#Taxpayer Protection

[ivygorgon]

AN OPEN LETTER to THE U.S. CONGRESS

Hold Bank Execs Financially Accountable for Mismanagement! Pass the DEPOSIT Act.

274 so far! Help us get to 500 signers!

I am writing to urge you to pass the Deliver Executive Profits on Seized Institutions to Taxpayers (DEPOSIT) Act that was recently introduced by Sen. Richard Blumenthal and U.S. Reps Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Mike Levin (D-CA).

This important legislation would hold executives at failed banks financially responsible for their mismanagement and prevent them from selling off shares of stock, potentially profiting from their bank failure -- like Silicon Valley Bank CEO Greg Becker might have done when he sold $3.6 million of stock shortly before the collapse of SVB.

American taxpayers shouldn’t be left holding the bag and bailing out banks while their executives are walking away with multi-million dollar compensation and bonus packages. Please respond in writing and let me know you co-sponsored this bill. Thanks!

▶ Created on March 24, 2023 by Jess Craven

📱 Text SIGN PNFKGB to 50409

🤯 Liked it? Text FOLLOW JESSCRAVEN101 to 50409

[synergytechmentor]

DWP bank checks will see 74,000 benefit claimants prosecuted and 2,500 jailed in massive fraud crackdown

"We highly welcome this news with optimism as it is high time that we, as taxpayers, take responsibility for safeguarding our taxes and ensuring they are allocated correctly, particularly towards the welfare of our cherished NHS. Unfortunately, it is regrettable that such measures have become necessary, but during my previous employment, at first hand witnessing numerous instances where taxpayer funds were unlawfully distributed to individuals engaged in undocumented work, who subsequently deposited the money into various UK banks.

These revelations have strengthened my support for this news, although I acknowledge that some may harbor doubts. However, I urge you to trust my firsthand experience of taxpayers' money being directed towards inappropriate recipients. It has been disheartening to witness instances where individuals from other European nations, who have no intention of improving their situations or contributing to our society, are benefiting from our generosity from the benefits system, at the expense of our own citizens.

We must draw a line and prevent further exploitation of our benefits system.

Fighting Fraud in the Welfare System:

Enough is enough."

[is-this-even-relatable]

A Rising Phantom

———

Summary: danny died, and no one knows. He is a full ghost, and only thanks to his dual obsessions can he “live” a normal life and pretend that nothing happened.

I aim to make this a multichaptered fic! Hopefully, the first fic I post on AO3!

HEADCANONS/TROPES/TAGS:

no one knows! AU

full ghost! danny

eventual everlasting trio

dual obsessions inspired by this post, which are protection (Phantom) and space (Fenton)

my own headcanon: danny's death is inevitable, a single point in time that cannot be avoided or changed.

———

Danny died on a Saturday.

He was too young to have been left alone; any other house would’ve be fine, but everyone in that town knew, even then, that the Fentons' house was to be avoided by a wide berth.

His parents had rushed out in a frustrated fit, leaving him and Jazz by themselves for the weekend, just like so many before. They were always an afterthought to their parents, long before he was 14.

Danny didn’t intend to go down to the lab that night. But Jazz was out with her friend Kyle, and he was bored. And something down there called to him, though he didn’t know it.

He didn’t know that forces beyond his comprehension were leading to this point, this singularity.

If Danny had known the fate in store for him, he would have begged his parents for them to stay that night, or take him with them. But he didn't know, he couldn't have known... because that's how it was always going to be.

He didn’t know that a man with a clock in his chest, who changed between ages in the blink of an eye, was watching as he walked down those lonely steps.

He didn’t know, as he pulled on a white hazmat suit hand-sewn just for him, far too flimsy for what it was meant to protect him against, that a sentient dimension was pushing against the veil, straining for him.

He didn’t know, as he stepped through the gaping metal maw, that it had already called his name, and death had claimed it.

And afterwards, while he curled up on the cold basement floor, clutching his chest for a pulse, he still did not know that even if he had known... he would have had no choice but to do the same.

Danny died when he turned the portal on, alone in his parents’ lab.

Standing inside, fifty million Watts of electricity coursed from his palm to his heart, searing its path into his skin. It had no exit route. It cooked him from the inside, lighting all of his nerves on fire, and doused him in an infinite realm’s worth of dimensional energy. After what seemed like hours of screaming, panicking, burning- he somehow managed to crawl out of the portal.

He died then, lying flat in front of the machine that ended him, as the intense pain faded into a dull throb that replaced the beating that used to be in his chest.

And as he sat up, feeling both sore and feather-light, he looked down upon his body, and realized that he had died that day, and he was not coming back.

