Is the US Goverment funding Activison-Blizzard?

[RonnieOP]

18 minutes ago, AngryBeaver said:

Our own IRS has said countless times on record that they do not go after people who make over 100k. Since it is too resource intensive in both time and money. So instead they target those that literally can not afford to fight it.

 

For example about 12 years ago I claimed my wifes kid from a first marriage. It was her year to claim and since she didn't have an income that year I claimed him since I cover like 95% of his costs. His dad claimed him too for whatever reason that year and hell I think he made like 15k total for the year.

 

Anyways this was before I was as financially sound as I am now and they came after me saying I fraudulently claimed him and not only demanded for the 4 I go for him back, asked for another 8k in penalties and then interest. I think in total it was like 16k. 

 

I provided a court document showing it was her year to claim. I also showed I provided pretty much all of his support (his dad didn't even pay his child support)! I also had a hand written note from her giving me the authority to claim him as well as the relevant tax laws that said I could.

 

Their response was basically tough. I thin to be exact they said I would need to take him to court to recover the fees. It also came down to the fact he got back way less than I did.

 

The kicker to all of this. I was the sole income supporting a family of 3 on like 50k income and they wanted me to pay back 16k on a year I made like 32k after taxes.

 

I am still bitter over that and it was one of the major enlightening moments in my life. 

 

Now fast forward 10 years (2 years ago) and it happened again. This time I got back way less since you get back less the more you make (for these credits) again they sent me an official letter. I called up a tax lawyer and handed them my information including a copy of the divorce order showing it again was her year. I think 90 days went by and it was squashed.

 

Now technically I was in the right both times. I provided the same information both times, but when I had the means to fight it... they magically backed off.

 

 

When did the irs say they dont go after people who make over 100k??

 

Theres plenty of rich people that have done federal time for tax evasion that proves otherwise.

 

My household makes over 100k and weve been audited. As have a few of my friends. 

[RonnieOP]

2 minutes ago, Mira Yurizaki said:

If you're getting a decent refund, you're doing it wrong anyway.

Depends.

 

Like i said i dont get a refund i end up writing a check each year.

 

But there are plenty of people who will get hige tax refund checks. Many times more then they actually paid in taxes.

 

 

[SpaceGhostC2C]

3 hours ago, RonnieOP said:

Amazon might not pay taxes as a business. But you can bet your ass that Bezos probably pays more in taxes then probably most of the users here combined.

 

Im not trying to kiss the rich peoples ass. But they pay the vast majority of taxes in the US. The bottom 50% of earners pay 3% while the top 50% pay 97%. 

I'd love to see where these numbers come from.

Also, many "top 50%" are basically users of this forum. You'd have to go a lot higher for something that starts to look as CEOs.

 

 

3 hours ago, JZStudios said:

Considering that fact that technically paying taxes is supposed to be voluntary

On the contrary, taxes are by definition compulsory,

 

2 hours ago, Zando Bob said:

They do? I just pay 'em and then do my tax return thingies at the proper time and then they usually give me some back. 

Yes. Some don't have many chances of successfully avoiding income taxes, but they will skip VAT/sales tax, import duties, and other taxes when they can.

[Lurick]

2 hours ago, RonnieOP said:

Personally i think it should be a flat rate for everyone.

 

No more tax refunds for anyone rich or poor.

There is a huge reason flat rate is a horrible idea.

Let's assume it's 20% across the board.

I make $20k a year because I'm working a minimum wage job. 20% of that is $4K, that's only $16k left the entire year to live off of.

Fred makes $200k a year and is probably fairly well off. 20% of his income is $40k but that leaves him with $160k the entire year to live off of.

 

Who do you think is going to have the easier time and who's going to be more impacted by that 20% tax?

[RonnieOP]

9 minutes ago, Lurick said:

There is a huge reason flat rate is a horrible idea.

Let's assume it's 20% across the board.

