2026-10-15 12:32:42
@… they probably dodged €10 B a year in taxes, so…
@… they probably dodged €10 B a year in taxes, so…
In Q2, "other income", mostly from investment gains, at Amazon and Alphabet totaled ~$121B after taxes and made up 66% and 71%, respectively, of profits (Jonathan Weil/Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/finance/stocks/the-121
I'm open to the idea that the California wealth tax is not the correct way to solve this problem. Yet I don't really hear any billionaire proposing and fighting for the "right way" to increase taxes on them.
NetChoice sues Illinois to block taxes on large social media companies and on companies with over $1M in gross receipts from digital ad services (Heather Cherone/WTTW News)
https://news.wttw.com/2026/09/11/tech-group-sues-illinois-over-social-medi…
Apparently some #"Democrats" are fine with #WealthInequality. Is that really the leadship we want?
Newsom backs measure to make future wealth taxes more difficult
https://www.
Apparently some #"Democrats" are fine with #WealthInequality. Is that really the leadship we want?
Newsom backs measure to make future wealth taxes more difficult
https://www.
As Social Security funds dwindle, some Republicans say it’s time to raise taxes
This summer,
Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio)
joined Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts)
in proposing to raise the payroll tax cap
so people with higher incomes pay more into the program.
Now the idea is emerging as an acceptable fix among other GOP lawmakers,
including Rep. Tom Cole,
the influential chair of the House Appropriations Committee.
The rare GOP c…
"even if all the billionaires in California moved away, it would take 25 years before the lost income taxes matched what Prop 40 raises." Yes on 40, no on 41 and 42!
https://blog.saikat.us/p/why-katie-porters-argument-against
Promise to raise taxes, especially on the obscenely wealthy, but on me too, and to invest the resulting funds in solid _PUBLIC_ institutions and infrastructure (not effin' subsidies for planet-destroying multinational corporations) and I will vote for you. It's really not that hard.
"Heat pump sales soar across Europe after states cut electricity taxes, data shows"
#Europe #HeatPumps #Energy
Study: Palantir's European units made €440.5M in 2024 revenue but reported sharply lower margins than its US operations, helping cut its European tax bill (Antoaneta Roussi/Politico)
https://www.politico.eu/article/palantir-funnels-earnings-us-avoids-e…
'In the final year of lycée, pupils study Rousseau’s Du Contrat Social (The Social Contract), ... put simply, you pay heavy taxes and in return you expect the country to work. That bargain is how the French understand their relationship with the state. When the government raises the retirement age, lets electricity bills soar or cuts school budgets, that is seen as a breach of the social contract. Protest is the automatic response.'
Sources: Meta is aggressively claiming a tax credit for AI data center build-outs by classifying facilities as experimental and writing off Nvidia chip supplies (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/technology/meta-ai-data-centers-taxes.html…
Red States Are Racing to Roll Back Property Taxes (Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/red-states-are-racing-to-roll-back-property-taxes-bc0d6ea8
http://www.memeorandum.com/260812/p130#a260812p130
In the past two years of the Trump administration, the federal government has 👉 unlawfully consolidated data exposing our private information.
This consolidation has been chaotic but generally came in three rolling waves:
It started with DOGE,
moved to agency-to-agency data sharing with ICE,
and then attempted data-driven purges of state voter rolls.
We all deserve to live in a world where the data we use to pay our taxes, receive benefits, and vote
is no…
RE: #FuckTrump
Letter to the Editor: No on Question 5 https://www.newtonbeacon.org/letter-to-the-editor-no-on-question-5/?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=letter-to-the-editor-no-o…
Taxes are not levied for the benefit of the taxed.
Labour's Sepuloni needs to be much more confident, and Labour needs to sell taxes, by explaining the nuances. That most people are not going to pay more. The number of taxes isn't the issue. It's the amount that people pay in aggregate. I think Labour is wimping out of its opportunity.
"With my crypto system, you'll be rich in no time! I'm approaching a 7 figure income now, and thinking about moving to Switzerland to avoid taxes."
🇨🇭 : "OK, but don't expect any special treatment with such a low income."
"It is just not true that there has been ‘profligate spending’ by governments on welfare, medicare and pensions, as the ‘bond vigilantes’ and mainstream economists claim. The only profligate spending, apart from the bailouts of banks and corporates, has been on defence combined with cutting taxes for the rich and corporations.."