Danny panicked. And he did the only thing he could do. He decided to run away, afraid of what he was, confused and scared and feeling very not himself.

But the main anxiety that drove him to hide his accident was a rather juvenile one.

…He was afraid that his parents would be upset that he had gone into the lab without their permission.

He had messed with their stuff, and turned something on… something he definitely shouldn’t have.

He had just opened a portal to a realm full of the very things that kept him from sleeping at night, of “unfeeling monsters” that his parents had drilled into him about for years.

A portal to ghosts… that were now free to come through.

That thought made something inside him solidify, and a low hum began to emanate from him as he worried about his family. About the ghosts and the portal and how they were going to manage without him…

He couldn’t just leave like this. Not when he was responsible. He couldn’t let a whole realm of monsters hurt his family. At that thought, dread filled him, and that same something inside his chest ached.

But it occurred to him that he still had to leave. Not just at the thought of his parents stumbling in on his body.

No, it was about him. For he was one of them now, wasn’t he? A ghost. And he was a monster now, too. Despite not feeling like one. Despite knowing that there was clearly something wrong with what he had been told and what he knew was intimately true of himself in this new form.

But something inside him whispered at him that he couldn’t take the chance, if he did turn into a monster. He couldn’t let himself hurt his family.

So with fears on his back and a tingle fading from his fingertips, Danny pulled himself up onto unsteady feet. He took his body outside, to the woods where no one would know. And he buried it, alone, surrounded by trees and the sky.

He sat there, at his fresh grave, and cried.

Holding his arms around himself tight, he mourned the loss of warmth, of blood pumping and his heartbeat, so loud in its absence.

Surrounded by nothing but silence, he mourned that he’d never made close friends, nor really had the chance.

Looking up at the stars, he mourned that he could never fulfill his dream of being an astronaut.

He mourned for himself because no one else could.

And as his last cry petered off into the night, the sun broke the horizon.

A different something tugged at his chest, and he let it pull without resistance, worn ragged as he was.

And he was grateful he did. For a soothing light washed over him and transformed him into something similar, but not quite as he was Before.

But he felt warmth, and he felt a pseudo-beat in his chest, sluggish as it was. And suddenly he realized that although he was dead, he was alive in a different way.

He was still there.

He didn’t have to give up on life.

He was not going to be a monster.

Danny walked back home. He washed the dirt away from under his fingernails. He swept the lab until it looked like no one had been there. Minus the massive swirling vortex.

And when Jazz got home from her sleepover, Danny hugged her with a smile.

He was going to be fine.

They would all be fine, he would make sure of it.

[collapsedsquid]

Among those advising Trump on economic issues before he makes critical appointments, a clear strategy has emerged: Link the increased China tariffs to tax reform negotiations expected to reach a head in 2025. “The way that President Trump looks at tariffs are not in isolation. They are a fundamental and core part of his broader economic strategy, which also includes tax cuts, deregulation, energy diversity,” says Kelly Ann Shaw, a former Trump official who is now a partner at law firm Hogan Lovells. Much of the landmark legislation from Trump’s first term – the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act – is set to expire at the end of next year, with congressional Republicans already working on how to extend or make it permanent. Trump’s economic advisers – and the president himself – view the forthcoming tariff revenue as a way to offset that cost. “Lower taxes and paying off debt,” Trump said, when asked by his former economic adviser Larry Kudlow about what he would do with the revenue from new tariffs. Extending the provisions of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act that are set to expire – a doubling of the standard deduction, an increased Child Tax Credit, and an estate tax exemption, among others – would forgo $5.3 trillion in government revenue, according to the Center for a Responsible Budget. Ending taxes on tips, overtime pay, and Social Security benefits would cost trillions more. Trump’s proposed tariffs would raise $2.7 trillion, the group estimates.

Idunno, maybe it's just me, but I think if you planning to use the tariffs to offset tax cuts that's making it clear that the tariffs are a form of tax.

[jerseydeanne]

"Prince Harry's legal battle with the Home Office over police protection in Britain has already cost UK taxpayers almost £300,000, it emerged last night."

[paeinovis]

Like okay. You're picking fights with the #1 bringer of people (and their money) into the state and provider of jobs, you're threatening all the gays and trans ppl and drag queens and Chinese ppl and immigrants as a whole and Black people and anyone who isn't You like Bitch WHO do you have left what money do you have left you stupid cunt !!!

