#voluntary self-disclosure

[nationallawreview]

Federal Agencies Have Placed a Heightened Priority on Whistleblowers and Speedy Cooperation

As new areas of the law emerge, driven in part by technology and the free flow of information, federal agencies are becoming more aggressive with a tried and true carrot-and-stick approach to law and regulatory enforcement. In a recent PLI panel on government enforcement priorities in May 2024, Brent Wible, Chief Counselor, Office of the Assistant Attorney General, Department of Justice (DOJ or…

[defectivevillain]

this winding labyrinth, chapter 12

chapter twelve: consumption

pairing: Hannibal Lecter/Reader (reader's race & gender are ambiguous; no physical descriptors or pronouns are used)

summary:

You wish you never met Hannibal Lecter. But you yearn for his presence. You want to forget him. But he never truly leaves your thoughts. Now, you’re left to pick up the pieces of a broken design. A battle of instinct rages on in your mind—one of bittersweet relief and cloying grief, fearless resolve and poignant regret; a clashing between affection and antipathy, pride and pain. What will win, in the end? Only time will tell.

this is chapter 12, act 2 of this broken design. if you haven't read act 1 or chapters 1-11, this won't make too much sense.

ao3 version | Spotify playlist

warnings: typical violence, gore, blood, cannibalism, self-deprecating thoughts

Your dreams have only grown more convoluted and inexplicable since Frederick Chilton’s death. First dominated by somber blues interspersed with the unmistakable crimson stained across your skin, your nightmares now carry familiar yellow-grey tints. You are often haunted by the sound of wings swiftly beating in the air; harsh, warm breaths hitting your neck and sending shivers down your spine; and the dull burn of midday sunlight. 

Reportedly, William Blake—the artist who created The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun—was under-appreciated throughout his life. Only the onset of the Romantic Age brought suitable attention to his works, both written and visual. There is nothing about Blake that strikes you as particularly relevant to the killer’s violent tendencies. It seems that his obsessive attention only lies with the painting itself: with broad shoulders supporting swooping wings and pale hands clasped in fervent emotion. Further research informs you that, despite Blake’s known skepticism and scrutiny of religion, The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun was situated in a series of paintings intended to depict scenes from the Bible. You can’t necessarily see the killer as a devout or pious person, but he certainly seems to treat the painting with a sense of reverence. 

Your conversation with Hannibal weighs on your mind, as your discussions with him often do. You can’t help but think that his phrasing was entirely intentional—and that the term ‘consumption’ is indicative of more than a mere transformation. Jack seems to think the same. When the two of you track down the painting’s physical location at the Brooklyn Museum in New York, you finally start to feel as if you have a lead. 

It’s roughly a six hour drive to the museum. You spend the time focused on the road, while occasionally switching radio stations when the music starts to bore you. At some point, Jack calls you to ensure your travel is going well—and the two of you review your next course of action. Finally, after what feels like far too long, you’re situated in a cramped parking lot behind the museum. You’re immediately grateful that Jack called ahead and spoke to lead officials at the museum, thereby ensuring your visit would be unhindered by administrative red tape. You pay a glance at the clock: it’s 8:27 p.m. The museum closed to the public nearly two and a half hours ago. You stall in the car for a few moments before heading up the steps, pretending to feel calm despite the steady thrumming of your adrenaline. 

Jack and you don’t expect much direct evidence to come from this visit, aside from visitor data that the BAU can comb over and scrutinize. As time has passed, you’ve narrowed in on several key traits of the killer’s… which will certainly eliminate some people. Then again, the museum likely only tracks voluntary disclosures of information. The visitor database likely only has gender, age, marital status, and any past visits or contributions. Still, it could be a start. 

Admittedly, there’s another component to this site visit. Jack and you have struggled to pin down the killer’s relationship to the painting. An in-person visit will allow you to get a better look at the painting. As you finally make it up the steps and towards the accessible door where you’re directed to enter, Hannibal’s voice rings in your ears. Consumption. Becoming. His true self will be eradicated upon completion of the process. Is there any chance the killer has visited this museum to get a look at the painting? Did he ever stand frozen in front of it, a silent and strangely foreboding figure quietly warding off other visitors from its magnificence? Did he ever walk down these halls with a visceral purpose? 

Your concentration is broken by the telltale jangle of keys. Filing those thoughts away for later, you approach the front desk and show them your FBI badge—explaining that you have a brief meeting with one of the curators of the museum. They nod and turn their back on you for a moment, mumbling something into their walkie talkie before sighing. 

“I’ll go fetch her,” the receptionist promises, resignedly glancing down the hall towards the escalators. “Shouldn’t be too long.” 

You thank them and wait with bated breath. Three minutes… four minutes…. Five minutes… The time drags on with a painful clumsiness. After ten minutes, you begin to pace restlessly. You’re skeptical of why they’re taking so long—it’s after hours, which means there shouldn’t be any other distractions in the building. Are the archives far away? A million different explanations run through your mind, each more unreasonable than the last.

Finally, after what feels like an hour, the receptionist returns with the curator in tow. She introduces herself and you’re quick to shake her hand, unable to hide your relief. Your thoughts were quickly spiraling into fantastical territory, as you dreaded several different dangers that could’ve prevented her from arriving. But the curator is calm and collected, pushing her glasses up her nose and staring at you with gleaming brown eyes. Her hair falls in elegant dark brown locs that frame her face beautifully; she wears a pale lavender blazer with a pencil skirt and loafers. You immediately feel self-conscious of your rather plain attire. The FBI has always been stringent on uniform requirements, especially when it comes to working in the field. The most you can get away with is a mildly patterned dress shirt and slacks. The curator’s warm brown skin is entirely void of scars or marks—unlike yours, you think self-consciously. The scar on your left eye seems to draw a lot of attention, as people often ask you how you got it. You feel a brief and unfamiliar stab of envy before you refocus your thoughts. 

If the curator senses your insecurity she is kind enough to ignore it—instead offering a handshake. “I’m Evelyn, one of the Collections Curators here.” You shake her hand and introduce yourself in return. Evelyn is quick to lead you down the hall towards the escalators with a practiced ease. Feeling a strange urge to make conversation, you ask her how long she’s been working at the museum. Through your unexpectedly long walk across the second floor and through several winding halls, you learn a bit more about her: she’s been working at the museum for almost eight years now; she studied anthropology in school and went back for her graduate degree in museum studies, with concentrations in art history and writing; and she is particularly interested in art stemming from the Romantic period.

You always feel a strange mix of contentedness and self-doubt when speaking to other people around your age. The FBI has dominated your life for so long that it’s hard for you to imagine a time when you weren’t pursuing criminals and investigating crime scenes. And while that may sound exciting to many, the life of an agent like yourself is heavily romanticized. Not to mention, such work can easily bleed into all aspects of your life. The past few years have been especially difficult for you when it comes to maintaining your work-life boundaries—they’re practically nonexistent now. Conversations like these ones—innocuous, harmless—remind you of the life you could’ve had. It’s bittersweet. 

