2025-09-28 14:00:40
"Former world leaders call for fossil fuel taxes to fund global climate action"
#FossilFuels #Climate #ClimateChange
"Former world leaders call for fossil fuel taxes to fund global climate action"
#FossilFuels #Climate #ClimateChange
If only large companies and rich people would have to pay a fair share of taxes and we’d finance open source development (and other things such as higher education) as a public good
Even #Channel4News has fallen for the frothing right wing myth that Reeves "lied". She said taxes would need to be raised. And then did it. The only leader who hasn't fallen for it is Ed Davey. #CiaranJenkins you are usually better than this. Just stop it. It's pathetically po…
Finally, a president willing to take on the scourge of non-American bathroom vanities.
It’s not like NATO airspace is being violated and Europe is preparing for global war or anything; this should totally be the main focus of our president. /s
https://
Retirement planning isn't just about saving – it's a strategic game against future challenges. Watch out for stealthy expenses like inflation, medical costs, and taxes that can derail even the best-laid plans. 🔍 Your preparation is key! What's your biggest concern for retirement? Let's tackle it together! 💼🏖️ #RetirementPlanning #FinancialStability
👏👏👏
"Le Monde – Budget 2026 : des taxes sur les multinationales et les géants du numérique américains votées Š l’Assemblée, au grand dam du gouvernement"
https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/artic…
Putin forced to raise taxes again as Ukraine war drains finances – POLITICO
https://www.politico.eu/article/vladimir-putin-raise-taxes-ukraine-war-drain-finance/
The fracturing of the Dutch far-right, after Wilder's reminded everyone that bigots are bad at compromise, is definitely a relief. Dutch folks I've talked to definitely see D66 as progressive, <strike>so there's no question this is a hard turn to the left (even if it's not a total flip to the far-left)</strike> a lot of folks don't agree. I'm going to let the comments speak rather than editorialize myself..
While this is a useful example of how a democracy can be far more resilient to fascism than the US, that is, perhaps, not the most interesting thing about Dutch politics. The most interesting thing is something Dutch folks take for granted and never think of as such: there are two "governments."
The election was for the Tweede Kamer. This is a house of representatives. The Dutch use proportional representation, so people can (more or less) vote for the parties they actually want. Parties <strike>rarely</strike> never actually get a ruling majority, so they have to form coalition governments. This forces compromise, which is something Wilders was extremely bad at. He was actually responsible for collapsing the coalition his party put together, which triggered this election... and a massive loss of seats for his party.
Dutch folks do still vote strategically, since a larger party has an easier time building the governing coalition and the PM tends to come from the largest party. This will likely be D66, which is really good for the EU. D66 has a pretty radical plan to solve the housing crisis, and it will be really interesting to see if they can pull it off. But that's not the government I want to talk about right now.
In the Netherlands, failure to control water can destroy entire towns. A good chunk of the country is below sea level. Both floods and land reclamation have been critical parts of Dutch history. So in the 1200's or so, the Dutch realized that some things are too important to mix with normal politics.
You see, if there's an incompetent government that isn't able to actually *do* anything (see Dick Schoof and the PVV/VVD/NSC/BBB coalition) you don't want your dikes to collapse and poulders to flood. So the Dutch created a parallel "government" that exists only to manage water: waterschap or heemraadschap (roughly "Water Board" in English). These are regional bureaucracies that exist only to manage water. They exist completely outside the thing we usually talk about as a "government" but they have some of the same properties as a government. They can, for example, levy taxes. The central government contributes funds to them, but lacks authority over them. Water boards are democratically elected and can operate more-or-less independent of the central government.
Controlling water is a common problem, so water boards were created to fulfill the role of commons management. Meanwhile, so many other things in politics run into the very same "Tragedy of the Commons" problems. The right wing solution to commons management is to let corporations ruin everything. The left-state solution is to move everything into the government so it can be undermined and destroyed by the right. The Dutch solution to this specific problem has been to move commons management out of the domain of the central government into something else.
And when I say "government" here, I'm speaking more to the liberal definition of the term than to an anarchist definition. A democratically controlled authority that facilitates resource management lacks the capacity for coercive violence that anarchists define as "government." (Though I assume they might leverage police or something if folks refuse to pay their taxes, but I can't imagine anyone choosing not to.)
As the US federal government destroys the social fabric of the US, as Trump guts programs critical to people's survival, it might be worth thinking about this model. These authorities weren't created by any central authority, they evolved from the people. Nothing stops Americans from building similar institutions that are both democratic and outside of the authority of a government that could choose to defund and abolish them... nothing but the realization that yes, you actually can.