[ferretshark]

Project 2025 Cliff Notes:

1. Complete ban on abortions, without exceptions (pg. 449-503)

2. End marriage equality (pg. 545-581)

3. Elimination of unions and worker protections (pg. 581)

4. Defund the FBI and Homeland Security (pg. 133)

5. Eliminate federal agencies like the FDA, EPA, NOAA, and more (pg. 363-417)

6. Mass deportation of immigrants and incarceration in "camps" (pg. 133)

7. End birthright citizenship (pg. 133)

8. Cut Social Security (pg. 691)

9. Cut Medicare (pg. 449)

10. Eliminate the Department of Education (pg. 319)

11. Teach Christian religious beliefs in public schools (pg. 319)

12. Use public, taxpayer money for private religious schools (pg. 319)

13. End the Affordable Care Act (pg. 449)

14. Ban contraceptives (pg. 449)

15. Additional tax breaks for corporations and the 1% (pg. 691)

16. End civil rights & DEI protections in government (pg. 545-581)

17. Ban African American and gender studies in all levels of education (pg. 319)

18. End climate protections: (pg. 417)

19. Increase Arctic drilling (pg. 363)

20. Deregulate big business and the oil industry (pg. 363)

Not to increase anxiety, but I found this buried on Reddit. From six months ago. very good thing to have in your pocket so you are prepared

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau put forward a new regulation to limit bank overdraft fees. The CFPB pointed out that the average overdraft fee is $35 even though majority of overdrafts are under $26 and paid back with-in 3 days. The new regulation will push overdraft fees down to as little as $3 and not more than $14, saving the American public collectively 3.5 billion dollars a year.

The Environmental Protection Agency put forward a regulation to fine oil and gas companies for emitting methane. Methane is the second most abundant greenhouse gas, after CO2 and is responsible for 30% of the rise of global temperatures. This represents the first time the federal government has taxed a greenhouse gas. The EPA believes this rule will help reduce methane emissions by 80%

The Energy Department has awarded $104 million in grants to support clean energy projects at federal buildings, including solar panels at the Pentagon. The federal government is the biggest consumer of energy in the nation. The project is part Biden's goal of reducing the federal government's greenhouse gas emissions by 65% by 2030. The Energy Department estimates it'll save taxpayers $29 million in the first year alone and will have the same impact on emissions as taking over 23,000 gas powered cars off the road.

The Education Department has cancelled 5 billion more dollars of student loan debt. This will effect 74,000 more borrowers, this brings the total number of people who've had their student loan debt forgiven under Biden through different programs to 3.7 Million

U.S. Agency for International Development has launched a program to combat lead exposure in developing countries like South Africa and India. Lead kills 1.6 million people every year, more than malaria and AIDS put together.

Congressional Democrats have reached a deal with their Republican counter parts to revive the expanded the Child Tax Credit. The bill will benefit 16 million children in its first year and is expected to lift 400,000 children out of poverty in its first year. The proposed deal also has a housing provision that could see 200,000 new affordable rental units

[reasonsforhope]

Sorry I'm kind of dissociated and my vocab crashes during that can you explain the Biden drug thing in just. Shorter simple sentences.

Sure! You're not the only one who's mentioned being unclear on what it means either, and I'm happy to help

(Context for anyone else: US Sets Policy to Seize Patents of Government-Funded Drugs if Price Deemed Too High, via Good News Network, December 11, 2023)

From the very basics:

When drug companies create new drugs, they get a legal protection called a "patent." The patent means no one else can make or sell the same drug for whatever number of years.

Usually, this is about 10 years after the drug starts being sold to the public.

So, for those years, that one drug company is the only source of whatever medication. And since people need their medication, drug companies can charge however much money they want.

Meaning a lot of drugs that people need to live cost way too much money to buy.

So, with this, Biden told drug companies "Fuck you, if you keep making medicine too $$$ for people to afford, I'm giving your competition the right to make and sell those drugs too."

The US has never done anything like this before.

This is a huge threat to the whole (awful) drug industry in the US. It will save people thousands of dollars. If he does this, it will save lives.

--

Edit 12/17/23: Quick note, as people have said in the notes, this only applies to drugs made in part using taxpayer money. Which is! Literally all of them!

[ivygorgon]

DO NOT DEFUND THE IRS! Tax the rich!

An open letter to the U.S. Congress

1,016 so far! Help us get to 2,000 signers!