You finally manage to focus on the task at hand, as Evelyn stops in the middle of a room lined with counters, drawers, and shelves as far as the eye can see. She explains that you’re currently standing in one of the museum’s many storerooms, where they keep items that are not on exhibition. It seems Jack briefed the curator a little, because she already knows which painting you’re looking for. There’s a sparkle of curiosity in her eyes, but it’s quickly suppressed with an admirable professionalism. Her gaze flits to your badge, hanging from your right pocket, before she’s asking you what you’ll need for investigation. Evelyn proves to be extremely helpful, as she gives you the contact information of the Audience Services Manager who can give you access to the visitor database. In terms of the painting itself, she gives you a quick overview of the process: she’ll go into the back room and retrieve the work; when she returns, you’re allowed to look at it but not touch it. 

"The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun is extremely sensitive to light, so it’s kept hidden away in that storage room.” She explains. You follow her gaze to find a steel door and a black badge scanner next to it. Evelyn leaves you with the promise that she’ll return shortly. You’re left to your thoughts, which are quickly returning to the unpleasant spiral they were before. You restlessly pace up and down the aisle of the storage room, your hands shoved in your pockets and your mind running a mile a minute. 

After a while, you glance down at your watch. It’s been ten minutes. You’re growing worried. After a few more minutes spent in deliberation, you decide to look around the room for a neglected employee badge to get you into that room. Suddenly, time seems to be speeding away from you; you’re only growing more panicked as you throw open drawers that definitely shouldn’t be touched. After several minutes, you finally find a badge and nearly sigh in relief. 

Scanning the badge opens the door with a devastatingly loud buzzing noise. You enter the room to find the space dimly lit, complete with glass casings and rows of shelves that nearly extend out of sight. The shelves are mobile, you realize upon closer inspection. Cranking the hand crank at the end of the room will push them aside. Frowning, you take a few more cautious steps into the room—until you see a pair of black loafers, just barely visible between the sprawling shelves. Heart racing, you listen for another presence before silently making your way over. When you finally reach the partition, you find Evelyn sprawled across the ground. There’s no visible sign of blood, but you still quickly crouch down to feel for a pulse. Her heart rate is a bit slow, but otherwise present. You take a slow breath and remain frozen before her for several more moments, ensuring the assailant isn’t in the room. Then you grab your phone from your pocket and quickly input the five digit number that acts as a distress signal, alerting Jack and the nearby authorities. After listening for disturbances again, you manage to pull Evelyn off to the side and shelter her behind one of the desks. With any luck, the assailant will be too distracted with you to notice her. 

You have a gut feeling the assailant is the same killer you’re searching for. But your suspicions aren’t confirmed until you hear a violent tearing sound, as if something is being ripped in half. You glance across the room and hear another shredding sound; immediately, you quietly move to hide between two of the shelves. Evelyn hadn’t told you where the painting’s exact location was, but you don’t think you need it. You’re certain the killer—the Dragon, as he fashions himself—is here in this very room. Moreover, it seems as if he’s currently ripping the painting into small pieces. 

Now, though, there’s a haunting silence. You lean closer to the shelf in front of you, only to hear nothing. You’re not sure how long you remain there before you hear the slightest inhale and a sound that sounds weirdly similar to chewing. Lightning searing through you, you start to connect everything together. Consumption . Hannibal was referring to it in the literal sense, after all. The killer is consuming the painting to make himself one with it. 

Right about now is when you would surge forward and point your gun at the killer, successfully apprehending him. But you only have a knife. After all, this wasn’t supposed to be anything more than a mere conversation with the curator. Jack and you never thought the killer would actually show up—and at the same time as your visit, no less.  Besides, you figured you may not make a great first impression with the museum curator by carrying a visible weapon around in the building. You regret that notion now, of course. But it’s too late for regret. 

In your musing, it seems the killer has finished chewing and swallowing the painting. You suppress a shudder at the thought of eating the canvas: the dry, starchy material sticking to the roof of your mouth; the wet lump traveling down your throat. It sounds revolting.

Of course, you don’t have time to contemplate the thought, as you realize the killer’s footsteps are sounding far nearer than before. There’s a brief pause and you inch your way towards the mouth of the shelves.

There’s an ominous creak and your heart drops to your stomach as you realize the shelf in front of you is slowly inching its way towards you. The killer is rearranging the shelves—likely returning them to what they were before he took the painting. But now you’re stuck in an aisle as the shelves move to close you in. Thankfully, they move rather loudly; still, you place a hand over your mouth to stifle your quick breaths and quietly inch out of the rapidly shrinking space. By some miracle, you manage to make it out before you’re completely crushed. 

Unfortunately, this places you right within the killer’s line of sight. He’s wearing some sort of covering that obscures the lower half of his face, but you can still see the moment his eyes find yours. He lurches forward in a surprising bout of speed, knocking you to the ground before you can grab your knife. 

You’re immediately forced to reckon with one realization: you’re not fighting a man. You’re fighting a beast. He does not brandish a weapon threateningly or engage in swift hand-to-hand combat. Instead he bites and thrashes; writhes and yanks at anything within reach. His fingernails are long and sharp, and they break the skin of your arms as you try to shove him off of you. You’ve had extensive combat training to prepare you for virtually any kind of situation. But when it comes to a fight like this—purely physical and fueled with adrenaline—you feel woefully unprepared and outmatched. 

Your knife is concealed in your belt, but the guy’s hands latch around your throat and squeeze with a truly frightening strength. Your vision immediately stutters as spots flash across the room. A roaring sound floods through your ears; you try to wrench his grip off, but he’s shifting his weight forward—and it feels as if he’s shoving you through the floor. The world is pulsing around you as you try in vain to reach for your knife. You fumble it out of your pocket as your vision threatens to fall to black; you manage to stab him in the side and his grip fumbles long enough for you to escape. 

You immediately push yourself to your knees and brace yourself against the ground, heaving and rasping as you finally get the air you were fighting for. Nausea burns in your throat and saliva falls from your lips as you regain control. You hear a sickening squelch and a harsh clang; you look up to find the killer stepping on your blood-slicked knife and kicking it across the floor, sending it skittering away from you. 

It’s as if he isn’t even wounded. He’s descending on you with the same ferocity as before, panting like a predator salivating for its prey. At this point, you’re attempting to get away from him—only for him to harshly grab your collar and slam you into the ground. Your head rattles and throbs; blood falls from your nose and down past your lips. The killer harshly flips you around until you’re on your back, dizzily looking up at him. Then he dips his head down dangerously close to your neck and bites. You scream and try to shove him off of you, only for him to rise moments later with a bloodied chunk of flesh between his teeth. Your stomach rolls in disgust and there’s a violent buzzing sound echoing in your ears. Through sheer panic and bone-deep fear, you grapple with the man long enough to get him off of you. Something flashes in his eyes mere moments before you harshly knee him in the gut. It gets him off of you, leaving you just barely enough time to scramble for the discarded knife. You make a mad grab for it, expecting to be harshly dragged back by the ankle. Instead, you face no resistance. But, once you reach the knife, he’s already out of the room. 