I make $20k a year because I'm working a minimum wage job. 20% of that is $4K, that's only $16k left the entire year to live off of.

Fred makes $200k a year and is probably fairly well off. 20% of his income is $40k but that leaves him with $160k the entire year to live off of.

 

Who do you think is going to have the easier time and who's going to be more impacted by that 20% tax?

Who said fair was gonna be easy?

 

Fred is still paying 10x what you are paying..its not like its Freds fault they managed to prosper to the point where they are making more money.

 

Life isnt easy. If your making 20k a year (assuming your not young in your working life) you should be doing everything you can to prosper and get to the level Fred is at and even higher.

 

I dont see why because someone made good choices and worked hard they should be expected to pick up the slack for others.

[AngryBeaver]

42 minutes ago, RonnieOP said:

When did the irs say they dont go after people who make over 100k??

 

Theres plenty of rich people that have done federal time for tax evasion that proves otherwise.

 

My household makes over 100k and weve been audited. As have a few of my friends. 

https://americanindependent.com/irs-audits-rich-poor-internal-revenue-service/

 

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/poor-audited-more-frequently-than-millionaires-irs-data-shows

 

https://www.gq.com/story/no-irs-audits-for-the-rich

 

Honestly there are a tons of articles on it. They claim it I due to losing so many people to retirement, etc.

[Lurick]

2 minutes ago, RonnieOP said:

Who said fair was gonna be easy?

 

Fred is still paying 10x what you are paying..its not like its Freds fault they managed to prosper to the point where they are making more money.

 

Life isnt easy. If your making 20k a year (assuming your not young in your working life) you should be doing everything you can to prosper and get to the level Fred is at and even higher.

 

I dont see why because someone made good choices and worked hard they should be expected to pick up the slack for others.

Who said Fred made good choices and wasn't given something because he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth? Maybe he worked his way up or maybe mom and dad bought him everything because they were well off. Who said the other person isn't working their ass off but can't get anywhere due to disproportionate taxes on them keeping them from saving to make a better life for themselves. You're assuming poor = lazy and saying "just work hard and get good" like it's always that easy with 99% of the time it never is.

[wasab]

8 minutes ago, RonnieOP said:

Fred is still paying 10x what you are paying..its not like its Freds fault they managed to prosper to the point where they are making more money.

dude, free economics doesnt allow everyone to prosper equally. If you are looking into that, feel free to live under communism.

 

There is always gonna be someone who takes the biggest piece of the pie and those that are left out. There are those who earn their wealth, and those that simply get everything handed to them on a sliver spoon. Rich is 10000000x more likely to be rich generations to generation than those born in the lowest income brackets, just look at the gatsby curve. 

 

Not heavily taxing the rich means less opportunity for majority of the population and sickening concentration of economic output in the hands of a few. 

[AngryBeaver]

21 minutes ago, Lurick said:

There is a huge reason flat rate is a horrible idea.

Let's assume it's 20% across the board.

I make $20k a year because I'm working a minimum wage job. 20% of that is $4K, that's only $16k left the entire year to live off of.

Fred makes $200k a year and is probably fairly well off. 20% of his income is $40k but that leaves him with $160k the entire year to live off of.

 

Who do you think is going to have the easier time and who's going to be more impacted by that 20% tax?

Even with our current tax setup this is still a problem. Even if you tax the 1% at a rate of 60% they will still have more disposable income than someone making 50k and being taxed 10%. Nothing will be done to fix the pooling of wealth. With that wealth comes the ability to donate to the right politicians to push your objectives. The politicians don't want to make changes that hurts that.

 

It is a corrupt setup that allows the rich to get richer. The way to solve it is going to be term limits and changing how contributions work.

 

The hard truth is our political system and even judiciary system are not operating how they were intended. The political system has gotten very corrupt. The judiciary system has become more about numbers and making a good story, but not on finding the TRUTH. There are lots of innocent people in jail believe it or not and honestly even 1 innocent person in jail is too high of a cost.

