Your tax season could be a lot simpler

My people are from Wisconsin. We used to be from New York. We had a little real estate problem. – Native American comic Charlie Hill

That joke provided the title for We Had a Little Real Estate Problem, The Unheralded Story of Native Americans & Comedy by Kliph Nesteroff. I’ve now finished reading it. Nesteroff is white and has written another book on American comics and did a good job with this one. In telling the story of comics the book also tells the story of Natives in entertainment, which includes the story of Native history since the late 19th century. Natives were first in entertainment during Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Shows where Indian participation was a choice between jail and being humiliated for the gratification of white people. Graduates of the horrible residential school system, in which the government tried to “civilize” Native children, knew enough of white people ways to effectively call out the inhumanity of these shows. The next important person in Native comedy was Will Rogers, who I didn’t know was Native. His reputation has been whitewashed. His down home humor allowed him to be critical of the American government. He was a voice for the little guy. He had reason to be critical – the government stole his family’s Oklahoma ranch. Along the way the book highlights the way Natives were depicted in television, especially cartoons. Examples of bad live shows are Davy Crockett and F-Troop. Stereotypes of Natives in TV and movies were usually portrayed by white people in heavy makeup even though there were plenty of Native actors available for the roles. And Natives in those roles would have toned down the worst of the stereotypes. The book focuses on Charlie Hill, who was the first Native to get on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. There are lots of other Native comics who served as emcees in Native events (so whites never heard of them), who traveled the Silver Circuit of lounges in Nevada before Vegas became big, and had reasonable success in comedy clubs while clubs were at their height in popularity. Also featured in the book are the 1491s, a Native act that was invited by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival to create a full length show. They figured out a way to get white people laughing about the various Native massacres. Cloaking a lesson in laughter is one way to get people to listen to what you say. I recommend this one. It is good to be reminded the stereotype of the strong silent Native is wrong. Amongst themselves they are quite funny. Michigan now updates its COVID data only on Wednesdays rather than three times a week. I downloaded yesterday’s data. For the number of new cases per day the peaks in the last three weeks are 790, 930, and 1239. Yes, cases are rising, though I don’t know yet if it is a minor variation or the start of another surge. The number of deaths per day last week was 8 and fewer. A couple of the Ukraine Update reports on Daily Kos yesterday were about which types of military equipment were arriving or about to be shipped from the West into Ukraine. Since I can’t tell one tank from another I’ll let you search out the details, if that’s your thing. However, Kos of Kos reported on something I’ve heard on NPR news shows. The ship Moskva, flag ship of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea, was attacked and sunk. Photos of the ship show some big guns from which it sent shells into Ukraine. So taking it out is a big deal, and also a big deal for raising Ukrainian morale and lowering Russian morale. Kos explained how the hit was pulled off. A flying drone grabbed all the ship’s electronic attention as poor weather and rough seas hid the two low flying missiles that struck the ship. Kos included a couple internet memes of the hit. One of them says, “Heroic cruiser Moskva promoted to submarine.” Tax preparation companies, both in-store and on my computer, have annoyed me over the years. They usually don’t know how to handle the small amount of royalties I get for my published music and try to classify it as real estate royalties. Then last year I used a different in-store company. They were annoyed that I wanted to verify my return. I found errors. They gave me a refund rather than correct them (and, yes, that sounds shady). So armed with returns for previous years, the knowledge my tax situation doesn’t change much, and my skills with spreadsheets (adequate skills, there are lots of things spreadsheets can do I know nothing about) I did it all myself. This year I improved my spreadsheets and have already sent in my return (you have until Monday to send in yours). I feel better about my choice after reading a report by Joan McCarter of Kos about lawsuits brought against tax preparation companies. The federal government has a Free File program and the major companies participate in it. Many taxpayers with income less than $73K are allowed to file for free. But these companies advertise their free file programs, then make it quite difficult for customers to actually use them. When I did use programs on my computer I saw filling out my state taxes was frequently include in the software purchase price, but electronically filing state forms required an extra fee. So, even though the state promoted their lower cost of processing returns filed electrically I always mailed in paper – then complained to a state legislator that while it save the state money it cost me more. They would tell me about free filing programs. I would tell them I don’t qualify for any of them. Now electronic filing isn’t an option. Marissa Higgins of Kos reported Senator Elizabeth Warren has created a video saying your tax season could be a lot simpler. All those W-2 and 1099 forms you get and must enter on to tax forms? The IRS has already gotten a copy. They could fill out the forms and mail them to you for your signature. For a large number of people that’s it (well, also writing the check for the amount owed...). In most other countries in the world this is how it is done. So why isn’t it done that way in America? Because the tax preparation companies lobbied Congress to prevent that from happening and Republicans agreed. They’re protecting a multi-billion dollar industry. Mike Gibbons is an Ohio millionaire investment banker running to fill a US Senate seat that is becoming vacant. Kerry Eleveld of Kos reported that because of Sen. Rick Scott’s 11 point plan that includes Republicans raising taxes on working families, a statement Gibbons made last September in a campaign video is getting more scrutiny. Gibbons said:

