Monday, April 17, 2006

Tax Day is here!

Let us rejoice! Our money can be taken, so as to help out my neighbor. It does not matter that 2/3s of the money is wasted, the politicians can feel good.

Or not.

What is also pretty unfair is the way our tax system works.
If you haven't looked at this, you should. Its an excellent break down of the tax code, and very easy to understand.
The top 50% of the country, they pay more then 90% of the taxes. Not fair or right at all.
Breakdown (And yes, it is Rush limbaugh. Sorry carey.)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey, your boy Dick Cheney got 1.9million dollars in refund. that should make you feel good.

and yeah, 2/3 is wasted fighting this stupid useless war overseas rather than educating american children and providing health care for the poor.

RobertDWood said...

It sure does. And the charitys that got the millions in donations are feeling even better.

Educating american children: How much more money is needed before we can fix a broken system? It's the most education ever spent by any country in history.

Health care: we just passed the fragging largest medicare bill in US history. What else is needed?

Anonymous said...

You're unbelievable. he only donated to charities to get the giant refund.

Also, let's figure out where the income came from:

1999: Before becoming VP - Dick got lots of stock options as CEO of Halliburton....options with a strike price of 35 to 40.

2001: attacks
2002: we go to war, Halliburton gets big contracts, stock price skyrockets.
2005: cheney exercises options with a low strike price, and high market value and in the exercise and sale, 50% is withheld for tax obligations. he pockets the other 50%.
year end 2005: in order to recoup some additional money from the options exercise, he donates to charities....enough so that the IRS will write him a big fat 1.9million dollar check.

The value of his options is directly related to the market value of Halliburton stock which is directly related to this country remaining at war.

so there you have it.

RobertDWood said...

"The value of his options is directly related to the market value of Halliburton stock which is directly related to this country remaining at war."

I fail to see your point.
What does this have to do with tax returns?

In addition, Haliburton also drills oil wells, both on and off shore, around the world. That has nothing to do with the war.

Why is it so hard to believe that Cheney gave money out of the goodness of his heart?

Anonymous said...

When a person "excercises stock options" they automatically pay taxes on the capital gains difference between the "strike price" and the "market value" of the stock.

so when he retired from Halliburton, the stock was only worth about $35. because the war, the contracts, halliburton's growth during the iraqi missions, the market price skyrocketed. Cheney excercised his options, and sold the stock.

The options increase exponentially in value based on the market price. Its like "free money" and so his taxes that he paid, was never actually money out of his pocket....it was due to market appreciation.

Finance 101. i'm not sure how old you are...but you'll learn about employee stock options when you take a finance or business class.

The man has no goodness in his heart.

TheEarthCanBeMoved said...

Hey Anonymous!
Wouldn't you take advatage of the situation if you were in his shoes?
It's just good use of reasources.
I don't see anything wrong with useing what you've got to get more.
It's called capitalism,
And it's what makes our country great.
If you don't like it,
Move to North Korea.