First: during all the talk of tax reform, and the idea that "your tax return will fit on a postcard" there's a trap to keep an eye on. Fix your study on reform: rates, deductions, and the hard stuff, not simplification. The simplest tax return there is can be done in two lines:
- How much did you make last year?
- Send it in.
Second: amid the talk of Blade Runner 2049 being a disappointment at the box office, Mrs. Graybeard and I went to see it last Friday. Other bloggers (ASM826 @ Borepatch comes to mind) saw it and said they thought it was visually beautiful but too long. Nobody that I read said it was bad or not to waste your time.
I agree that it's visually stunning. It may be the most visually stunning movie I've ever seen. The design of the futuristic dystopian world they create is really incredible. It's literally world creating, not set creating. The sets - however much is CGI and how much is carpentry and paint I can't say - are simply amazing. If this doesn't get academy awards for cinematography and sets, I can't understand.
Probably more importantly, I don't think it was too long, and it's over 2 hours long (2:43). I don't recall ever looking at my watch thinking, "how much more of this do I have to see?"; it was over an hour until I looked and then an hour after that before I glanced for the second time. Its was more "how much more of this do I get to see?"
A small sample of the world building I refer to.
It's not going to be on the big screen much longer, if you want to see it at it's best, you best get going.
Thanks for the reminder on Blade Runner.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that taxes are not used to raise revenue, they are used for social engineering. The simplest, and fairest, way is simply to charge a flat percentage of income. No deductions.
ReplyDeleteThat is unacceptable to politicians. The rich need to pay more, for some reason.
I think there's a quote from Dr. Thomas Sowell's that goes something like, "I never understood how it was considered greedy to want to keep your own money, but not greedy to want someone else's money".
DeleteThe game in the income tax world is to make fewer and fewer people pay for more and more. If we could just get it through the heads of the idiots who think corporations pay taxes that it's their customers who pay it, maybe dropping that rate would have a better chance.
Actually, this is as simple as your version:
ReplyDelete1. How much did you make last year?
2. Congratulations!
Surely you should understand that, since it is the current Florida version of income tax. Without, of course, you even having to personally answer that first question.
I liked Blade Runner 2049. I liked the whole film and found no fault. It was well worth the price of admission.
ReplyDeleteDrop the income tax, replace it with a national final consumer sales (not VAT) tax, to be collected by any enterprise with total sales of over the value of one ounce of gold per year. Limit this tax between a low of 1% and a high of 25%. Tax all imports at 10%, and all exports at 1%. Yes, an amendment would be needed, but it would be well worth it.
ReplyDelete