The top 20% of earners in the United States pay 82% of federal income tax—and, if you do the math, and 45% to 50% don’t pay any income tax, you can see the middle class is not really paying any kind of a fair share, depending on how you want to define it.

I certainly want to define is differently than Gibbons does. Anyone want to guess what little detail Gibbons left out, allowing him to twist the rest? Yep, it’s that the top 20% of earners pull in a great deal more money than everyone else. His math is an admission of income inequality. I don’t have figures in front of me but I would guess the top 20% richest (given their tendency to not pay taxes) pull in a great deal more than 82% of the national income. There is also an unsuspecting weasel word in there. The rich “earn” very little of their income as in wages paid for doing a job. Their income comes from investments and stock options and other kinds of wealth generators that the middle class doesn’t have access to, such as funding their living through loans with stock as collateral. Since the stock isn’t sold (and the loan not paid back) until the rich person dies, there is no capital gains and no tax. Which makes one wonder which voters Gibbons is trying to woo. A message of “Vote for me and I’ll raise your taxes while protecting low taxes on the rich,” isn’t going to play well. As for Scott’s 11 point plan Eleveld reported that a new poll from the progressive polling consortium Navigator Research shows that Americans don’t like what Scott is selling. Only 27% of registered voters support the plan and 59% oppose. Of Republican voters only 32% support it. Since Scott is the only Republican who has produced a plan it is essentially the GOP platform. One would think a party platform that unpopular would lead to strong defeat in the next election. But there is something stronger among Republican voters – their need to keep white people at the top of the social hierarchy is more important than the taxes they pay. Brian Tyler Cohen, who does a political podcast, tweeted:

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) just shut down Mitch McConnell at a press conference: “There was $7 trillion in new debt and 2.6 million jobs lost during Trump. But when McConnell comes to this podium, all he does is complain that we’re not cleaning up their mess fast enough.”

Higgins reported a new Air Force policy. If the service member or a member of their family is LGBTQ the Air Force will offer counseling to those who need to understand the various anti LGBTQ laws at the state level. They also provide mental health services to those affected by these laws. The service member could even be assigned to a different state based on the safety needs of a family member. Hopefully, other branches of the American military will do the same. And will withstand the complaints from Republicans. Higgins reported that Will Larkin, a non-binary high school junior in Florida, did their history presentation on the 1969 Stonewall uprising. The history teacher certainly didn’t know anything of the event. Larkin has been active in criticizing the Don’t Say Gay bill. And now they have been switched to a new classroom for the last five weeks of the school year. A feature of this room is a “Don’t Tread on Me” flag, now a symbol of the far-right. Larkin wrote an op-ed for the Times that ran a month ago. A bit of it:

When I look back to elementary school, I wonder how different my childhood would have been had my classmates and I known that I wasn’t some tragic anomaly, a strange fluke that needed to be fixed. People in support of the bill always ask, “Why do these subjects need to be taught in schools?” To them I would say that if we understand ourselves, and those around us understand us, so many lives will be saved.

Well said. Tech Burrito tweeted a minute long video of several ancient books that show an image when the edges of the pages are bent a little bit. Cool!