[RonnieOP]

1 minute ago, Lurick said:

Who said Fred made good choices and wasn't given something because he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth? Maybe he worked his way up or maybe mom and dad bought him everything because they were well off. Who said the other person isn't working their ass off but can't get anywhere due to disproportionate taxes on them keeping them from saving to make a better life for themselves. You're assuming poor = lazy and saying "just work hard and get good" like it's always that easy with 99% of the time it never is.

Im not assuming poor=lazy. Idk the person making 20k. There could be a number of reasons they are making that little.

 

I also dont know fred. But even if he was born into money whys that an issue? So because his parents or grandparents busted ass they shouldnt be able to spend that on their kids? The money didnt come out of thin air. Someone worked for it.

 

99% of the time hard work and wise choices will take you out of poverty. I got released from prison back in 2014. Im 29 years old with a 14 and 8 year old kids. My parents are not rich and never were. My mother is so methed out i cant recognize her and my dad killed himself. 

 

My house is in the top 20% earners.

 

If i can do it,  theres very few excuses id beoieve why anyone else couldnt.

[wasab]

4 minutes ago, RonnieOP said:

99% of the time hard work and wise choices will take you out of poverty. I got released from prison back in 2014. Im 29 years old with a 14 and 8 year old kids. My parents are not rich and never were. My mother is so methed out i cant recognize her and my dad killed himself. 

This is like saying i was borne disable but still manage to be an Olympic athlete so why cant those missing an arm, leg, eye, and other limb do the same? 

The real world is not a fairy tale fantasy and neither is it a meritocracy where people are rewarded more for harder works. 

[RonnieOP]

5 minutes ago, wasab said:

This is like saying i was borne disable but still manage to be an Olympic athlete so why cant those missing an arm, leg, eye, and other limb do the same? 

The real world is not a fairy tale fantasy and neither is it a meritocracy where people are rewarded more for harder works. 

My story isnt a miracle though. Theres nothing special about me. Literally nothing me and my wife did is something the vast majority of people cant do as well. It wont be fun. It will suck for a long time. But its doable and the pay off is worth it.

 

Its not just hard work but wise decisions as well. You have to be able to make hard choices you arent going to like. Your not going to be living how you want but how you need to live to prosper.

 

 

 

 

 

[AngryBeaver]

22 minutes ago, RonnieOP said:

Im not assuming poor=lazy. Idk the person making 20k. There could be a number of reasons they are making that little.

 

I also dont know fred. But even if he was born into money whys that an issue? So because his parents or grandparents busted ass they shouldnt be able to spend that on their kids? The money didnt come out of thin air. Someone worked for it.

 

99% of the time hard work and wise choices will take you out of poverty. I got released from prison back in 2014. Im 29 years old with a 14 and 8 year old kids. My parents are not rich and never were. My mother is so methed out i cant recognize her and my dad killed himself. 

 

My house is in the top 20% earners.

 

If i can do it,  theres very few excuses id beoieve why anyone else couldnt.

I am not saying you are not partially right, but it is far harder for some to improve their circumstances than others.

 

When you have a minority who is born into extreme poverty where crime is the means of getting by and have that pushed on them from the day they are born.. then they are much less likely to be successful than the person who's family is firmly middle class even if they too live paycheck to paycheck.

 

This is a very erroneous argument. Being well off isn't just about hardwork and smart decisions. Yes, it can help you improve your situation, but it isn't guaranteed to take you put of poverty. A lot of this relies on getting help in one form or the other even if it is just Federal aid for school.

[RonnieOP]

5 minutes ago, AngryBeaver said:

I am not saying you are not partially right, but it is far harder for some to improve their circumstances than others.

 

When you have a minority who is born into extreme poverty where crime is the means of getting by and have that pushed on them from the day they are born.. then they are much less likely to be successful than the person who's family is firmly middle class even if they too live paycheck to paycheck.