Swearing, you stumble after him—but the guy is fast. You run down the hall as quickly as you can, only to look around and find no sign of him anywhere. You look along the floor for a trail of blood or a wayward footprint, but there’s nothing. It’s as if he was never here in the first place. You grip your knife tightly, attempting to breathe normally despite the overwhelming tightness in your throat, pulsing in your chest, and throbbing in your temple. 

Your adrenaline is swiftly falling, even with the knowledge that the killer could still be lurking around any corner. You press a shaking hand to the edge of your neck; it comes back dripping with blood. Something like a whimper escapes your lips as you promptly topple over, just barely catching yourself from a nasty collision with the ground. Try as you might, you can’t seem to get yourself back up—and you’re giving into the shadows creeping across your vision without much of a fight. 

You wake up in a hospital. 

Your first instinct is to groan—and you attempt to do just that, but the muscles in your throat constrict and you choke on a breath instead. Immediately, there’s a hand on your shoulder and a patient voice admonishing you for the effort. The nurse gives you a brief summary of your condition, explaining that you’ve been unconscious for a few days. You’ve suffered a moderate strain to your vocal cords after the killer’s attempted strangulation, which explains your current inability to speak. You’re told that this will pass in time, as long as you take it easy. You also have a mild concussion, but that’s pretty standard fare for you. 

There’s a dull ache running through your limbs as you summon the energy to push yourself out of the bed and head for the bathroom. You just barely catch a glimpse of your reflection in the mirror, but it’s enough to send a renewed wave of fear and disgust running through you. Your neck is mottled with bruises, an unsightly mix of vivid purple and blue. You nearly look like a walking corpse. Tears threaten to spill from your eyes as you reach for the spot where the killer bit you, only to find a bandage hiding the damage. You stare at your reflection defeatedly for a while, before eventually convincing yourself to return to bed. It’s clear your stamina has been affected, because even standing still for a few minutes is enough to make you fatigued. You blink and lean back into the pillow behind you. Despite the dull thrumming pain that seems to run across your entire body, you fall asleep within moments.

For a few more days, your life is only defined by sleep. You sleep, wake up, go to the bathroom, and go back to sleep. It’s a vicious cycle—one that very nearly convinces you of your uselessness—but you manage to remain bedridden for the duration of your stay. The damage to your neck and throat is something you haven’t experienced before, and you don’t want to jeopardize the healing process. 

Unfortunately, this means you’re at the hospital for more than a week. As you slowly heal, you find yourself assaulted with an immense desire for company. Beverly visited you nearly every other time you were incapacitated; but you’re nearly six hours from Quantico now. And besides, you haven’t exactly been a great friend to her lately. You’ve been too absorbed in your own affairs to offer her support or spend much time with her. No, this hospital visit is different: you don’t see Beverly or Jack. (Or Hannibal, a traitorous voice reminds you, summoning memories of a soup garnished with your own kidney and a kind smile that seemed strangely genuine.)

You do, however, have an unexpected visitor. Evelyn enters your room one morning, a sympathetic smile rising on her face when she sees you. “Hey,” the curator says. There are slight dark circles under her eyes, but otherwise she looks healthy. You feel a smile rising on your lips in response, happy to see she’s looking well. “How are you feeling?” 

You tap your throat and she grimaces, evidently getting the message. Then you reach over to the nightstand and show her the notepad and pen the nurses gave you. She nods and takes a seat at your bedside, patiently waiting for your response. Your penmanship is slightly shaky, but you manage to get it down with relative ease: You shouldn’t be here. I almost got you killed.  

She frowns. “Don’t say that,” she admonishes you gently. “You couldn’t have known that would happen. Besides, you fought him off. Who knows what he would’ve done otherwise.” She shakes her head in disbelief. 

You meet her eyes and feel your throat begin to burn. There’s such an intense longing building in your chest and you can’t quite pinpoint what that desire is meant for. Friendship? Companionship? A normal life? A stable career, without the emotional turmoil and survivor’s guilt? A face unmarred by killer’s knives? 

You swallow past all those feelings and manage an unsteady smile. Evelyn doesn’t deserve any of this—you will not dump all of these thoughts on her. She doesn’t deserve your emotional baggage. What she deserves is a return to her normal life—and a departure from you. It would be best for Evelyn if you never saw her again. 

But she is incredibly compassionate, and promptly refuses to award you any blame. She sits by your side for almost an hour, having a virtually one-sided conversation while you write out your responses. Evelyn’s kindness only reminds you of just why you first entered the academy. You wanted to protect people like her. Not that they couldn’t protect themselves; rather, you wanted to ensure they never had the need to do so.  

And look where that got you, Frederick Chilton whispers to you mockingly. You should have stayed away.  

You ruin everything you touch and everyone you meet, Abel Gideon laughs. You should have stayed away.  

Away, Garret Jacob Hobbs says, his voice slowly blending with Clark Ingram’s in a terrifying tone, away away away away away- 

Evelyn’s voice breaks you from your thoughts; she’s getting up from her seat, and you can’t decide whether you should be relieved or dejected. She does write you a quick note, with her phone number and a wholesome ‘Get well soon!’ message with a smiley face drawn next to it. She also gives you a hug before she leaves; your eyes burn as you reciprocate it, desperate for comfort even though you don’t deserve it. You save her number in your phone, despite knowing you’ll never contact her. It doesn't matter how much you may want to speak with her. You will never pluck up the courage to separate yourself from the unquestionable knowledge that you brought a killer to her doorstep. She survived your life once—you will not make her do that again. 

It’s not the first time you’ll distance yourself from someone because of your work, and you know it likely won’t be the last. It hurts all the same. You rub at your eyes tiredly, a sudden exhaustion pressing you into the stiff mattress and forcing your eyelids shut. You quickly find yourself a victim of those confusing, unsettling dreams of yellows and greys once more.

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[boinin]

I didn't want to give too much weight to Hiiragi's tarot reading schtick. Yet, it's an author insert moment, and Kaneshiro loves foreshadowing. I have a worrying feeling that these fortunes may hold true for Chigiri, Barou and Nagi.

Full disclosure: I know very little about tarot, but did some high level reading through Wikipedia and other sources.

Chigiri gets the 15th card of the Major Arcana, the Devil. In the official translation, Hiiragi notes this to represent seduction, betrayal and ruin. Oof.

The obvious connection is to Chigiri's leg—the fortune could be tied to how he was seduced by football, became addicted to it, but will subsequently be betrayed by his leg... leading to ruin.

The Devil tarot card doesn't normally show a bomb, so this is for dramatic effect. Thematically, it implies that Chigiri should find purpose (or know where to seek it) beyond football, ahead of the day his luck runs out. 🥺 Not the outcome I want for our princess, but a second ACL injury has long been speculated by fans. Chigiri himself is aware that it's a risk when playing at this level.