Michael Roberts explains the bond panic.
"To be clear, allowing the free market to work its magic and put most of our largest banks out of business, along with many smaller ones, would have made the recession worse. But it would have done more to reduce wealth inequality than twenty Piketty wealth taxes."
#Kleptocracy
#billionaires
Sources: several lawmakers are drafting a 20% federal tax credit for US film and TV production that could offset producers' taxes or be sold to other taxpayers (Gene Maddaus/Variety)
https://variety.com/2026/film/news/congress-draft-federal-film…
In the Netherlands, petrol is relatively expensive (due to taxes). But media often report on the 'recommended price' by Shell c.s., which is way above the average sales price.
Today, that is €2.61, while in real life, people pay an average of €2.33.
It's not because it's hard to find the average.
Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke,
whose company commands a market capitalization near $154 billion,
told his social media followers this week that a tax-tiered voting system
—one that would strip voting rights from anyone who pays no income tax
—would be a “good system.”
That two-word endorsement,
dropped into a viral thread,
has reignited a debate over wealth, power,
and democracy that most Americans thought was settled more than a century ago.
Th…
Gambling, cheating their own health programs, bad side hustles & blowing cash on Lambos, Bentleys & houses...
Then whining about "taxes" that pay for community police, fire, roads & schools?
▶️ NBA and NFL Players Have Lost Touch With Reality - FlightMike
https://youtube.co…
I was in the Kawartha region this weekend and randomly drove down a road where I saw a bunch of unhinged signs about paying no taxes and MANY confederate flags.
We don't see a lot of those flags in Canada so I got curious.
Turns out the Guardian made an article on it.
https://www.
Missouri voters reject Amendment 5 to phase out income tax and expand sales taxes
https://krcgtv.com/news/local/missouri-voters-reject-amendment-5-to-phase-out-income-tax-and-expand-sales-taxes
Filings: Apple paid Ireland $17B in taxes last year, after an EU court ordered it to pay €13B in back taxes; Apple paid $43B in corporate income taxes globally (Jamie John/Financial Times)
https://www.ft.com/content/65fb0ad1-e4d5-43be-9dcf-f7aba1bea3a6
Massachusetts mayor accused of using a pandemic loan to fund election campaign and pay his taxes (Michael Casey/Associated Press)
https://apnews.com/article/brian-depena-pandemic-fraud-lawrence-e6041e21144c19c9ca554cc2121a94ad
http://www.memeorandum.com/260814/p70#a260814p70
Palantir Technologies,
one of the world’s most influential — and controversial — surveillance tech companies,
🔸enjoyed an effective tax rate of just 1.4% globally last year
🔸while paying no US federal income tax
despite recording substantial profits, an analysis released on Wednesday revealed.
The study, Who Pays for the Surveillance State?, was written by the Center for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research (CICTAR)
in partnership with th…
Thank you SF Young Democrats for endorsing Prop I!! The kids are alright!
Join these beautiful young people in supporting our campaign to build affordable housing with no new taxes: #sfpol
Days before mail-in ballots arrive statewide,
Democrat Xavier Becerra and
Republican Steve Hilton
will face off Sept. 30 in California’s high-stakes governor’s race.
Voters will see sharply contrasting views on taxes, spending and California’s clashes with the Trump administration
as the state prepares to choose a successor to termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom.
After weeks of Hilton accusing Becerra of ducking debates,
the nationally televised, hour-long …
Someone recently complained about all the taxes we pay.
I said: "well, our social system want's to be paied, too. But okay, let's lower the taxes - which kind of services are you willing to give up?"
He responded with several services that OTHERS benefit from.
I let him talk and then said: "nono, what are YOU willing to give up, not what you want to take away from others? I mean, we want less taxes, so we give away sth"
... and then there was silence.
I think he got the point.
Sources: an addendum to the bipartisan Clarity Act would force President Trump to divest from crypto businesses, letting him defer paying taxes on the gains (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-06/trum…
Lowering fuel taxes when supply is tight is stupid policy: it keeps demand and prices artificially high, most of it ends up with those who don't need support, and in the end, it's a money transfer from people who use little or no fuel to people who use a lot, e.g. SUV owners.