 

This is a very erroneous argument. Being well off isn't just about hardwork and smart decisions. Yes, it can help you improve your situation, but it isn't guaranteed to take you put of poverty. A lot of this relies on getting help in one form or the other even if it is just Federal aid for school.

Nothing that ive stated said you couldnt use the resources available.

 

We had food stamps and medicaid. 

 

The situation you brought up does nothing against my argument. Getting into crime because its all around you is not making a wise decision. Thats not to say that i dont understand how one would come to that decision...but that doesnt change the fact that its a bad decision.

 

Im not saying theres an answer for every single person out there. Im saying ALOT of people would prosper with hard work and wise choices. 

[AngryBeaver]

12 minutes ago, RonnieOP said:

Nothing that ive stated said you couldnt use the resources available.

 

We had food stamps and medicaid. 

 

The situation you brought up does nothing against my argument. Getting into crime because its all around you is not making a wise decision. Thats not to say that i dont understand how one would come to that decision...but that doesnt change the fact that its a bad decision.

 

Im not saying theres an answer for every single person out there. Im saying ALOT of people would prosper with hard work and wise choices. 

I am not saying they take up crime.

 

If you literally have no support to push you into school and see it through when you are too young to know or care about good decisions then you might never recover.

 

It is has been proven with statistics that the vast majority of those in poverty stay in it for generations. 

[JZStudios]

1 hour ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

On the contrary, taxes are by definition compulsory,

Not in the US they aren't. Well, they are, but constitutionally aren't, and aren't supposed to be.

2 hours ago, RonnieOP said:

When did the irs say they dont go after people who make over 100k??

 

Theres plenty of rich people that have done federal time for tax evasion that proves otherwise.

 

My household makes over 100k and weve been audited. As have a few of my friends. 

Depends on how much they think you owe them, and if you have other crimes they want to charge you with. Famously Al Capone was only arrested for tax evasion.

 

1 hour ago, Lurick said:

There is a huge reason flat rate is a horrible idea.

Let's assume it's 20% across the board.

I make $20k a year because I'm working a minimum wage job. 20% of that is $4K, that's only $16k left the entire year to live off of.

Fred makes $200k a year and is probably fairly well off. 20% of his income is $40k but that leaves him with $160k the entire year to live off of.

 

Who do you think is going to have the easier time and who's going to be more impacted by that 20% tax?

With the system now you're not living off $20k a year. Bad example.

What you're asking for is basically communism, and if everyone is made poor then why in the fuck would you go to college, work hard, get a high level job, and still have the ever living shit taxed out of you so you effectively make the same amount of money as a burger flipper?

 

Who gives a shit if one guy has more money? Relatively speaking he's losing the same amount of money. Don't like that you're only making 20k? Get a better job. The way it is now the government rapes you unless you make literal millions.

1 hour ago, RonnieOP said:

Im not assuming poor=lazy. Idk the person making 20k. There could be a number of reasons they are making that little.

 

I also dont know fred. But even if he was born into money whys that an issue? So because his parents or grandparents busted ass they shouldnt be able to spend that on their kids? The money didnt come out of thin air. Someone worked for it.

 

99% of the time hard work and wise choices will take you out of poverty. I got released from prison back in 2014. Im 29 years old with a 14 and 8 year old kids. My parents are not rich and never were. My mother is so methed out i cant recognize her and my dad killed himself. 

 

My house is in the top 20% earners.

 

If i can do it,  theres very few excuses id beoieve why anyone else couldnt.

I always find this argument funny. It's always people who suck ass with money, spend it on stupid shit, and don't try that complain about it. I personally know quite a few people from relatively similar backgrounds (One of them fled the communists in Czech before they executed him) that have all made a pretty decent living for themselves.

Maybe someone is working hard, but going through college has lots of grants and financial aid, maybe they just suck with money, as is pretty much unanimously the case with lo income earners.

 

Shit, my brother works at a retail store at 30 something and he's putting himself through College because he hates it, and he used a credit card to pay off another credit card. What a tool.

