Kirby on Finance

How does a “War on Terror Tax” sound?

How much would you pay to fight terrorism? Up until now, that kind of question was one that we as American’s didn’t have to answer - but that may be changing. Sen. Joseph Liberman is suggesting that American’s pay a “war or terror” tax which will help fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and fight terror abroad. Here’s the Senator’s argument:

“I think we have to start thinking about a war on terrorism tax,” the independent Connecticut lawmaker said. “I mean people keep saying we’re not asking a sacrifice of anybody but our military in this war and some civilians who are working on it.”

“When you put together the (Pentagon) budget and the Homeland Security budgets, we need to ask people to help us in a way that they know when they pay more it will go for their security,” he said during a Senate panel hearing on the defense budget request

Suggestions like these open up a few lines of thought in my mind:

• Should we have special taxes to fund something like a “War on Terror” that has no clear, definite end? I’m not saying that it’s not a fair and just cause, but a special tax on something that will most likely never end just becomes a general tax.
• If the general budget is strained by the war on terror, shouldn’t the Government become more “thrifty” in other areas to help supplant the defense budget? Is this even possible anymore?
• Would the use of a special tax actually be a good thing because it will cause people to experience a personal burden of the war, thus causing them to evaluate it’s effectiveness?
• I think I’d be somewhat be remiss if it didn’t cause me to truly think about the cost/benefit of the war against terror itself. I think the argument isn’t whether or not we should be doing it, but whether it’s being done correctly in a cost-effective manor.

I’m really interested to hear how each of you felt about the potential of a “War on Terror” tax. Is it worth it? Would you happily pay it? I’ll be sure to publish some of your comments in later posts.

US should weigh war on terrorism tax [Reuters]

Tags: budget request, defense budget, fight terror, homeland security, joseph liberman, pentagon budget, personal burden, war against terror, war on terror

Gambling: How it’s costing us all!

The Capitalist Blogger has a really great post about the magnitude of online gambling. I always knew that online gambling and poker was something that played a dramatic role in America, but not to the tune of $3 billion.

Even more impressive than than the boom in casino poker, is the huge size of the online poker market. It is expected to generate over $3 billion in revenues. At any moment of time, 10’s of thousands of people, mainly males, from all parts of the worlds at rooms including Party Poker, Poker Stars, and others. What’s even more interesting is that most of the money, upto 80% comes from US players; while the US Attorney General (and most state counterparts) have declared online gambling illegal. Unlike casino games or bingo, Poker is considered a game of skill in many state.

Personally, it doesn’t bother me that people choose to waste their money in their endless pursuit to be the next Phil Helmuth (a reference for you poker fans out there), but as The Capitalist Blogger points out – forcing these online gambling companies off-shore is costing all of us money. All of the taxes that we would receive if they were on-shore companies are lost.

Naturally, there are a lot of factors as to why these companies are off-shore that don’t relate to gambling being illegal in America. However, if we allowed online gambling (not just poker) to be made legal in America we’d be able to reap some tax benefit. Now I know some of you will argue that it will increase the gambling problem in America and perhaps you’re right. But think about it – what barrier currently exists between you or me gambling online right now anyway?

Gambling – Poker and its effects and affects [The Capitalist Blogger]

Uncle Sam: Give me some money!

It’s probably a safe bet to say that we all love getting free money.  Thankfully, with some smart choices good ole’ Uncle Sam will give you a pretty nice kickback.

Irregular Payments tipped me off to some interesting savings that we can take advantage of when building or improving our home.  You could receive up to 10% on windows, doors, metal roofs, or insulation; $300 for heat pumps or hot water heaters; $150 for furnaces or boilers; and $50 for main air circulating fans (what are these?).

Unfortunately, the home improvement portion maxes out at $500 total for the two-year life of the act (which goes through December 31, 2007). If I’m calculating it right (and with federal income tax law, who really knows until the final form is actually released), we’re just shy of that total already, and the heat pump installation hasn’t even started (ours is going to be efficient enough to be a straight $300 addition).

Check out Irregular Payments site for the full scoop!

Free Gov’t Money [Irregular Payments]

Tax Deadline: April 17th?

Just a note as tax day is looming on most of our minds. Since April 15th is on a Saturday this year – most people will actually have their deadline “extended” until April 17th to file.

I’m rich! Well, only if $530 makes me rich!

After a few weeks of patient monitoring of my checking account, I noticed that my federal tax rebate is finally in my pocketbook. I find this “extra” cash to be rather exciting, but it’s not. Really, I just gave the federal government an interest free $530 loan. Pretty stupid if you ask me!

Either way, I’ve got the money in my hands now and I’m debating between applying it to my student loans, investing it in the market, or just throwing it in my HSBC account. I’ll let you guys know what I decide!