Barou chooses number 12, the Hanged Man. Hiiragi cherry-picks his interpretation; in addition, this card is associated with motifs of self-sacrifice, learning, and change in perspective. It can also be interpreted as a voluntary state, rather than something that befalls a person.

It's a good fit for Barou, who doesn't double down on his ego so much as grow to show why he's deserving of his nickname in the first place. Barou is a king on the pitch, and expects a level of servitude from his teammates, but not without constantly improving his own skills and talent. He's no lazy despot, though despot he may be.

The Hanged Man fortunes supports his emotional outburst during the Ubers match. Barou remarks that he needs the challenge of despair to grow. As such, the trials he puts on himself are deliberate, much like the tarot reading suggests.

Nagi gets #13, Death (because of course he does). This fortune seems to be the most thoughtful of the bunch, unsurprisingly. Hiiragi's interpretation, while intended to provoke Nagi above all, holds up well against what little I've read on tarot.

The Wikipedia page for the Death arcana had some additional nuggets of insight, or rather further ammunition for those of us manifesting a second NagiReo divorce:

Reo is frequently referred to as princely and compared to royalty in the series, with his superfluous wealth and the way he confidently takes on leadership roles among teams. His signature colour, purple, has monarchial associations due to how rare and expensive purple pigments are in nature (prior to the invention of synthetic dyes).

Of course Reo, this royal youth, opposes Nagi's desire to change... seemingly at every hurdle.

It's not deliberate sabotage though, more that they're hamstrung by their co-dependency. Unlike almost every other relationship in Blue Lock, which arose from rivalry or a shared desire to improve, Nagi and Reo's friendship is rooted in the naive promises they made before entering the programme. @thyandrawrites had a great post exploring this recently, which I recommend if you want to delve deeper into the reasons for their underperformance in the Neo Egoist league.

My take is, in essence, if these two could agree to remain friends while moving away from being inseperable on the pitch, they'd both flourish.

Back to tarot: Wikipedia also has a tidbit on reversed cards, which I understand aren't a hardwired aspect of reading tarot (it refers to physical cards that are revealed upside down after being shuffled and dealt). The interpretation Wikipedia gives of an inverted Death card is reminiscent of Nagi's status after he plays against Isagi and Bastard München.

In short: Nagireo bad for one another, and Nagi will undergo quite the metamorphosis in his journey through Blue Lock, if this fortune holds.

---

Analysis aside, I wouldn't put too much faith into what these fortunes mean for the characters. Tarot itself isn't immutable, and for every motif listed above, the characters also have other tropes influencing the paths they take. For example, Chigiri shares the whole hero/princess trope with Kunigami, which has more plot significance than his leg injury at present. Nagi embodies the role of a natural prodigy who has neither the knowledge or experience to deploy his talents consistently. Barou embodies an villain or anti-hero archetype, when juxtaposed with Isagi. Each character has more to the eye than a simple playing card can reveal which is why I'm here yapping at length about them during my lunch break

[sanctions123]

Sanctions Law Center

Sanctions Law Center offers experienced legal representation in OFAC regulations and sanctions law. Our services include obtaining OFAC licenses, SDN list removal, unblocking applications, voluntary self-disclosures, OFAC litigation, compliance counseling, and handling administrative subpoenas. We provide our services in Washington, DC, as well as major international locations such as Moscow, Dubai, Istanbul, Tehran, and New York. Contact us (202) 888-9011 today for a free consultation.

Address: 1808 Connecticut Ave NW, Suite 201, Washington, DC 20008

[clairebenblog]

The importance of participation for young adults with cerebral palsy

Josh, a young adult with cerebral palsy, reflects on the findings presented in CP-Achieve’s recent webinar for My CP Guide

One of the most fundamental aspects of human nature is that we want to belong. This sense of belonging is vital-it is the thing that helps us feel free from judgment, and free to be ourselves. That’s why participation is such an important concept for young people with cerebral palsy.

While all people have different opportunities to participate in social situations, where we make friends and connections with other people, this can be a bit more challenging for people with cerebral palsy or other disabilities.

CP-Achieve has been researching participation experiences for young adults with cerebral palsy with a focus in two major areas;

Health & Disability Services, and

Friendships & Relationships

In both of these categories, the most common response from research participants was “Claiming my adulthood and doing life” as most important. This could mean a variety of different things to different people. As an adult in my mid-20s, I consider it from a lens of voluntary disclosure.

I was born as a premature baby, so I was subject to lots of examinations and tests throughout my youth. I was examined by groups of student doctors who would speculate about my diagnoses. When I was older, I would attend ‘gait lab’ studies for research on cerebral palsy.

Participating in this research was not a bad thing in my opinion; I believe it is incredibly important to improve the lives of people with cerebral palsy.

At the same time, the phrase “claiming my adulthood and doing life” means to me reclaiming (or finding) yourself in an environment where your life is not dictated by your diagnoses.

Some young people with cerebral palsy may feel differently about their disability and are comfortable going on to become researchers or staff members at disability organisations, taking an occupation where their disability is the main focus, but that is fully up to the individual and may not be a choice that suits everyone.

In a disability healthcare setting, traditional research has often focused more strictly on clinical outcomes, not the individual’s sense of belonging and identity. This is beginning to change with groups like CP-Active and Oasis (run by Cerebral Palsy Support Network) which have a more social approach. Their focus on participation enables members to be more actively involved, while still advancing research in the context of the Health & Disability Services area examined in this webinar.

The other area of focus is regarding participation in the context of Friendships & Relationships. People may find that this aspect of their life is often self-organised and not necessarily dependent on any club or organised social event. However, these events can be beneficial by providing the catalyst for these friendships to begin.

Some of the most valuable social events are those which are unrelated to disability, where individuals can be themselves with a close-knit group who appreciate them for who they are.

For example, community groups or simply a group of friends.

Personally, I was involved in a lot of groups such as Scouts and performing arts groups.

Read the full article to know more about The importance of participation for young adults with cerebral palsy

#cp #mycpguide #cerebralpalsyaustralia #cerebralpalsysupport #cerebralpalsyresources

[rauthschild]

1. Realize that there are different jurisdictions of law -- (1) land and soil; (2) coast (maritime) and high seas; (3) air -- commerce and ecumenical law.

2. Realize that living people live on the soil that stands upon the land, breathe the air, and have both fresh and sea water in their veins, so that a living man rules and inhabits all these jurisdictions and has "general jurisdiction" in all three primary jurisdictions of law.

3. Realize that by a purposeful and self-interested process of misrepresentation and registration, your natural political status as a free man or woman has been hijacked, your identity has been stolen, and your "presumed" status has been denigrated to that of an indentured servant or a slave, such that you no longer have access to the guarantees and protections of any Constitution, and no longer have access to the law of the land and soil.