#USPol #NLPol
GOP Sen. Jim Justice sued by federal government over $5 million in back taxes (Raquel Coronell Uribe/NBC News)
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/jim-justice-west-virginia-republican-sued-5-million-back-taxes-irs-doj-rcna245767
http://www.memeorandum.com/251124/p125#a251124p125
"The government is not raising enough in tax. Most people, understandably, want a level of public services comparable to our neighbours in Western Europe. The amount of taxes we collectively pay, however, is significantly below most countries in Western Europe. ..[It's] a consequence of 14 years of Conservative government."
Misunderstandings on the left (and elsewhere) about the OBR, independence and the bond market
"A shift in food taxes could cut emissions and make diets healthier, researchers say"
#Emissions #Food #Health
It seems progressive and social democratic politicians are at a loss over how to win elections and gain popularity, so here are my tips.
1. Increase taxes for the rich.
2. Stop subsidies to companies making huge profits.
3. Invest in social welfare programmes like education, health care, and the like.
4. Stop investing in war criminals like the Israeli government.
5. Enact policies to stop the climate crisis.
6. Subsidise working families to protect them from t…
Of course.
In texts, D4 supe Alcaraz wrote of paying workers 'under the table' https://missionlocal.org/2025/11/alcaraz-text-message-under-the-table-taxes-animal-connection/
Also in the news today - Evidence that the great business minds mind their own business and don't give a toss about the folks who actually do necessary work
(Background - The UK is looking at increasing taxes on banks, which are doing very well indeed)
"Among those to call for a rethink on taxing banks was CS Venkatakrishnan, the chief executive of Barclays, who said the government should instead limit public sector pay rises to help curb wage inflation."
Also in the news today - Evidence that the great business minds mind their own business and don't give a toss about the folks who actually do necessary work
(Background - The UK is looking at increasing taxes on banks, which are doing very well indeed)
"Among those to call for a rethink on taxing banks was CS Venkatakrishnan, the chief executive of Barclays, who said the government should instead limit public sector pay rises to help curb wage inflation."
"At the last #Cop climate summit in Baku, there were 1,773 coal, oil and gas lobbyists, a larger contingent than all but three countries. The group said this led to a watering down of penalties for big emitters, backtracking on international commitments to transition away from fossil fuels, and domestic challenges to carbon taxes and legislation designed to reduce emissions"
Wealth Taxes Will Barely Slow Inequality.
So Why Do the Super-Rich Resist Them?
A 2 percent wealth tax is like shaving off a fraction of a spire from a large cathedral,
says economist Nancy Folbre
https://truthout.org/articles/wealth-t
"In truth, no Number fully insulates anyone from life’s vicissitudes. Markets crash, health fails, taxes rise, wars and pestilence break out...."
So, pay your taxes and invest in a welfare safety net, is the unspoken part.
The absurdity of bankers’ retirement fund targets - https://on.ft.com/4o2NNbV
I'm still seeing calls for the blue states to withhold federal taxes. Stop being silly. That is NOT how it works. Federal income taxes are withheld from paychecks by employers, not states, and sent directly to the federal government.
Putting taxes on milkshakes in the middle of a cold November has a certain cunningness to it.
Sources: music mogul David Geffen would net $500M in profit before taxes from a WBD sale at $25 per share; Geffen had bought ~30M shares at $7 to $8 per share (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-24/musi…
Ballot proposal taxes 5% of California billionaires' net worth to fund health care (Cole Lauterbach/Straight Arrow News)
https://san.com/cc/ballot-proposal-taxes-5-of-california-billionaires-net-worth-to-fund-health-care/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251024/p39#a251024p39
We’re going to have to stop paying federal taxes if we don’t want to fund Nazis.
Just added "The Emperor of 10,000 Taxes" to my @… bot. Tariffs are import taxes.
The Emperor of 10,000 Taxes first post on Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@45names/11514
RE: #tariffs
🇺🇦 Auf radioeins läuft...
Geese:
🎵 Taxes
#NowPlaying #Geese
https://lelandstaxes.bandcamp.com/track/geese-lay-eggs-2
https://open.spotify.com/track/7r9BUOSnekEjrkMhmxD6Ae
Mayor Lurie's litmus tests for D4 appointees:
1. Family Zoning Plan
2. Great Highway/Prop K
3. Police drones
https://missionlocal.org/2025/11/sf-district-4-supervisor-vetting/
Interesting thread to get a first-hand account on the current state of LLMs for assisting US tax filings, even in complex situations. tl;dr: Very helpful for a sophisticated user that can check the output.
