Blankbaby

Many countries already offer versions of the options the IRS is studying. A 2022 study co-written by Treasury economists found that the U.S. could accurately fill out nearly half of individual tax returns using information it already has from employers and elsewhere. 

That step, which would go beyond what the IRS is currently considering, would be a real threat to the tax-preparation industry, which is trying to stop the IRS from getting close. Intuit’s lobbying spending rose 18% in the first three months of 2023, compared with the same quarter a year earlier. H&R Block increased its lobbying costs by 29% over the same interval. 

IRS Weighs Creating a Government-Run Tax-Prep Option – WSJ

50% of the taxes filed by the American People could have been filed for them automatically. Then why are we paying people to fill out tax information that the government already has access to? Because of tax prep companies’ lobbyist efforts.

And I bet this plan was leaked by some tax prep company’s PR company in order to try and kill the plan.

They are the worst!

But these days the landmark home of wisecracks and cigar smoke, and legends like Milton Berle and Jerry Lewis, is trying to fight off extinction.A loan company has moved to foreclose on the club after it missed payments on a $13 million mortgage. And a federal judge is mulling whether to appoint an outside company to take over the Friars Club’s six-story townhouse on East 55th Street, which has been shuttered for months as the club’s financial problems have deepened.

After Decades of Drinks and Laughs, Is It Last Call at the Friars Club? – The New York Times

It is fun to think about what you’d do if you were a billionaire. Of course, I’d give lots of money to charity (I’d probably do something like Bill Gates and identify something that I think I’d be able to “fix” with my money in my lifetime and just focus on that).

However, even with lots of charity, you’d still be really wealthy. And I think I’d buy the Friars Club. I mean, it would be cool just to own the building! Though in reality, it would probably end up being a pain dealing with all the people that would come along with it.

That being said, I hope the club somehow survives. I think knowing that there are little pockets of the past holding on in our crazy mixed-up world.

But this tipping proposal is so antithetical to Apple’s customer-first retail experience that it feels like a joke, or that the union negotiators have never even been in an Apple Store. They might as well ask for employees to be allowed to vape while working.

Daring Fireball: The Union Representing Apple Store Workers in Maryland Wants to Prompt Customers for Tips on Purchases

I imagine theyd handle tipping by having a prompt when you pay, as they do at many retail establishments. My main issue with this is that given how utterly frustrating it is to attempt to do anything at an Apple Store I can’t imagine many tips would roll in.

Estimated $200,000 in dimes stolen from trailer outside Walmart in Northeast Philly, police say | PhillyVoice:

Investigators told 6ABC that the big rig was apparently broken into using bolt cutters. An estimated $200,000 in dimes were stolen — the equivalent of two million coins. That was up from an earlier estimate of $100,000 on Thursday afternoon. 

While making a getaway, the suspect left piles of change in the Walmart parking lot.

I have so many questions, but mostly: what do you do with two million dimes?!