4. As a further direct result, your Good Name has been copyrighted by the British Crown Corp, your property assets have been dumped into a public trust, and you don't actually own anything. You are considered either an indentured servant and Ward of the Crown, or, alternatively, a Roman slave. (The recent attempt to create a class of "Transhumans" below the level of a slave has largely failed.)

5. So, your identity has been stolen, your political status debased, your property has been unlawfully converted and seized upon and used for collateral backing Crown interests and all sorts of payola rightfully belonging to you has been distributed to political cronies of the persons responsible for this state of affairs; your actual assets have been mortgaged to high heaven and your very life and soul have been traded on black markets as part of various insurance schemes.

6. The False Claim of a "public" ownership interest in you and your assets, was made by a private, for-profit government Subcontractor, the British Crown Corporation, and has been alleged based on your purported waiver of your natural estate via "voluntary" (but undisclosed) registration of your birth (berth) and your equally purported preferred adoption of indentured servitude as a member of the British Territorial Merchant Marine Service -- a Person named after you and using the same exact name, spelled and styled the same way, but operating under the Law of the Sea. This Merchant Mariner, however, ran into a spot of bad luck and has been "missing, presumed dead" for quite a number of years, which has resulted in the creation of a Municipal ESTATE trust named after you.

7. In fact, you were a baby too young to contract with anyone about anything when all of this transpired and your Mother was given no disclosure about it, with the result that the "registration contract" is unconscionable and void upon discovery and objection. This also dissolves any "derivative" contract obligating your ESTATE to Municipal service and law. However, before you can object to this repugnant and merely "presumed" citizenship contract, you have to become aware of it and exercise your options.

8. As with most actions at Law, proper response requires both a positive action and a negative action, so as to repel all comers with equal strength and force. (1) With one hand you extend and assert your "reversionary trust interest" in your "birthright estate" --- that is, the natural estate of a living man in his native country. (2) You declare your proper political status, claim your assets, record this, and publish it. (3) You serve Notice to the Admiralty, Foreign Office, Secretary of State (if you have one), and whatever other offices are naturally engaged in the proper identification of people, their nationality, political status, and functions. All this foregoing is positive action on your part to re-establish your existence and claim to your own property.

Next comes the "negative" part in which you report these improper processes and presumptions as crimes to the Public Safety Officers; (4) this is done via "Testimony in the Form of an Affidavit" signed, sealed with your thumbprint, and Witnessed either by a Public Notary or two independent living Witnesses who also sign the Testimony and provide their names and addresses. Then you write letters to the Governor or similar Officer in charge of the "District" and/or Municipal Government where you live, copying this to the Chief Justice or other highest ranking member of the Court serving your area, and present (5) a Medical Doctor's affirmation that you are alive and well; (6) copy of your published Declaration; (7) "First Notice Letter to Remove and Return" your Good Name and copyright, and all other material assets belonging to you from the Public Trust(s) in which they have been deposited. Mark this: "Notice to Agents is Notice to Principals; Notice to Principals is Notice to Agents". Send this by overnight Express Mail.

(9) You won't hear anything back from them, because this would require an admission of guilt; after thirty days plus three days mailing time, you can issue a (8) "Second Notice Letter to Remove and Return". In this letter, you inform them that they have exercised a role as a Public Usufruct in creating a foreign estate named after you and also creating a Municipal trust corporation named after you, and they are obligated to hold you harmless for any damages, bills, or other possible injury to you, coming about as a result of the existence of these foreign corporate entities named after you. Send a copy of the first Letter to Remove and Return along with this. Send with "Notice to Agents is Notice to Principals" and wait as before.

(10) After another 33 days, it's time to finish this business off with a (9) "Third Notice Letter to Remove and Return". In this letter you tell them that you have not heard back from them and you are exercising your right to create your own remedy, which will be to create and monetize commercial, non-commercial, and agricultural liens against your assets in their possession, plus damages. If they do not voluntarily reply and relinquish your purloined assets back to you, in ten days plus three days mailing time, their acquiescence and agreement will be established on the Public Record. Remind them that if they do not take action they will continue to owe you Due Diligence to hold you harmless from any claims resulting from their creation of public trusts or any other corporation named after you. Send copies of the first two letters, Notice to Agents.... send via Express Mail and time them out.

(11) No matter what they do from this time forward, they have no valid basis for complaint. They continue to bear the Usufructuary responsibility to hold you harmless and you are free to exercise your general jurisdiction.

(12) If you did not already have a Fiduciary in the field taking your part, you would have to do a lot of additional work creating public and private trusts in all three jurisdictions and creating commercial, non-UCC, and agricultural liens against them and their Principals, but our Fiduciary already did that for those with hands and feet, in whom the blood flows and the flesh lives, so all living men and women are safe to return to the land and soil of their native country and reclaim their public and private assets.

(13) The Perpetrators had closed down the Land Recording Offices in most of the world so that people seeking to rebut their False Claims would have nowhere to go to record and publish their declarations and counterclaims to recoup their reversionary trust interest in their birthright estate. In response, we stripped down the declaration essentials to a single page with two Witnesses and opened up the International Land Recording and Publishing System (ILRPS), so that anyone from anywhere can re-establish their identity and political status and publish it worldwide.

(14) Having regained the natural general jurisdiction you are heir to, and being enabled to operate this superior concurrent general jurisdiction in tandem with any other government operating in any single jurisdiction, you are now set and ready to join with other men and women who have similarly objected to these False Claims of citizenship (means that you owe service to the government as a volunteer or employee thereof) and/or corporate enfranchisement.

(15) With everyone papered up, it's time to stand up your County or State or other traditional political subdivision equivalent, and "peaceably assemble". Always remember that this is about restoring your lawful government, not fighting against any other government. Having reclaimed your own birthright political status, you are owed the protections of the Constitutions again. In Britain, the living people are owed a Constitutional Monarchy administered by a Protestant King or Queen. In America, the living people are owed a republican form of government throughout the States. Each country has a slightly different story and organizational framework to build upon, but all State and County level governments share similar functions:

The County is the seat of the local soil jurisdiction government and is the most powerful and closest government to the people. It's jurisdiction is National in nature and its Court is supreme when it comes to the affairs, interests. and laws of the living people.

The State is the seat of the international land jurisdiction government and also holds the international empowerments of the State at sea in America, apart from those powers delegated to the British King as Trustee on the High Seas and Navigable Inland Waterways. (And no, contrary to the fecund imaginations of Bar Attorneys, our Mother's "birth canals" are not considered "navigable inland waterways" within the meaning and intent of these treaty provisions.)

In each country the organizational structure and names are different, but the fundamentals are the same --- there is a traditional soil jurisdiction government representing the interests and enforcing the laws of the nation, and a traditional land jurisdiction government representing the interests of the people in international jurisdiction.

These two levels of government, land and soil, are fundamental and the "ground" upon which all other rights and layers of government depend; without ground to stand upon, one lacks "standing" in Law, and as a result, a victim of human trafficking shanghaied to live at sea and under the jurisdiction of the sea, is unable to represent their own interests.

