The Smarmy Carny

One Economy's The Beehive offers low-income people and families plenty of information on various categories. One of those categories is Money.

Since this is a fairly large section, The Beehive's Money category is split out into a quite a few various subsections:

• Taxes
• Saving & Investing
• Banks & Credit Unions
• Budgeting
• Loans
• Credit & Debt
• 401Ks and Retirement
• Sending Money
• Paying Bills
• Child Support
• Becoming a Homeowner

The Money section of The Beehive will show low-income users how to create a budget, open a checking account, send money to people, pay bills, collect child support, and obtain a credit report. One entire section explains how to make sure you are getting all the credits you qualify for on your taxes and even allows those earning under $40,000 a year to file their taxes online for free. The Beehive will also explain the process of how to buy a home or get a loan.

This section really does cover a wealth of information. (Yes, pun intended.)

The Beehive is the flagship program of One Economy Corporation.

The Beehive offers information on various topics including Money, Health & Fitness, School, Jobs & Careers, Starting & Owning a Business, Family, Emergencies, and Insurance. While these might seem like "obvious" pieces of information, an isolated, low-income person may not know how to go about obtaining a credit report, picking out affordable insurance, performing an online job search, or saving for retirement. The site is not only multi-lingual, it's written in language that low-literacy individuals should be able to more easily understand. I plan on writing more about each of these sections of the website throughout the later hours of Blogathon.

Since its launch six years ago in 2001, the Beehive has been visited over 10.7 million times. What are people getting help with when they visit The Beehive? By the end of 2006:

• 400,000 got help finding and evaluating child care
• 315,000 high-school students found homework help
• 325,000 people learned how to plan a family budget
• 650,000 people learned how to file for unemployment benefits
• Income tax filers got $1.8 million in refunds on their 2006 income tax returns

Please note: When you first visit The Beehive, it will ask you to select a region. If you don't see your municipality (mostly only major cities are listed), just click National Beehive and begin enjoying the site. If you do see your local community listed, you're in great luck, because you'll find even more information tailored just for you!

As I ranted for a bit last week about the election results in Buffalo and Erie County, I figured I would toss in this little update.

Today, the county legislators voted 10-5 to increase the sales tax by one half of one percent, thus increasing the sales tax in the county from 8.25% to 8.75%.

This isn't much of a surprise, particularly since they intentionally held these votes off until after Election Day. No shock here.

New York State previously dropped their sales tax by 0.25%, but Erie County quickly picked up that quarter-percent to claim as their own. Things are getting better and better around here.

Before this year's elections, Buffalo and Erie County taxpayers finally got tired of all the wastefulness in government and organized the "Taxpayer Revolt." This resulted in Primary Challenge 2005, where two of seven candidates gained a spot on the ballot. Many people ran for office who were not lifetime politicians and who were interested in cutting spending and other fat in the county government.

After this year's elections, however, the results showed contrasting results. The Democrats not only gained seats in the county legislature, but they garnered enough seats to overturn any vetos made by the Republican county executive.

This basically results in what I consider an ideological "Taxpayer Retreat." No matter how upset taxpayers become over taxation in this area, the masses still remain mindless drones, voting for whatever their union or race dictates.

As things worsen, the people continue to flee the region. Here are some sunny statistics from a Buffalo Business First article:

The exodus from Buffalo is accelerating. The city's population declined by 2,600 between mid-2003 and mid-2004, according to new estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. That's its sharpest year-to-year drop since the beginning of the current decade. . . .
The new report pegs Buffalo's population at 282,864 as of July 1, 2004, its lowest level since the late 1800s. The city is now at less than half its peak of 580,132, set back in April 1950.
Buffalo, as a result, continues to sink in the nation's population standings. It now ranks as the 63rd-largest city in America, directly behind Aurora, Colo., and Riverside and Bakersfield, Calif.
That contrasts sharply with its position a century ago. Buffalo had 352,387 residents when the 1900 census was conducted — nearly 70,000 more than it does now — making it the nation's eighth most-populous city.

Is it any wonder that the masses are fleeing the region? Businesses and jobs languish as a result of the government continues to tax businesses and individuals more and more each year. Just when it seems as though the region cannot become any less business-friendly, the city and county governments pull through . . . and the voters continue to reward them with their votes.

I suggest that the Taxpayer Retreat continue on as a physical manifestation as well. Expect no changes in the population trends for Buffalo in the next few years. The situation will only worsen as fiscally mindful people leave the area for greener pastures, resulting in an even higher percentage of people who enjoy high taxation and bloated budgets. Perhaps the slogan should be changed to "Buffalo: A great place for your great-great-grandparents."

Windmills

As I was driving around through farmland and hilly landscape today, I noticed a strip of about a mile with several yellow "No Wind Turbines" signs posted in some lawns. The signs also had a web address for "Save Upstate New York," a self-described "concerned citizens' group."

Personally, I enjoy windmills of all sorts. Granted, the power-generating windmills are more practical than aesthetic, but it still seems visually pleasing to me.