I am writing to urge you to fully fund IRS enforcement efforts in the FY2025 budget and reject any cuts since they would benefit tax-evading millionaires and billionaires. The IRS recently recovered $263 MILLION from a single wealthy tax cheat who had been running an offshore tax evasion scheme for over a decade. This massive recovery demonstrates the critical importance of robust IRS enforcement capabilities. Since receiving increased funding, the IRS has collected over $1 billion in back taxes from millionaire tax cheats in less than a year. This money is being used to fund vital public services and reduce the deficit. However, I am deeply concerned by House Republicans' proposal to slash $2 billion from the IRS enforcement budget. This reckless cut would deliberately cripple the agency's ability to go after wealthy tax evaders, effectively siding with high-end tax cheats at the expense of honest taxpayers and crucial public investments. Every dollar cut from IRS enforcement is a gift to ultra-wealthy tax cheats and a blow to working families who pay their fair share of taxes. The proposed $2 billion cut could prevent the recovery of exponentially more in unpaid taxes owed by the rich. As your constituent, I strongly urge you to: — Fully fund IRS enforcement efforts in the FY2025 budget — Reject any cuts to IRS enforcement capabilities — Support measures to further strengthen the IRS's ability to crack down on wealthy tax evaders Billionaires and massive corporations should not be allowed to shirk their obligations while the rest of us play by the rules. A well-funded IRS helps level the playing field and ensures everyone pays what they owe. Thank you for your attention to this critical issue. I look forward to hearing how you plan to protect IRS enforcement funding and stand up for tax fairness.

▶ Created on October 3 by Jess Craven

📱 Text SIGN PMMDKV to 50409

🤯 Liked it? Text FOLLOW JESSCRAVEN101 to 50409

[ce-archerhelke]

why is Chicago paying for cops to hang out in the middle of the street?

I walk, fairly often, from the building where I work to the South Loop office where a number of my doctors see patients. It’s a great situation for me: I can then catch the train at 11th Street, no cars necessary. But, lately, I’ve noticed something that is really bothering me: Chicago, which is never exactly flush with cash, is apparently paying cops to sit in the medians of State Street and…

[9breaknews]

Prince Harry's legla fights over his police protection 'expected to cost taxpayers more than £1 million'

Prince Harry’s ongoing High Court battle over his British police protection ‘expected to cost taxpayers more than £1 million’ The bill has now reached £502,236 and his appeal will cost a further £500,000 The duke had claimed it was unfair and illegal to remove his armed guard By Christian Oliver published: 05:00 EDT, Jun 17, 2023 | Updated: 05:01 EDT, Jun 17, 2023 The Duke of Sussex’s High…

[justanotherfacet]

We need those 87K IRS agents. Right now the IRS has about half the personnel that they really should have to minimize tax stress on pretty much everybody who isn’t a 1%er. (Also, a bunch of them are basically filling in for people who are going to retire soon).

a) Currently, there’s about 1 person for every 13K calls so your chances of getting anyone on the phone suck.

b) That employee increase would definitely give you a better chance that you are talking to someone who either understands your issue themselves or at least knows which department they need to get you to, 

c) Most (if not all) local offices are now at “you have to call to make an appointment first” as opposed to “if all else fails you go down to the office and just sit there till they have to deal with you”.

d) In case you were wondering, nope, tax pros don’t magically get a secret line to get through any faster if we need to talk to an actual agent. I’ve been there when a client had a really “WTF is up with this?” deal that I sat on the phone for an hour only to find out that being preparer of record wasn’t enough to grant me access to the info I needed to straighten it out. (The situation was eventually resolved, thankfully, and iirc it was even resolved in my client’s favor).

(I’m not gonna lie and tell you that the IRS aren’t auditing a whole bunch of Earned Income Credit recipients whose average income is about $20K/year, but there are literally Audits & Investigations people who already have 20+ years in who are quitting specifically because they’re at “I got into this to take down the serious offenders, not somebody who maybe just got confused about some of the due diligence questions and at most probably received $5-10K that they shouldn’t have”.)

*********************************a few other tax things that you might want to know

Folks, you literally cannot commit tax fraud by accident (ignorance on your part if you were self-filing or taking your tax preparer’s word for your eligibility for credits and/or deductions is a legitimate defense. You might still end up with some sort of malfeasance deal, but they have to prove intent for fraud and most of the time that’s not gonna happen).

Also, if you get stuck in an “I owe the IRS” situation, you are way better off (in my professional opinion) filing even if you can’t pay them. Most of the time for working poor/lower middle class that’s going to be a case of “you didn’t have enough federal withholding and you also didn’t have dependents to bump up your standard deduction”. So while it’s probably too late now, if that sounds like you, talk to your HR/payroll/whatever if you’re a W-2 employee and get your withholding set to about 10-12%. 

