in luxury while his policies force the rest of us to do without. Case in point - elimination of Natural gas feeds to new construction and elimination of gas powered lawn mowers and other small engine equipment for new sales (former implemented in WA, latter under consideration in WA in the legislature). mspart

We were vacationing in the phoenix area and my wife wanted to go to Sedona. Very picturesque there. It was n\ice. They have a zoo just out of town with zip lines going over it. You can zip above the lions etc. But to be honest, there just wasn't much else to do there. I think we ate at a nice Mexican place. The area is beautiful for sure, but no desire to move there. mspart

WA will be next no doubt. mspart