The only people who I could imagine disliking wind power are corporations providing alternate sources of power and Don Quixote.

Oh, and lest we forget the typical NIMBYs ("Not In My BackYard"-ers) that crop up over any such issues. The reason that this issue has become so overblown is because one of the NIMBYs down in the Chautauqua Lake area happens to be ever-unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate Thomas Golisano. He has more than enough money to throw around, giving lousy signs to hapless folks so that he doesn't have to have windmills in his area.

For additional information, read the (northeastern NY paper) Press Republican's article "Wind-farm opponents step up efforts." Irreverent Buffalonian magazine The Beast also has an insightful article titled "A Mighty Wind: Wind Power Threatens Corporate Bottom Line."

If you have read my blog for any period of time, you'll know that I am categorized on the right half of the political spectrum on most issues. The articles I have read finger the Republicans for being corporate jerks and not wanting the windmills to drain any revenue from the oil companies. Oddly enough, however, most of the arguments against wind turbines are environmental and ecological in nature: Soil erosion, bird and bat collisions, noise pollution, ice throw, flashing red lights (plane warning lights), and the deadly "shadow flicker."

They argue that birds and bats have collisions with structures, turbine blades and wires causing death or injury. This is hyperbolic, but even if it weren't we really need to make sure we keep all the bats alive. They are endangered, and we need all the bats we can get!

They also use the Liberal tactic of class envy by noting that "wind power is made financially viable and–in the short term–highly profitable for wind developers through multiple tax incentives." Yeah, let's protest wind power because wind developers might make some money! No one should make money!

Another crazy item is that windmills will have a negative impact on tourism. Ever hear anyone say "My family had planned on vacationing in ______, but then we realized that they had windmills there now, and it's just not the same." Anyone?

For more wind power information, feel free to check out windpower.org

Money Flies

This alarming news arose a couple days ago and caught my attention. The G8 decided to consider imposing a levy on airline tickets to finance extra aid for African nations. This came shortly after G8 agreed to forgive the debts of poor countries. This seems to happen every few years, and it makes me wonder why countries keep loaning them money. Perhaps it's the thought of "If we gave you the money, we wouldn't get to forgive your debts later and look so overwhelmingly compassionate."

You don't have to go far to find people confused about this move. One of my favorite quotes on the matter is that it's "hard to see why aid for small business in Mozambique should be funded in part by a family travelling from Glasgow to Malaga for a holiday." A spokesman for easyJet said that "There would be no side-benefit for the environment as the tax would not give any incentive on people to alter their behaviour."

Not to fear, though, if you're American. U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow made clear that Washington has opposed this in the past and that our position had not changed. Ron Paul (R - TX) brought forth House Amendment H.AMDT.271:

An amendment numbered 10 printed in the Congressional Record to prohibit any of the funds in the Act from being used by the U.N. to develop or publicize any proposal concerning taxation or fees on any United States person to rause [sic] revenue for the U.N. or any of its specialized or affiliated agencies.

Read more about the levy at Reuters AlertNet and also about Paul's amendment at The Sierra Times.

As if there weren't enough reasons to object to this silly idea, you should know that the two primary supporters of this levy are France and Germany. I know . . . I was shocked to find out, too.

Rhymes with "Tax Laud"

Remember: when you win a million dollars in front of 59 million people on the most popular reality show of all time, you might not try to keep that money a secret. If anyone is paying attention, it's the IRS.

The Smoking Gun released this document, in which the IRS claims that Richard Hatch not only failed to claim his Survivor million in 2000, but also did not report $321,000 in 2001. Whoops.

Any time someone wins a large sum from a game show, lottery, etc., I immediately figure out roughly what they have won after taxes. With a million dollars, can't you afford a decent accountant?

This all makes me curious about how often winners of large sums of money fail to report their large winnings on their taxes. I can't imagine how it wouldn't cross your mind during tax time. I remember biting my nails one year over $2 that I won on a free Bingo website. You'd hope that Jeopardy winners and the like would be intelligent enough to claim the winnings, but the lottery is the complete opposite. Not only do you need zero intelligence to win, I think that it's more likely that people playing the lottery regularly are more likely to lack that certain je ne sais quoi regarding financial intelligence. Lotto winners are the neanderthals of winners. I don't expect them to last a year with a million dollars, and many of them don't.

The odd thing is that reality show winners, for the most part, are neither of these two categories per se. Reality shows get a bad rap from the general public, and so do reality show contestants, for the most part. Most of these generalizations are formed by some of these half-baked reality shows that crop up. Still, even though Survivor has its fair share of losers, one has to be at least half-sane and half-brained in order to win. (Note: Of course, I could be wrong. I don't actually watch Survivor. *cough*) I did see enough of Richard Hatch to believe him to be someone with a properly functioning brain.

Crunch!"

I just wonder what the problem is. Lack of foresight? Awful accounting? Greed? The world may never know how many dollars it takes to get to the tax fraud center of a Survivor Pop.