I have definitely had clients who were there and what I generally recced to them was “ok, paying me and paying the IRS are not the same thing, so if you can afford my prep fees I can get you filed and get you what’s called a 1040-V which you then send to whichever office that’s on it with as much money as you can afford”. (That way, you’re not going to have to deal with a prior-year filing situation next tax season even though you might still owe the IRS. If you go pro for that, you are going to have to pay upfront because we obviously won’t have a refund to take your fees out of.)

(ideally, even if you are getting a refund, it’s better to be able to pay upfront because pretty much all the big-boxes will take a “transmitter fee” to take prep fees out of your refund, but considering that a lot of my clients were “refund’s 5-10K, prep fees are $400-ish, transmitter fee is $50″ and also usually wanted/needed refund advances, that’s basically just another day in the USA.)

[chanelfunnell]

mail and the answers

A) Amanda Grahovec is Chicago born and a citizen of Chicago. Kaner comes from Buffalo, both Americans. His gf from Buffalo was alike of Amanda so he has a ,type,. No idea about Tazer's type. I think it's uncertain.

NoB) Miss or Mrs Anon, I know I have mentioned Meghan Markle as an example taking front and centre as a domineering woman but please refer to Canadian citizens taxpayers for getting huge bill for a person of non entity from USA just bedding a royal brat from a kingdom abroad and demanding a full police protection. Ask your Canadian and UK government and stupid British king who did not kick Harry with Meghan out of any title of duke. I don't think this ginger whinger is even his son I will not pay a buck for any chica bedding a governor of Nebraska and both Americans. Stay with a topic, please Markle is definitely not right in her head as deluded non entity but they let her to scam them$50 mil for her 3rd wedding in UK and other millions in Canada as just a bedmate. Your Marketa is on the topic if she takes reins of any ice hockey work otherwise -time outshe is more busy getting huge disier on Markle as Markle has contacted anybody for information and defamation and plotting how to be new Prime Minister of UK with her new political party, mocking Kate with her crotch watch to feet of Fergie and Markle for her comments on her social platform who is other PR cretin with own ideology barking in the tabs or who is showing real colours as a mocker of the posh accents and a thief of UK real estate assets. She pronounced herself as a new candidate PM for her new political party with expected sweeping victory and manifesto of border protections, limited immigration of just 5000 student visa and just 30000 work visa, self sufficiency of UK with food. Energy. Huge Corado Catani investigation into corruptions of outsourced contracts and stabilisation of NHs. Fight against woke. Strong army and UK with new strong industries. Rbbotisation, building new housing for growing population, finishing Vrexit and huge transformation of police force..she mocks anything what they publish with her calculations how much people pay and what they got for extra bucks and not huge energy companies taxed. Your M operates behind enemy's line and as silent superpower and an owner of social media platform that gives a power to UK but also to her as a person holding huge media influence. She just watched any bad steps and speeches by posing attention seekers and she can turn it into her advantage. Former Commandant RM who did not listen to her secret letter about a spy policeman targeting a naval officer is out for leakage. Markle apparently wrote the letter based on that to UK king and former UK Marines commandant leaked nonsense about marines apparently after his dismissal. I don't bother about their Game of thrones where even Marti Snow participated on her fictional Insta and who has dragons and walking naked a walk of shame. UK ruling Windsors are stupid and just posing in the press or at the glossy events instead of any proper charity work. Markle is their clone. Marketa is with her sweet face a processor in her head and iron wrist with willpower and an ambitious manipulator who is possibly winning with her chess board manoeuvres seeing 10 steps ahead as very good psychologist with her IT analytical mind to predict a behaviour of mentally unhinged non entities like Markle but at sexual ice hockey scandal of team Canada is up to Canada, your rambling and grievances about Markle up to Canada. UK and UK king to request wasted millions back and kick her out of any titled if she hates it so much and they go with her narrative and you paid for her police protection as unknown unimportant bed mate of royal brat who leaked to the press. Your head and heads of the heads of your countries have to be checked as well. It will not happen in USA. Only Game interesting to me is ice hockey. I don't bother who slept with dell Zotto and no security here and what grandfather had paid for a cup of Eastern Conference. They are posers without ability to skate, knowledge and achievements of anything, just dumb posers and M who is able to read games and rooms well, skate well and self made fancies herself she is Bedard with eyes in her back and McDavid ,Matthews .

[tomboyfriends]

Btw, the rescue efforts by the US and Canadian govt are entirely performative. They know those men are dead. They are merely signaling to other billionaires and oligarchs that they will always put down endless taxpayer dollars to protect their safety and status, even from their own stupidity. Just because of their wealth, which is stolen from those less fortunate. While the poor will never be extended the same amount of support, especially those who are most vulnerable, such as those migrating to escape hellish living conditions.