Florida’s MAGA boss, Ron DeSantis, is pushing legislation to eliminate property taxes for every Floridian with a house worth less than a quarter million (a majority). “But we’re not cutting taxes for the Canadians,” he said.
#quebec #Sovereign ;-)
the state should double these payments. do not become another cautionary tale of underinvesting in water infrastructure.
https://share.google/v1Lg3zzlkPfyuA29o
And that kicker in the headline? That thing about social security being at risk to the tune of >$2000/retiree/year?
That’s because those undocumented immigrants the Trump admin is driving away were still •paying• social security taxes even though they never expect to •collect• social security.
2/
@…
I've been accused of being a Georgist, and I'm all for progressive property taxes to make the Duke of Westminster or Charles von Battenberg-Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and other parasites descended from thugs disgorge their unearned wealth.
As for setting one age group against another? the Boomers are the ones already waging intergenerational …
Well at least these evil people are putting their cards on the table.
Thinktank linked to Reform UK calls for abolition of state pension | Reform UK | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/23/thinktank-reform-uk-abolition…
A team of researchers led by Democracy Now!’s Juan Gonzšlez
at the University of Illinois Chicago
recently released an in-depth study
on how, through a program called
"Tax Increment Financing" (TIF),
Chicago has spent some $16 billion
in property taxes it collected over the past 40 years
to fund downtown development.
The money was supposed to be used to eliminate urban blight.
”TIF funding has actually exacerbated economic ine…
Higher Social Security payroll taxes no longer taboo for GOP – Roll Call
https://rollcall.com/2026/09/03/higher-social-security-payroll-taxes-no-longer-taboo-for-gop/
As Social Security fund runs dry, some Republicans say it's time to raise taxes (Steve Thompson/Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/09/08/social-security-fund-runs-dry-some-republicans-say-its-time-raise-taxes/
http://www.memeorandum.com/260908/p1#a260908p1
So sad. Swiss Nestlé and French Auchan and Leroy Merlin stayed in Russia after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and diligently paid taxes there to fund Russia's war efforts for 4 years. And now this...
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2026/09/18/8053993/
SpaceX reported Q2 2026 results with revenue of $7.8 billion versus $6.81 billion expected,
but the stock fell after the report.
It also posted adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization)
of $3.5 billion,
while heavy AI infrastructure spending drove a large AI operating loss and high capital expenditures
Following the earnings report, SpaceX's stock declined due to concerns over high capital expenditures and AI spending.…
RE: https://mas.to/@bascule/117396667643692340
Well, then. I guess California is free to stop paying Federal taxes.
Gavin Newsom is selling out #CA to #billionaires in exchange for monetary support for his run for President in 2028.
But I don't know if there's a better candidate.
✅ #GavinNewsom backs measure to kill the billionaire tax and ban future wealth taxes | LAist
https://laist.com/news/climate-environment/gavin-newsom-backs-prop-42
Newsom backs ban on wealth taxes in California election
https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/10/newsom-tax-propositions-november-election/
DHS utilized a method that didn’t require approval from a judge,
only a sign-off from a DHS official.
It served Google an
"administrative summons" citing an arcane provision of federal law
– 19 USC 1509
– dealing with customs imports.
The provision gives the DHS broad power to inspect records in order to determine whether duties and taxes are being correctly levied on imported items.
It also instructed the recipients of the summons to kee…
Virginia's Loudoun County hosts more than 250 data centers generating huge tax revenues, as it moves to slow construction in response to pushback from residents (Cecilia Kang/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.c…
How Meta Uses A.I. Data Centers to Avoid Billions in Federal Taxes (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/technology/meta-ai-data-centers-taxes.html
http://www.memeorandum.com/260930/p24#a260930p24
Guess What Happened After New York Raised Taxes on the Rich? More Millionaires Moved In | Common Dreams
https://www.commondreams.org/news/nyc-second-home-tax
Unexpected, but not unwelcome:
Millionaires including former footballer Gary Lineker and music producer Brian Eno have written to new prime minister Andy Burnham asking to be taxed more.
In an open letter, 120 well-off Britons told Burnham: "We can afford it. We're not talking about higher taxes on those who get up and go to work for their income every day, but on the very richest whose income is derived from the wealth they hold."
Organised by Patriotic Millionaires, the letter said it would lead to a more equal society, and urged a "devolution of wealth and power from the very richest".