This is, in part, why it is so fundamentally important to "return home" and occupy the otherwise vacated jurisdiction of the land and soil. This is the realm from which your political status and nationality derive, and upon which your rights and guarantees depend.

At each level, the governments established on the land and soil provide essential services to the living people (soil) and Lawful Persons (land) that are part of their population. Please note that we are not "residents" in our own country. That term is reserved for "aliens" who are not permanently part of our nation or population.

Those services include: (1) a General Assembly competent to hold elections and debate issues and take issues on behalf of the population within that County or State or Principality; (2) an International Business Assembly competent to make decisions for the State in the best interests of the people who live in that County or State; this is traditionally done via Fiduciary Deputies who must act as Prudent Men in the conduct of public business; (3) a Militia at both State and County level, for the protection and assistance of the people in time of war, famine, or natural disaster; (4) a Court system appropriate for the needs of the people -- a County Court run under traditional Common Law, and a State Court operated under International Law -- with one court to address land jurisdiction issues for Lawful Persons, and another court to address maritime and admiralty issues for Legal Persons.

A similar bifurcation exists with respect to the global commercial venues, with some corporations being under the Merchant Law on land, and others operating under Maritime Commerce at sea.

As a result of the insurmountable debts accrued by the Maritime Corporations it is highly recommended that those who have corporations in the current system should lawfully convert them to land-based Merchant Corporations instead.

That wraps up a decent overview of what's happened, why it needs to be addressed, and what's to be done about it.

The same applies for lawyers in their own capacity as living men and women, except that as they may function as attorneys and are coerced to subject themselves to the British "American" Bar Association as a result, they suffer intrinsic loss of both rights and property as a consequence of that relationship and as a result of accepting the foreign title of "Esquire".

Members of the military are similarly harmed but on a more temporary basis as their obligations to the current corporate employer are more immediately reversible upon the end of their "Tour of Duty" (aka, indentured servitude) and also because the enlistment contracts they signed were not fully disclosed concerning the mercenary nature of the work they were undertaking.

Remedies for these outrages are long overdue in terms of providing easy and official and published meaning advertised ways -- for Americans and others to refuse and/or correct these impositions of foreign citizenship obligations by deceit and coercion.

A very serious breach of public trust has occurred and the military is responsible for keeping its oath to defend against all enemies foreign and domestic.

[gamebird]

Same for other fandoms I've been in.

People saying Peter Petrelli couldn't possibly be gay in my Peter/Sylar stories because in canon he was with two women. And me over here scratching my head because in my stories, yes, he had been in those relationships with women. Sure. Right. He definitely was. And there was no big disclosure from him about how he'd been faking it or didn't really love them or whatever. It was just ... me: What? The fucketh? Do bisexuals not exist for you? HE'S NOT GAY!

(Unless you take the version of 'gay' I grew up with which said that even a single voluntary (and sometimes involuntary) sexual interaction of one dude with another dude made the dudes involved perma-gay, in some sexual version of the one-drop rule for race and just as fucked up, used for the same oppression. Which is what I assume is happening here and I'm side-eyeing it hard but I doubt the people involved consciously realize what they're saying.)

Or current fandom, people saying a canonically sex-repulsed character could not be, at no point in its future development or ongoing self-discovery, be in an emotionally meaningful and/or romantic relationship with a person who has sexual characteristics.

Get some reality. Characters don't silo into neat little boxes unless you decide to write them that way, and if you do, more power to you! There's nothing wrong with that as your headcanon! There is absolutely nothing wrong with people exploring other headcanons, either. There is no moral superiority to be had here.

I’m really happy that Black Sails is experiencing a bit of a renaissance, but (predictably) some of the takes I’m seeing online are so busted. It’s wild to me that anyone would complain about the fact that Anne Bonny kisses Jack after she’s developed this life-changing relationship with Max. It’s absolutely wild to see anyone roll their eyes or feel uncomfortable about the fact that Flint has sex with Miranda when he returns to her in season one or that Max is most likely a lesbian but actively has sex with men for pay and knows how to make that pleasurable. It’s crazy to me that some of the very audiences who claim to want queer representation feel so discomforted when they actually see the mess and seeming inconsistencies of queerness that they asked for.

The reality is that there are lesbians who have had (and will have!) meaningful, mutually-gratifying, and deeply sexual relationships with men. There are gay men who’ve enjoyed having sex with women, who are gay as the day is long and nevertheless feel sexually attracted to a woman or two and are nevertheless gay men, full stop. There are gay cis men who are happily married to trans women. There are femme dom tops and butch bottoms and there are mascs afab people who like femme boys. There are non-binary people and trans men who actively identify as lesbians. There are ace and aro people who enjoy thinking about and engaging with sex — sometimes in fiction and sometimes in real life. Queerness, in fiction and in reality, defies neat categorization. That is the beauty, power, and (perceived) unorthodoxy of queerness.

Now, I’ll say this — do I think the straight men behind Black Sails were actively thinking deeply and insightfully about the paradoxes and fuckery of queer identity when they wrote Black Sails? No! By their own admission, Steinberg and Levine have owned up to the fact that some of the writing of the show was really hinged on their own blind spots as people who are not (to my knowledge) members of the queer community. If I want to be generous, I think that the beautiful mess of Black Sails is that, in not feeling like experts enough to designate specific identity labels to any of their characters, the writers stumbled their way into more authentic representation of lived queer experience, which is to say that the notion that James Flint was actively thinking of himself as a gay man was anachronistic. As many lesbian archivists and theories have noted, the notion of a queer identity — as in, queerness is who you are, not what you do — was patently unthinkable for most cultures in the past. In other words, the idea that Anne Bonny operates in the eighteenth century as a lesbian and thus would not willingly engage in relationships with men is not only untrue of the series, but untrue of most recorded lesbian experiences in the real world. The notion that a lesbian would operate her entire life without engaging sexually or romantically with men, for instance, is a very new privilege that some of us are very lucky to enjoy, but it is not true for the vast majority of human history — hell, it’s not even true of our present world.

This is all to say that think that there’s something really funny about how we want queer characters to fit into neatly organized boxes. This isn’t a new problem, either. When the show was still airing, the BS fandom would get itself into tizzies about wether or not Flint is gay or bisexual, wether or not Anne Bonny is a lesbian, wether or not Silver is queer when his only canonical relationship is with Madi, etc etc. We’ve been having these discourses for years and I don’t know. I get that much of it is fueled by how badly some people want to see themselves represented in media, but . . . well. The siloing of queer characters and queer narratives into neat little boxes has never felt very authentic to me and nine times out of ten, it’s also just so damn boring.

[ikeepbookkeeping]

Court Issues Stern Warning to Employers on Preventing Underpayments

The Federal Court of Australia (FCA) has imposed record penalties of $10.34 million against two related entities for multiple violations of the Fair Work Act 2009 (FW Act), resulting in significant underpayments.

