Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #IRSFiles
Most recents (6)
Washington State enacted a 7% capital gains tax levied on annual profits in excess of $250,000, and made a *fortune*, $600m more than projected in the first year, despite a 25% drop in the stock market and blistering #InterestRate hikes:
theurbanist.org/2023/06/01/les…
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theurbanist.org/2023/06/01/les…
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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
pluralistic.net/2023/06/03/whe…
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pluralistic.net/2023/06/03/whe…
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Capital gains taxes are levied on "passive income" - money you get for owning stuff. The capital gains rate is *much* lower than the income tax rate - the rate you pay for *doing stuff*.
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In blocking @Microsoft's acquisition of @ATVI_AB, the @CMAgovUK made history: they stepped in to prevent a convicted monopolist from seizing control over a nascent, important market (cloud gaming), ignoring MS's transparent, self-serving lies:
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/644939aa…
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assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/644939aa…
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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
pluralistic.net/2023/04/27/con…
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pluralistic.net/2023/04/27/con…
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Cloud gaming isn't really a thing right now, but it *might* be. That was Microsoft's bet, anyway, as it plonked down $69b for Activision-Blizzard - a company that shouldn't exist, having been formed out of a string of grossly anticompetitive mergers that were waved through.
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With the #IRSFiles, @propublica ripped away the veil of performative complexity disguising the scams that the ultra-rich use to amass billions and billions (and billions and billions) of dollars, paying next to no tax, or even no tax at all.
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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
pluralistic.net/2023/04/24/tax…
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pluralistic.net/2023/04/24/tax…
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Each scam is its own little shell game, a set of semantic and accounting tricks used to gussy up otherwise banal rip-offs. The finance sector has a cute name for this kind of complexity: #MEGO, which stands for "#MyEyesGlazeOver."
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Every year, Americans spend billions on #TaxPrep services, paying a heavily concentrated industry of giant, wildly profitable firms to send the #IRS information it already has. 1/
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
pluralistic.net/2023/02/20/tur… 2/
pluralistic.net/2023/02/20/tur… 2/
Despite the fact that most other rich countries have a far more efficient process, many Americans believe that adopting this process here is either impossible, immoral, or both. 3/
Yesterday, Congress finally passed the must-pass, end-of-year budget bill. As usual, the bill was stalled to the last moment, so Congressjerks could cram the 4,000-page, $1.7 trillion package with special favors for their donors, at the expense of the rest of the country. 1/
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
pluralistic.net/2022/12/22/mus… 2/
pluralistic.net/2022/12/22/mus… 2/
This year's package included a pair of especially egregious doozies, which were reported out for @TheProspect by @leee_harris ( a grotesque retirement giveaway for the ultra-rich) and @dorajfacundo ( a safety giveaway to @Boeing and its lethal fleet of #737Max aircraft). 3/
It's hard not to feel powerless. The rich are getting richer, the middle class is disappearing, and poor people are evermore exposed to labor abuses, predatory finance, police violence, and food-, fuel- and housing-insecurity. 1/
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
pluralistic.net/2022/07/07/col… 2/
pluralistic.net/2022/07/07/col… 2/
Our cities are increasingly segregated into the haves and have-nots, and the haves hoard the parks, schools and clean air:
nytimes.com/2022/07/06/us/…
The rich don't just own all the good stuff, they also own the political process. 3/
nytimes.com/2022/07/06/us/…
The rich don't just own all the good stuff, they also own the political process. 3/