Another point towards my very narrow defense of LLMs, i.e., feel free to dislike LLMs for many good reasons, but please don't call them useless.
How B.C.'s property tax system delivers big benefits to multimillionaires, and why some say it needs to change
Anyone in B.C. who pays provincial income tax or sales taxes — including lower-income renters — helps cover the costs of this subsidy, which benefits some high-income homeowners in mansions
But many of those with the greatest need for the program do not even know about it, ...only an estimated 16 per cent of seniors defer their taxes.
Cats know how to file and pay taxes, but choose not to. :neocat_evil:
Every once in a while, I bike through Rosedale or Forest Hill and recall that wealth stratification in #Toronto is even greater than it seems most elsewhere. If the perpetually broke city raised property taxes by only a percent or two on only these and a few other postal codes, it'd have more money than it'd know what to do with and the residents of those areas wouldn't even notice.
At a conference yesterday, one speaker mentioned that he naturalized as a #Singapore citizen for "personal reasons" and gave up his US passport.
Sounded strange, so I looked him up and, of course, those "reasons" were tax evasion.
Wished I could have asked him what he thinks about all the migrant workers in Singapore who, despite paying taxes and building the econo…
↖️ Why Are Seattle Drivers Paying So Much More for Gas?
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Why-Are-Seattle-Drivers-Paying-So-Much-More-for-Gas.html
'That's exactly what they are': Sotomayor schools lawyer claiming tariffs aren't taxes - Raw Story
https://www.rawstory.com/sotomayor-tariffs-taxes-scotus/
Is there any reason - apart from the possibility of civil and criminal sanctions - for paying Federal income taxes?
Congress has abandoned "the power of the purse" thus leaving our Federal government treasury outside of the Congress based appropriation machinery created by our Constitution and restated in various laws (such as the "anti-deficiency" act.)
Remember that old phrase - something about "no taxation without representation"? It used to mea…
Reducing (some of) the #EV benefits is never a popular measure. Perhaps that is why it is being introduced now, after the recent elections.
At the same time, the incentive remains in place, because the purchase tax on fossil fuel engines is also increasing, as are fuel taxes.
One of the reasons I support free transit is because relying on fare revenue is a trap. One economic downturn, one pandemic, and suddenly the transit system is on life support and needs to drastically reduce service. On the other hand, funding operations through general taxes allows voters to dictate how to handle funding operations, rather than markets.
[This is just one reason I like free transit; I have many. And yes, if your democracy is broken, so is your transit]
It's got to the point in the year where I can't put off doing the self-assessment tax returns any longer.
It's not too hard - I know where to get all the numbers, but it's always interesting to see how close my rough & ready spreadsheet will be to the amount actually owed.
Not that I object to paying taxes: #WhishyLiberalLefty
Sen. Jim Justice, wife to pay $5 million in back taxes to settle IRS suit (Leo Sands/Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/11/25/west-virginia-jim-justice-tax-irs-lawsuit/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251125/p28#a251125p28
Colorado voters overwhelmingly supported a pair of ballot measures that aim to ensure every public school child in the state is able to access free meals at their schools.
Proposition MM increases taxes on wealthy households earning more than $300,000 annually.
The measure supplements a previously passed referendum from 2022 that also called for increases in taxes in order to help fund schools, but which fell short of its funding goals.
The tax increases will affect around …
Why? Isn't the admin costs built in to the charges already?
https://flip.it/4XvxPn
How many enemies dreamt of destroying the White House. How many soldiers wished they could flatten it. How many generals fantasized about razing the American People’s house.
This one man beat them all. Same man brought the confederate flag into the Capitol, same man presides over the largest tax hike in history (tariffs are import taxes), signed off on the ending of nutrition for the hungry and end healthcare since it will now be unaffordable.
This. One. Man.
#TheDailyShow has done a brilliant piece showing that conservatives have been saying that millionaires will move out of #NewYorkCity because of the high taxes for every year since at least 2009. 😂
Rachel Reeves ‘planning pay-per-mile tax for electric vehicles in budget’
Dear god how fucking dumb is the UK. Once again embarrassed to be British and glad to have gtfo.
Every year new and ever growing invasive taxes while simultaneously being even more useless at using the tax income to better society.
