I think the difference, is when people use a gun to commit a crime, let's use the robbery that you mentioned, it makes it easier and they encounter less resistance when using a gun to commission a crime like that.

In other words, bad guy robs a convenience store with a gun, and unless the worker is also armed, chances are the worker is going to comply so they don't get shot and killed, and bad guy made the easiest money with the least risk.

Conversely, if the bad guy robs a convenience store without a gun, there is more possibility of the worker resisting, or fighting back, or even other customers in the store ganging up on the bad guy and turning the tables on him. The bad guy runs more of a risk of not getting the money, of getting beat-up, and of getting restrained until police show up and arrest him.

I have heard the same story as you state: That the Mexican drug traffickers were smuggling IN Mexican grown marijuana and then smuggling OUT marijuana grown in the US because it was more potent and of higher quality. The cheaper Mexican stuff can still be sold here probably because it is lower quality and can undercut legal prices to those who are don't have the money to afford the legal stuff.

I knew something was 'off' as I was reading this! Why yes, yes it is. Just the left half, blank space on the right half.

Everyone is talking about delaying refunds until later. Here's the problem, it's your money, you should get it back as soon as you can. How would a bank take it if they loaned you money at 0% interest, and when your payment came due, you handed them a book of convoluted formulas and complex word problems, and told them they needed to fill out half a dozen forms correctly and you'll make sure they're correct and then hold your loan payment from them for several months to make sure that they are the correct bank to which you owe the money to? I think the bank would throw a fit, and so should any taxpayer if the IRS tries this for the same reason.

The REAL solution to this problem, and others, is to STOP automatic withholding, and make everyone cut a check to the IRS at the end of the tax year for what they owe. No refunds, you keep your money until then. There would be no room for fraudulent filings anymore. Plus the government would have to wait until their "payday" like every other person in our country does and maybe have to actually create and balance a budget since they wouldn't know how much they're going to get, and would have to have savings to cover the entire year of expenses until next tax season.

Any argument about how people would not be able to come up with the money needed at the end of the year, are BS, as they are already comming up with money now as it is, if they spend too much and can't come up with it at the end of the year, it's due to their own lack of responsibility. This scenario would also help lower income families as well, as they would keep their entire paycheck month-to-month rather than having some of it withheld and then returned later.

State is usually included with TT even if you don't have an EZ. It's free if you print them, they usually only charge more for state if you need more than one state add-on or if you are e-filing. You can always print and mail in for free.

LOL, same here. I owe my complete tax bill each year, no refunds for me. I don't even file quarterly returns, because the penalty for not doing so (~$100) is less than the interest I'll make keeping it in savings all year long + the amount of time and effort to do the quarterly returns.

While it's not fun paying a big lump sum in full each year, I do take satisfaction in knowing I'm not giving the government an interest free loan all year long. And I'm keeping control of my money and only paying them what I owe and nothing more. I kinda laughed inside the year that many people got issued IOU vouchers from the IRS for their returns, knowing that I wasn't getting screwed out of getting my own money back.

Not to mention, when you pay in full each year, you quickly realize 2 things, first is how much you really are paying in taxes, and secondly how retarded most people sound/behave when they are getting their own money refunded to them. I've never seen someone take something back to a store and get all happy and brag about how they are getting their money refunded to them, yet people do every year when it comes to the money that was taken from them all year. Again, I chuckle inside and think to myself, "you DO realize that was YOUR money to begin with right?". With the current system of automatic payroll withholding, I think this is the plan of the IRS... to make a normal person excited that they loaned the government money without interest, and aren't getting it back until after they fill out a bunch of forms to prove that they should get it back.