1 hour ago, AngryBeaver said:

When you have a minority who is born into extreme poverty where crime is the means of getting by and have that pushed on them from the day they are born.. then they are much less likely to be successful than the person who's family is firmly middle class even if they too live paycheck to paycheck.

There's still success stories. The best thing to do is get the hell out of those neighborhoods and environments as soon as possible. And that's not a very valid excuse or reason for successful people to pay more in taxes for the government to continue to ignore the problem.

 

38 minutes ago, AngryBeaver said:

I am not saying they take up crime.

 

If you literally have no support to push you into school and see it through when you are too young to know or care about good decisions then you might never recover.

 

It is has been proven with statistics that the vast majority of those in poverty stay in it for generations. 

Which is why it's so important to have shows like Fresh Prince instead of "Look how black we iz."

But other than that, this isn't a conversational path to go down.

[wasab]

1 hour ago, RonnieOP said:

The situation you brought up does nothing against my argument. Getting into crime because its all around you is not making a wise decision. Thats not to say that i dont understand how one would come to that decision...but that doesnt change the fact that its a bad decision.

Children from smoker family are much more likely to smoke themselves.

Children in a racists family are much more likely to become racist themselves.

Children in a Jewish family are much more likely to behave and act like Jews.

Likewise, children in crime ridden, poor family are much more likely to end up the same as their parents, same goes for children borne in a wealthy household. It is a vicious cycle. 

 

[AngryBeaver]

25 minutes ago, JZStudios said:

There's still success stories. The best thing to do is get the hell out of those neighborhoods and environments as soon as possible. And that's not a very valid excuse or reason for successful people to pay more in taxes for the government to continue to ignore the problem.

I agree. There are success stories, but sadly not as many as their aren't.

 

My response was to the generic "if they work harder and get smarter argument."

 

That isn't an argument someone that actually lived in that circumstances would make. Those are the words of someone who doesn't know what poverty is. 

[Donut417]

7 hours ago, Princess Luna said:

Are you from USA?

Is very simple really. The government allows people and busineses to write shit off on their taxes. The average joe is kept ignorant to not know tax law and what they write off. The Rich and Corporations have lawyers and CPA's that keep track of all this shit and know the law. They know what they can write off and how to get out of paying tax. 

 

No the government is not funding Blizzard, Blizzard just has the right people hired and knows the law and all the loopholes. Also dont just point out Blizzard. Amazon and Netflix were also pointed at for not paying any Federal tax and Im sure they got money back. 

[amdorintel]

7 hours ago, HanZie82 said:

I mean don't them cunts realize that their taxes pay the stuff they use

does that mean the government can continue on wasteful spending.

its a 2 way street.

[RonnieOP]

42 minutes ago, AngryBeaver said:

I agree. There are success stories, but sadly not as many as their aren't.

 

My response was to the generic "if they work harder and get smarter argument."

 

That isn't an argument someone that actually lived in that circumstances would make. Those are the words of someone who doesn't know what poverty is. 

No its the words from someone who lived in poverty for a LONG time and made it out says.

 

I was born in AZ to young parents (15 and 16) we lived in meth desert for the first 3 years of my life until my father got into legal troubles and we were robbed at gunpoint by his meth dealer and we had to leave.

we lived in a car for the next year or so. then we made it to iowa where we lived in a condemned home where everything was boarded up except the living room, kitchen and bathroom. It was a two story home but you physically couldn't access the top floor.

We had no power either. dad had done the spoon trick so many times that they cut the actual wires from the poles to the meter. and he used jumper cable to reconnect them and did it again. When they finally took the actual pool and meter from the house is when he finally couldnt do anything else and we used an extension cord from the neighbors house to our house for the next 3 months or so. We lived like that from about age 4 till i was 6.