#ukpol
Nuclear take: Americans should #TaxStrike, then take all of the money they would pay to taxes, buy Euros or Canadian dollars to crash the USD, and then put all that money in a Fragger Support Fund to end the war as fast as possible.
Like and boost for a trip to the top of the watchlist.
(Do not take this seriously... Or do... I don't control you.)
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)typically passes in Congress each year with bipartisan margins.
But the $1.15tn defense policy billpassed in a near-party-line votein the House of Representatives on Wednesday has lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in an uproar.
That’s because the NDAA’s path to enactment this year has been complicated by the president’s decision to join Israel in attacking Iran without first seeking authorization from Congress
– a war that has…
Socialist Senate Hopeful Angie Nixon Slapped With Criminal Referral for Concealing Back Taxes and Student Loans From the Senate (Andrew Kerr/The Washington Free Beacon)
https://freebeacon.com/democrats/socialist-senate-hopeful-angie-nixon-slapped-with-criminal-referral-for-concealing-back-taxes-and-student-loans-from-the-senate/
http://www.memeorandum.com/260928/p115#a260928p115
The first test is CA's Billionaire Tax on the ballot this November.
More Perfect Union's "big idea":
1️⃣ Tax billionaire's toys
2️⃣ Tax dynastic wealth
3️⃣ Tax corporate greed
▶️ We Uncovered The Radical Solution To Our Rigged Tax Code - More Perfect Union
#taxes
Economic dignity in old age should be a promise — not a luxury.
We must strengthen Social Security.
It is the only large program that guarantees seniors a fixed monthly payment until they die,
but it is expected to become insolvent in just over six years.
That means raising taxes to shore it up.
And rather than encourage average Americans to sink their money into private equity funds and other exotic investments,
we should allow the Social Security Admini…
25 states sue over Trump administration's latest tariffs, citing Supreme Court ruling (Associated Press)
https://apnews.com/article/tariffs-25-supreme-court-import-taxes-120895adbee7ae06157cd5f4bf5c7583
http://www.memeorandum.com/260803/p116#a260803p116
Former Department of Government Efficiency, (or DOGE), employees are working on an artificial intelligence takeover of federal government services for the Trump administration.
The Washington Sun reports that the staffers are setting up an AI-driven website,
America.gov,
to help Americans with everything from obtaining and renewing passports to potentially preparing and filing taxes for free.
(The latter is still under discussion and would be a reversal from the Whit…
Does the Washington Post Want Democracy to Die in Darkness? (Michael Mechanic/Mother Jones)
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/08/jeff-bezos-washington-post-opinion-wealth-taxes-unrealized-gains-taxation-democracy-dies-darkness/
http://www.memeorandum.com/260803/p107#a260803p107
Are Democrats Worried About the Wrong Rich People? (Andrew Duehren/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/02/business/democrats-wealthy-taxes.html
http://www.memeorandum.com/261002/p31#a261002p31
Medicare-for-all means taxes-for-all (Megan McArdle/Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/07/19/medicare-for-all-means-taxes-for-all/
http://www.memeorandum.com/260719/p6#a260719p6
Tariff revenue's $825B gap (Courtenay Brown/Axios)
https://www.axios.com/2026/07/24/tariffs-import-taxes
http://www.memeorandum.com/260725/p4#a260725p4
The IRS slashed its staff. One result? More taxes going uncollected (Scott Horsley/NPR)
https://www.npr.org/2026/09/02/nx-s1-5954022/irs-tax-collection-job-reductions
http://www.memeorandum.com/260902/p117#a260902p117
Burnham Cuts Energy Bills Tax in First Cost-of-Living Help (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-21/burnham-cuts-taxes-energy-bills-ease-cost-of-living-burden
http://www.memeorandum.com/260721/p7#a260721p7
The IRS Is Imploding -- In many years of paying taxes, I've never had a problem with the IRS. (Stephanie Mencimer/Mother Jones)
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/07/the-irs-is-imploding/
http://www.memeorandum.com/260728/p80#a260728p80
Billions in Taxes Go Unpaid. Under Trump, the I.R.S. Won't Say How Much. (Andrew Duehren/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/16/business/trump-irs-tax-gap.html?unlocked_article_code=1.BlE.gNTD.H33JaqcH4O3_&smid=nytcore-android-share
http://www.memeorandum.com/260917/p76#a260917p76