The big thing I don't understand from all the people that are mad and feel they got shafted is this... On every TT software box I've ever purchased, there is a nice little chart on the back that shows the different levels of the software, and the features they support. I understand that this change wasn't announced, and could have been done better, but shouldn't people bear some of the responsibility of getting the wrong version, in the fact that they didn't check the features included that are clearly marked on all the boxes? I mean yeah, TT handled it wrong, but not checking what your buying before you pay money for it is a sure fire way to LET companies of all sorts take advantage of you. *** "Batteries not included"

They might have all the filed data for what YOU made, but many people are not you. Sure, if you work in the same job all year, have no investments and made no other income in any way, and your only tax document you get is a single W2, then yes, it should be easy. Any case other than that scenario starts getting more and more complicated pretty quick.

Don't know how much your paying now, or why the upgrade was $40, but I just picked up TT "Home & Business" a week or two ago for $60 at Amazon. Was the cheapest I've been able to buy it in the last 10 years.

Due to running my own software business, I have to use the Home & Bussiness version every year, and the price has only gone down over the years. When I first started buying it several years ago, it was usually around $100. Then a couple years later $90... then the last couple years I've been able to get it for $80. This year was definitely the cheapest so far at $60.

Followed next by many universities and colleges. At least most employers, while they have your SSN for legitimate reasons (W2/1099 filing) at least have the courtesy in most cases to assign you an Employee number to use within the company.

This is the typical argument against homeschooling that tries to scare away prospective home school parents. A lot of parents buy into this BS and believe they are inadequate or not smart enough to teach. This is one of the main arguments paid teachers and public school proponents always use to scare the parents into believing they can't do it. It's not necessarily true, not only are a large percentage of teachers not adequate to teach, a parent that knows their kid and who is devoting their whole attention to them is a huge benefit that can make up for lack of actual teaching experience.

The problem with this theory is that Governments combined (fed/state/local) already make far more revenue per gallon of gas than the "big bad oil companies" do. Many people already make "big oil" into some greedy, mega rich entity that make what they consider 'too much' in profits. However most fail to realize that government profits on gas makes "big oil's" profits look like peanuts.

According to WSJ, Exxon makes about $0.07 per gallon of gas profit, while Government makes about $0.50 per gallon (varies by state/local area). If this is true, the government brings in over 6x the profit from gas as oil companies do already. They do not need more. If "Big Oil" is frowned upon because of it's profit, why does government need even more than they are currently getting? And why do people not demonize them for it in a similar manner?
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB...

But U-Verse isn't this good in all areas. I switched over a year or two ago as well from a 6Mb DSL line. I asked for the highest internet package offered in my area, and it is the 18Mb package. I also have VoIP/TV through them. In order to get enough bandwidth in my neighborhood for my requested internet speed + service overhead for Voice/TV, they had to give me 2 bonded lines already as they could only get about 15Mb total from a single line here. The bandwidth of the entire system is somewhere around 28-30Mb, but they reserve about 10Mb of it for the VoiP/TV, so I wouldn't call my internet connection over the new 25Mb limit as it's not. So far, they still don't offer any faster speeds here than what I have.

Even more frustrating, is the fact that even with a 18Mb down speed, my up speed is less than 2Mb. :(

Or they could go further, and require:
a background check, thumb print, and 10-day waiting period before you're allowed to download the app. You would also have to pay and take a 'cell phone safety test' prior to purchase.

Felons would not be allowed to download or have possession of the app.

Require Registration of the app, so a central database contains lists of all people who have the app (just in case they decide later to confiscate the app).

Make using the app in public (rather than your home) require a permit for 'Concealed Carry Waze' (or CCW for short) that is expensive, and difficult to get and up to the sheriff's discretion ('may issue').

Limit the number of reports users may make, like 10 or less (afterall, no one needs to make more than 10 reports, that would be 'high capacity reporting').

And if you get caught speeding or committing any crime while in possession of the app, it would tack on 'enhancement charges' to your original crime.

Try and make the 'pro' version of the app illegal to own, as only police and military need access to the 'pro' version.

There, problem solved.

It's the electronic equivalent of drivers flashing their lights at oncomming cars to alert them of a LEO running radar. That method has been done for decades, and is still popular with truckers these days. There is nothing illegal about it.