LAT Media Group reports a net loss before taxes of $48.1M in 2024, up from $30M in 2023, with a $21.5M loss in H1 2025; 50% of revenue still came from print (Charlotte Tobitt/Press Gazette)
https://pressgazette.co.uk/north-america/los…
'Betrayal': Ranchers furious as Trump plans to spend US taxes to buy Argentinian beef - Raw Story
https://www.rawstory.com/betrayal-ranchers-furious-as-trump-uses/
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson boldly called for Americans to stage a general strike
during his speech at his city’s
‘No Kings’ rally on Saturday.
Summoning people of all backgrounds to unite and take a stand against
Donald Trump’s “tyranny,”
the “ultra-wealthy”
and corporate greed,
Johnson said,
“We are going to make them pay their fair share in taxes to fund our school, to fund jobs, to fund healthcare, to fund transportation"
I grew up in a large city in a western democracy, with a socialist city government and it was fine.
There was basically no crime. People didn’t go hungry. Housing was affordable. Rent was regulated. Public transport was amazing. Education was free. Everyone had healthcare. Taxes were practically the same as in the US.
It was also much, much easier to start a business there than in the US. (Literally took an hour!)
People who wanted to get rich still could do it (there’s a few Austrian billionaires even).
I don’t understand how Americans got themselves so brainwashed that “socialism” is used as a term that sort of means “iworse than death”.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This would make it dramatically more difficult to fund both affordable housing and transit in California. The Howard Jarvis people want to pull up the drawbridge and make us an even more exclusionary, car-dependent and on-fire state. https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/10
Trump shares Milei’s love of chaos and showbiz but his approach does not fit straightforwardly into his Argentinian ally’s laissez-faire playbook. While Trump has cut taxes for the wealthy and slashed regulation in some sectors, his administration has also taken stakes in strategic firms and used trade policy as a political weapon – a muscular interventionism more familiar in Beijing than Washington.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2025/oct/26/do-populists-always-crash-the-economy?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Undocumented immigrants working in America's hardest jobs pay millions of dollars in Social Security taxes while collecting no benefits.
Ya know maybe if Americans didn't have to pay taxes during a gov shutdown maybe they'd figure out how to agree on something quicker.
Comcast sues to invalidate a Washington state law that taxes online ad services, set to take effect in October; major ad industry groups also oppose the law (Wendy Davis/MediaPost)
https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/408…
Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Rashida Tlaib on Monday introduced the
Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act
with the aim of raising taxes on companies that pay their executives more than 50 times their workers’ wages.
The legislation would impose penalties starting at 0.5 percentage points for companies with CEO-to-worker pay ratios between 50-to-1 and 100-to-1.
Firms where executives make more than 500 times their workers’ pay would be forced to pay the highest rate.
Bailouts and Redistribution
Mikayel Sukiasyan
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.10933 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2509.10933
A Novel IaaS Tax Model as Leverage Towards Green Cloud Computing
Benedikt Pittl, Werner Mach, Erich Schikuta
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.02767 https://arxiv…
Reminder - Can FFOTUS really claim Mar the Lago as his permanent residence? Because of an agreement with the City of Palm Beach he can reside there only because he is listed as an "employee". And I do wonder whether there is proof - bona fide employment, such as a W9, 1099s, payment of worker's comp and FICA taxes etc?
From BC Humanists
Last fall, we pushed the government to finally fulfill a longstanding promise to regulate dangerous and deceptive unregulated (crisis) pregnancy centres.
These fake clinics cloak their religious agenda to deny people their reproductive autonomy and freedom. Many of these groups are registered charities, meaning your taxes subsidize their donations.
Now, the government has let religious anti-choice groups off the hook with its lack of action in Budget 2025.…
Australia begins consultations with publishers and platforms on its News Bargaining Incentive, requiring Big Tech to pay local publishers or face new taxes (April Ossington/Channel News)
https://www.channelnews.com.au/australia-m
Um...*didn't I already pay taxes to support that*?
White House to use tariff revenue for WIC program
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5543943-government-shutdown-wic-funding-tariffs/
Trump's IRS kills program that let Americans file taxes for free (Robert Davis/Raw Story)
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-irs-2674265147/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251105/p3#a251105p3
“Tariffs are an import tax, plain and simple. I would assume the administration understands that.
“I actually am surprised that it was so lacking,” Senator Maria Cantwell added, of the administration’s case.
The court did not appear persuaded, either.
“You want to say tariffs are not taxes,” said the liberal justice Sonia Sotomayor. “But that’s exactly what they are.”