The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) initiated legal action against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and its subsidiary, Commonwealth Securities Limited (CommSec), following their voluntary disclosure of underpaid entitlements to approximately 7,400 employees between October 2015 and January 2021.

In the case Fair Work Ombudsman v Commonwealth Bank of Australia [2024] FCA 81, the FCA determined penalties for the following admitted violations:

The Better Off Overall Test (BOOT)

The enterprise agreements required CBA and CommSec to conduct BOOT assessments to ensure employees were better off overall. This involved:

– Comparing entitlements under the enterprise agreement with those under the relevant modern award at the end of each “relevant period” and making top-up payments if necessary.

– Comparing individual agreements against the terms of the enterprise agreement.

CBA and CommSec failed to perform these assessments, leading to approximately $16 million in underpayments. Despite being aware since December 2015 that they were not complying with these obligations, both entities failed to implement the necessary compliance practices and processes.

This constituted “serious contraventions” under section 557A of the FW Act, characterized by knowing violations that formed part of a systematic pattern of conduct over ten years, affecting a large number of employees.

Individual Flexibility Arrangement (IFAs) Violations

CBA and CommSec also breached section 50 of the FW Act by entering into invalid individual agreements with certain employees, resulting in underpayments of approximately $5.2 million. These underpayments included various allowances, leave entitlements, redundancy pay, and overtime.

False or Misleading Representations

CBA violated section 345 of the FW Act by falsely assuring employees that they would be better off under individual agreements compared to the enterprise agreement, which was untrue.

The FCA noted that the contraventions were significant, prolonged, and preventable by these large, wealthy institutions. The court emphasized that the focus should be on the systems, processes, and checks that allowed such a situation to persist.

The FCA declared that the penalties must be substantial enough to deter not only CBA and CommSec but also other potential violators. It stressed the need for general deterrence to ensure compliance, highlighting the importance of adequate systems to prevent and correct errors.

The court ordered penalties of $7.3 million for CBA and $3.03 million for CommSec, totaling $10.34 million, to be paid within 60 days. A small reduction was applied for self-reporting, cooperation with the FWO, and admission of liability.

Lessons for Employers

The significant penalties in this case are meant to discourage other organizations from maintaining non-compliant systems under the FW Act or relevant modern awards or enterprise agreements. Employers must ensure they have robust systems to detect and correct errors, including regular HR practices and payroll checks. Workplace Law can assist with spot-checking programs—please contact us for more information.

*Note: The information in this news alert is not legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. Workplace Law does not accept liability for any loss or damage arising from reliance on this content or links to external websites. Where applicable, liability is limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.*

[zarkeshwadc]

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Our Business Name: OFAC Sanctions Lawyers - Zarkesh Law Firm, P.C. Call Us: (202) 730-9405 Visit Our Location: 1325 G Street NW, Suite 500 Washington, DC 20005 United States

You

[nationallawreview]

DOJ Announces Changes to Guidance on Corporate Compliance Programs, Updates on Whistleblower Program

In an address this week to the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) Criminal Division, highlighted several updates relevant to corporate compliance programs, including the DOJ’s new whistleblower programs and incentives. Sufficient Compliance: Updated Areas to Consider The Evaluation of…

[taxexpertblog]

2023 September Tax News

Table of Contents Coming clean with the tax authorities – the Voluntary Disclosure Program (September 2023) September 27, 2023 The Canadian tax system is a “self-assessing system” which relies heavily on the voluntary co-operation of taxpayers. Canadians are expected (in fact, in most cases, required) to complete and file a tax return each spring, reporting income from all sources, calculating…

[endearmint]

they should hire me just to submit job applications. i'm great at that. i can fill in the blanks that the resume import missed, verify my eligibility to work, and skip with ease past their attempt to make applicants disclose their disability so thinly veiled it verbatim reads "voluntary self-disclosure of disability"

..........iirc that last part is a cop-out to get past the illegality of discriminating on basis of disability. correct me if i'm wrong?

[researchbuzz]

American Corporate Crime, Reconstruction-Era MEC, Library of Congress, More: Monday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, June 12, 2023

NEW RESOURCES Corporate Crime Reporter: After Years of Citizen Pressure, Justice Department Launches Corporate Crime Database. “The Department of Justice now has a corporate crime page that includes links to voluntary self disclosure and monitoring policies, guidance and speeches and – remarkably – a corporate crime database page. The searchable corporate crime database includes only eleven cases…

[laocommunity]

Exposed: How Australia's Modern Slavery Law Fails to Hold Corporations Accountable

Exposed: How Australia's Modern Slavery Law Fails to Hold Corporations Accountable Exposed: How Australia's Modern Slavery Law Fails to Hold Corporations Accountable Introduction Slavery is an abhorrent practice that has persisted in various forms throughout history. Despite being outlawed in most countries, slavery is still a current issue since corporations can take advantage of the lack of strict laws to exploit vulnerable people. Australia is one of the countries that have faced several challenges in enforcing their modern slavery law. This article aims to examine Australia's modern slavery law and the reasons why it fails to hold corporations accountable for their actions. What is Modern Slavery? Modern slavery refers to various forms of human exploitation such as forced labor, debt bondage, human trafficking, and child labor. This exploitation is usually done through coercion, deception, or the abuse of power. In today’s global economy, modern slavery has become more prevalent, especially in industries that rely on cheap labor such as agriculture, construction, and manufacturing. Australia's Modern Slavery Law Australia's Modern Slavery Act became law in 2018, making it mandatory for businesses that have an annual revenue of over $100 million to submit a yearly report on how they manage their modern slavery risks. The report should outline the steps taken to reduce or eliminate modern slavery in their operations and supply chains. The aim of the law is to increase transparency and accountability in the business sector and reduce the risk of modern slavery practices. The Failure of Australia's Modern Slavery Law Despite the noble intentions of the law, there are several concerns that the law is not strict enough, and corporations can easily circumvent it. Some of the reasons why Australia's Modern Slavery Law fails to hold corporations accountable are: Limited Enforcement One of the main issues with Australia's modern slavery law is a lack of enforcement. The government has not put enough resources into monitoring the reports submitted by businesses to ensure they are compliant. This lack of enforcement has led to a culture of noncompliance, where businesses can choose not to submit reports altogether without facing any consequence. Self-reporting and Voluntary Disclosure Another issue with the law is that it is based on self-reporting, which means that companies can easily manipulate the data to paint a rosy picture. This approach is not effective in holding companies accountable since the reports are voluntary, and corporations are not required to go into details about their supply chains beyond the first tier. No Penalties for Noncompliance The modern slavery law does not impose any penalties on companies that fail to comply with the reporting obligation. Although the government has proposed to amend the law to increase the penalties, the fact remains that noncompliant companies face no real consequence for their actions. Limited Coverage The Australia's Modern Slavery Act only covers companies that have an annual revenue of over $100 million, leaving a vast number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) outside the scope of the law. Unfortunately, some large corporations are fully capable of falling below the reporting threshold by restructuring their operations to evade detection, further complicating the enforcement of the law. Conclusion Slavery practices persist today, even in advanced countries such as Australia, despite the efforts to eradicate it. The country's Modern Slavery Law, instituted to hold corporations accountable for their actions, has proven to be partially effective. To effectively enforce the law, there is a need for harsher penalties for noncompliant companies. Additionally, businesses should be required to report in-depth information about their supply chains, ensuring transparency and accountability. On a final note, the Australia's Modern Slavery Law is a vital first step in combating modern slavery practices, and it is necessary to continuously strengthen and enforce it to protect vulnerable workers and eradicate modern slavery entirely. Sources: - "Modern slavery act 2018." Federal Register of Legislation. Accessed September 22, 2021. . - "Australia is failing to hold big business to account over modern slavery, report finds." The Guardian. Accessed September 22, 2021. . - "Australia's Modern Slavery Act 2018: Towards greater transparency and accountability in supply chains?" Mondaq. Accessed September 22, 2021. . #NEWS Read the full article