 

I could keep going on but the story gradually gets better from there until of course i started shooting up drugs after my first daughter was born and i wasnt truly clean until they actually gave me prison time about 2 months after my second child turned one. did 23 months in prison and then 9 months parole.

 

I know poverty very well. I know the drug/crime life really well. I made those bad decisions. Trust me you know youve fucked up when the cops bust in your house while your in the middle of using a pepsi can to give your meth a blue tint all so you can charge more for it. That was me. You can try and paint me as some elitist all you want. and i dont really care if you believe my story or not. I know exactly what I had to do in order to get out of a bad situation. and i know that outside of being a hard worker there is literally nothing special about me.

 

I know the exact hard decisions people have to think about. And i know that alot of people arent willing to make those hard decisions even though in the long run it will be better for them. I never once said it would be easy. But it is more then doable for the vast majority of people.

 

And if those people arent willing to put in the hard work then why is it up to people like me who did to make sure they are taken care of? You know how many down and out people ive offered to PAY to get them a bus ticket up to ND with a job waiting? I can literally get just about anyone physically capable a job on the oil field in ND making 50k+ a year starting out for nothing but manual labor. Your going to bust your ass, its going to suck horrible. but its good money and if your not going to the reservation every night blowing your money and just spending what you need to survive you can come back home with 30k saved up easily in a year.

 

Ive had two people take me up on that offer. one a high school friend and another a guy i was in prison with. The rest turn down the offer because they dont want to do that hard work. or because they dont want to do any work and want hand outs (one guy tried to return the bus ticket for cash after convincing me he was going).

 

There SO many opportunities in this world that people have that they dont bother giving a shot because its not easy. Thats on them. Not me or anyone else that put in the hard work to prosper.

 

 

 

 

 

[RonnieOP]

1 hour ago, wasab said:

Children from smoker family are much more likely to smoke themselves.

Children in a racists family are much more likely to become racist themselves.

Children in a Jewish family are much more likely to behave and act like Jews.

Likewise, children in crime ridden, poor family are much more likely to end up the same as their parents, same goes for children borne in a wealthy household. It is a vicious cycle. 

 

"more likely" that doesnt mean they cant change it.

 

Your whole argument is basically that nobody has a choice in how they live their life.

 

My mothers a meth whore, My father accidentally killed himself after his second overdose this past year. I was able to get out. Theres literally nothing special about me. Id be willing to bet that most of the people in this country are capable of sooo much more then I am. Easily.

 

So they can do it. I know for a fact they can do it.

 

But if they choose not to....thats on them. The burden of others shouldnt be on the people who prosper for whatever reason.

[JZStudios]

5 minutes ago, RonnieOP said:

No its the words from someone who lived in poverty for a LONG time and made it out says.

It's the words of every successful person who came out of exactly those situations says.

They took a look around and went "Yep, this sucks." and then proceeded to actively do something about it. Hell, even just working at McD's enough to buy yourself an apartment in a less shit and crime ridden area is a measure of success.

 

But also, your story and background don't mean shit, because there's poorer people in Africa or some shit.

[amdorintel]

25 minutes ago, RonnieOP said:

poverty

atleast you werent in a 3rd world, things would have been totally different.

 

@JZStudios many cant work, addiction is a disease, its easy to talk about just work at mcd's/just apply yourself and many do and make it out. too many factors. medical costs, etc. now if the government was less wasteful and people had medical coverage then maybe things would be better. but government wastes money because politicians are paid off. gov't will spend money on, and lose money without caring.

 

 

 

hence, paid off politicians

Quote

Activision-Blizzard paid $0 in taxes in 2018 while taking $228 million from tax payers

 

[Roswell]

I think people get stuck on targeting the company instead of the tax system when they get angry about this stuff.

 

It's not Activision's fault, it's the system's fault. Activision has an obligation to their shareholders as a publicly traded company to save as much money as possible within the bounds of law. They're doing exactly that.

 

This is a tax law problem, not an Activision problem. More specifically, this is a GOP lobbying issue.