[legalupanishad]

Critical Analysis of the Finance Bill 2022: All You Need to Know

This article on 'Critical Analysis of the Finance Bill 2022' was written by Amruta Patil an intern at Legal Upanishad.

Introduction

Direct taxes and indirect taxes are the two categories of taxes in India. Direct taxes are assessed on the revenue that various business entity types bring in within a fiscal year. The Income Tax Department has a variety of registered taxpayers, and each pays taxes at a particular rate. For instance, although taxpayers, a person, and a business are not taxed equally. The year 2022 and its budget for the Financial year 2022-23 were seen to have numerous changes of some which were new additions such as that “India launching Digital currency” to that introducing the concept of “updated return”. The following article discusses the Finance Bill’22 and the changes in its various provisions focusing on corporate taxation.

What is a finance bill?

Finance Bill or Money Bill defined under the Indian Constitution under Article 110 – A part of the Union Budget defines the taxes, financial obligations, and changes in the existing tax structure as proposed by the finance ministry. The bill is introduced once a year with proposed changes, which becomes a Finance Act when approved.

What is a memorandum in a finance bill?

A memorandum is a document which contains the details of the proposed changes, and amendments related to the taxes which are explained in detail in the memorandum of the Finance Bill. Finance Bill 2022 and its memorandum- The Finance Bill’22 having been given the assent of the President on 30.03.2022 subsequently made it to the Finance Act,2022. The bill was passed with 39 amendments to be made to the taxation regime. Critique on the Financial Bill 2022-23- The new changes regarding various tax slabs introduced for the financial year 2022-23 come as a surprise as its memorandum, adheres to the proverb of “to err is human but to forgive is divine” which applies in scenarios allowing to correct the wrong done. The concept of self-governance – wherein the citizens can file their taxes of the previous two years in the event of any omission in the filing of returns in the previous filing. This is to promote the filing the concept of filing updated returns by allowing citizens the freedom to file their income tax returns correctly. Under section 139 of the IT Act, additional time is being given to entities such as 5 months to the individual assesses, 2 months to the company and so on. The above new provision advances the government's efforts toward voluntary compliance and a reliable taxation system. The introduction of the TDS measures of the income generated through any business or profession of the assesses which is often seen as unreported will now be tracked and recorded ensuring compliance with the IT rules. Although the rules and laws are still in the making, there is a fair attempt made in defining Virtual Digital Assets in the Finance Bill,2022. The losses incurred on the transfer of VDA to later years may not be offset against any other income, nor may they be carried forward. Furthermore, the recipient will be taxed while receiving the gift of such assets. Payments made in connection with the transfer of VDA to Indian citizens are subject to a 1% tax withholding requirement in order to secure advance tax collection.

Critical Analysis of the Finance Bill 2022 Another issue in the bill is regarding the cash credit and disclosure of its transaction. This requires taxpayers to research the lender and look into its revenue sources. Even though the memorandum specifies that the creditor has the extra burden of proving that the source may be sufficiently explained, this would not apply if the creditor is a well-regulated organisation, and it hasn't been noted in the section. This modification mistakenly covers trade payables, bank borrowings, and credit card payments, which is not what was intended. Additionally, "satisfactory information" is highly subjective and may result in legal action. Regardless of capital gains, the bill proposes capping the additional tax on long-term capital gains (LTCG) to 15%. These rates to also be applicable to the Association of Persons. The experts are of the opinion to further wait and see whether the benefits proposed in the bill are restricted to simple equity shares or are extended to all classes of long-term capital assets which will be determined with the passage of time. Although this Financial plan focuses on the digitalization of the Indian economy, it has neglected to address a number of other important issues, such as rules on an offshore listing for Indian companies, creating a regulatory environment favourable for Special Purpose Acquisition vehicles (SPACs), lowering tax rates for the salaried and middle class, providing concessional tax rates for companies investing in green technology, etc. Additionally, taxing virtual digital assets is anticipated to have a significant influence on the cryptocurrency ecosystem, therefore it will be important to watch how the government continues to regulate these assets.

Conclusion

The road to recovery for the socio-economic scenario of India hasn't been a cakewalk. The revolutionary policy changes include uniform policy and tax rates, a focus on renewable energy and the development of a green, clean, and climate-friendly economy, steps to reduce avoidable litigation, the introduction of the concept of "virtual digital asset" for taxation income arising from cryptocurrencies and related digital assets, steps to ease business operations, and improving tax collection and administration through technology, data analytics, and reduction. The government has consistently shown its dedication to advancing efforts to offer a stable, dependable, and trustworthy tax system, thus the move toward a faceless system is a step in the right direction.

Reference:

- Ravi S. Raghavan(2022,Feb 12th) “India’s Budget 2022-23” https://www.livelaw.in/job-updates/indias-union-budget-it-act-finance-bill-191803 - FE Knowledge desk(2019, November 25th) “what is Finance Bill” https://www.financialexpress.com/what-is/finance-bill-meaning/1775053/ - View of the Finance Bill,2022” https://itatonline.org/digest/articles/an-overview-of-finance-bill-2022/ - Income Tax Department, GOI (2022, April 5th) https://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/Pages/i-am/tax-deductor.aspx?k=PaymentofTDS - Nitin Narang &Adarsh Rathi (2022 Feb 8th )“impact of the financial bill,2022 on transfer pricing practice in India ” https://www.taxmann.com/budget/budget-story/327/impact-of-finance-bill-2022-on-transfer-pricing-practice-in-india - EY(2022 March 28th) “key amendments to Finance Bill,2022 at enactment stage.” https://www.ey.com/en_in/alerts-hub/2022/03/key-amendments-to-finance-bill-2022-at-enactment-stage - Nishith Desai Associates(2022 Feb 2nd) “Indian Budget Analysis” https://www.nishithdesai.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Html/Hotline/India_Budget_Analysis_M_2022_23.htm Read the full article